Deadline: 09-Sep-2024
The Arts Council of Northern Ireland is inviting applications for the Artists’ International Development Fund (AIDF).
This programme is one of a number of Support for Individual Artists Programme schemes currently open for application. The Support for Individual Artists Programme (SIAP) is a range of schemes which aim to support artists across all disciplines to create work and develop their practice.
The Artists’ International Development Fund (AIDF) is an annual programme jointly funded by the British Council and Arts Council of Northern Ireland and is open to both individual artists and organisations. The programme will support early-stage international development opportunities for individual, freelance and self-employed artists and organisations based in Northern Ireland. It will afford recipients the opportunity to spend time building links with artists, organisations and/or creative producers in another country. The aim of the programme is to support individual international developmental opportunities for talent and artistic excellence from Northern Ireland and, thereby, enhance Northern Ireland’s international artistic development, reputation and standing.
What artforms will be considered?
- Your proposal can be in any of the following artforms:
- Combined arts
- Literature
- Music
- Drama/Theatre & Dance (including Circus)
- Visual arts
- Craft
Funding Information
- Artists and organisations are able to apply for small grants from £1,000 to £7,000.
What activity can you apply for?
- Artists can use the fund to do one or all of the following:
- Develop their artistic practice through working internationally
- Collaborate with and learn from artists internationally
- Create early relationships with artists and/or creative producers with a longer-term view of developing international markets and audiences for their work in another country and building their profile internationally
- Artistic Residencies
- The programme can cover the targeted exchange of key creative people to develop new concepts or relationships. Applicants will need to conduct their own research and have identified and communicated with a potential partner/host in the country they wish to visit. Applications could include one or two international visits (for Northern Ireland applicant to travel overseas or overseas partners/collaborators to visit Northern Ireland or both).
- You are eligible to bring other sources of funding or sponsorship to the project/grant. They would expect projects to be completed within one year of the decision
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible applicants to SIAP’s Artists International Development Fund are as follows:
- Artists of all disciplines and in all types of working practice, including creative producers, curators and editors.
- Emerging Artists: The Arts Council particularly welcomes applications from emerging artists – an emerging artist is someone who is in the early stage of their career as a professional artist. They are developing their artist ‘voice’ and are in the process of establishing a reputation and recognition among critics, galleries, producers etc, and will have practised as a professional artist for less than 5 years.
- Practicing artists who are also undergraduates, postgraduates and academics employed at 3rd level educational institutions are eligible to apply but – where their project proposal lies within the same artform area as their study or work – they must prove that the funds which they are seeking are for costs which are not properly the concern of their employer and/or are not related to their work or academic study. They must submit evidence of this in the form of a letter on headed paper from their Head of Department.
- In the case of post-graduate students, the letter must clearly state the title of the student’s PhD thesis and include a declaration by the Head of Department. This declaration must state “The project for which funds are being sought does not form part of any academic work undertaken in relation to the above-titled PhD nor will it be assessed as part of any academic course”.
- Applicants undertaking a Masters or a PhD must also include a separate statement which provides information on how the project applied for differs from their Masters or PhD work.
- Please note: The Arts Council may use its own judgement in determining this matter.
- In addition, AIDF applicants must also
- have received recognition for their work in Northern Ireland;
- not have had extensive international experience;
- be applicants whose work will benefit from launching better international networks – either artistically or in terms of developing an audience for their work; and,
- be able to demonstrate an interest in their work from an overseas partner/host.
- Eligible applicants must also
- Have made a contribution to artistic activities in Northern Ireland for a minimum period of 1 year within the last 5 years.
- Live in Northern Ireland (ACNI’s budgets are limited and subject to extremely high demand. The priority must be for artists living and regularly contributing to the arts within Northern Ireland. If you are primarily living in another region of the UK, Republic of Ireland or elsewhere (i.e. you live in that region for the majority of the year), you should apply to the Arts Councils in the relevant jurisdiction. Where the Arts Council has concerns regarding this matter, they may seek further clarification from you with regard to this.)
- Be at least 18yrs old and not in secondary education.
Ineligible
- Applicants who have broken the conditions of any previous ACNI award and applicants who remain in breach of any previous letters of offer (regardless of the letter of offer date).
- Students, for projects related to their course of study or their tuition fees (by student they mean a person following a course of study in a school, a college or a university)
- Small groups who cannot demonstrate that they have a history of working collaboratively
For more information, visit Arts Council of Northern Ireland.