Your guide to the arts, music and more in County Wicklow this week CONCERTS! Get your funds applications in by February 19

THREE ARTIST funding streams are being made available by Wicklow County Arts Office and Wicklow County Council.

The closing date to apply for the Artist Support Awards Scheme, Arts Groups/Organisations Awards Scheme and the Arts Festival Awards Scheme is Monday, February 19, at midday.

The funding streams are open to artists, arts festival and to arts groups and organisations across all arts disciplines. It’s the Arts Office’s intention through the extension of these schemes that a diverse range of creative projects will be cultivated for the county, which will nurture artists practice, create connectivity, generate new perspectives and voices within the cultural life of the county and support a myriad of high calibre arts events.

The objective of the Artist Support Awards Scheme, established in 2013, is to assist artists to develop their arts practice. The award should make a significant contribution to the professional life or development of artists from, or living in, County Wicklow. The purpose of the scheme is to allow artists working in any context to realise a specific body of work or training that will enhance their arts practice development. Due to increased demand for funding the maximum amount any proposal can request is €5,000.

The Arts Groups/Organisations Award Scheme is to support groups in the realisation of an arts project or programme which will support their artistic development. Applications can be for a research and development phase of a new initiative or for the production or implementation of a new arts project or programme for 2018. Where the realisation of the proposed project requires additional financial resources over and above €3,000, which is the maximum amount available to any one group under this award, evidence of confirmed funding is required from identified sources.

The maximum amount that can be applied for under the Arts Festival Awards Scheme is €5,000. The award can fund, in full or in part, a particular aspect of a Festivals development plan or programme for 2018. That could include the production/commissioning of new work for the festival; the engagement of professional ensembles as part of the festival programme; the engagement of audiences or the development of new strategies and approaches to the delivery of the festival.

Application forms for all three schemes are available at wicklow.ie/arts-act-funding/.