The deadline for a bursary award to artists who focus on cultural diversity is Thursday 24 October.
The Arts Council’s Artist in the Community Scheme Bursary Award aims to support individual professional artists in any art form working in the field of arts and cultural diversity.
Managed by Create, the national development agency for collaborative arts, the €10,000 bursary is now in its fourth year.
According to Create, which has been working in the area of arts and cultural diversity for more than 10 years, the award was created in response to a significant increase in enquiries it received from arts practitioners from different ethnic minority backgrounds, as well as requests for information from Irish artists who wished to work with new communities.
Create’s own initiatives include a seminar on culturally diverse programming, a workshop with the Balbir Singh dance company and a mapping survey on ethnic minority artists.
The agency has also worked with the Arts Council on research and policy development in the area. Create sits on the Arts Council’s Cultural Diversity Audit group, which monitors the council’s various schemes to ensure they are accessible to culturally diverse groups and artists from different ethnic minority background.
In 2009 Create conducted a major research study for the Arts Council on cultural diversity and the arts with Dr Daniel Jewesbury and the Change Institute in the UK. And the following year the agency managed the Connect Mentoring Programme, and administered the subsequent Cultural Diversity Mentoring Award.
Introduced in 2010, the Artist in the Community Scheme Bursary Award is intended for artists who have a track record in working collaboratively in the contemporary arts arena, and in the context of cultural diversity.
The bursary provides the selected artist with the time and resources to carry out research, and to reflect on and reconsider arts practice realised in culturally diverse contexts.
The successful artist applicant is expected to share the learning arising from the bursary with the wider arts and cultural diversity sector. Create will work in partnership with the Centre for Creative Practices on delivering information sessions on the award.
Create advises that the award will not fund one-off projects or exhibitions. Those interested in applying can get further details from the Create website at create-ireland.ie or contact Katherine Atkinson at 01 473 6600. The deadline for applications is 24 October.
