Opportunity for Schools: Funding for Artists in Schools and Youth Theatre Announced for County Kerry

Kerry County Council
Closing date for applications: 15 January 2025 at 1pm

Kerry County Council has announced funding opportunities for 2025 including Artists in Schools Scheme and Youth Theatre Grant Scheme.

Artists in Schools Scheme 2025

Kerry County Council intends to provide funding for a number of projects in Primary and Post-Primary Schools in County Kerry under its Artists in Schools Scheme in 2025.

The purpose of the scheme is to enable students and teaching staff to work collaboratively with a professional artist on a creative project over an extended period.

The scheme is designed to provide an opportunity for a school to carry out a project that nurtures both the child’s creative imagination and the skills of the teachers involved. For this reason, it is important that a school making an application under this scheme considers especially the opportunities of working in partnership with an artist in a ‘process led’ approach rather than setting out with a pre-determined end product as the primary goal of the project.

Projects can be in any art form, for example, dance, music, composition, drama etc. It is also possible for a project to include different disciplines, (for instance writing and film) provided the overall aim justifies such an approach.

A school awarded a bursary in previous years, must allow a lapse of 1 year before being eligible to apply again (e.g. successful in 2023, apply again for 2025).

Youth Theatre Grant Scheme 2025

Grant funding is available through the Kerry County Council (KCC) Arts Office in 2025 for the development of youth theatres in Kerry. The fund is intended to support the growth of youth theatres and youth theatre practice through a collaboration between the KCC Arts Office (co-funded by the Arts Council of Ireland) and Kerry Local Creative Youth Partnership (LCYP). This collaboration advocates that joining a youth theatre in Kerry should be accessible to all young people within a 45-minute drive from their residential location.

Youth Theatre, under the scheme, is considered as a place where young people can express themselves creatively, and in doing so, develop their interpersonal and communication skills. Applicants must outline an annual programme of activity which facilitates the creative interaction of their young membership.

The Youth Theatre Grant Scheme has an intended target focus of young people from the ages of 12-24, who are willing to take part in group supported drama and theatre practice in a fun and safe environment, and where they are supported by a not-for-profit organisation.

For more information on both funding opportunities, guidelines and application forms, see consult.kerrycoco.ie/en/applications