Bursary Award Round 1

About this scheme

The Bursary Award (Round 1) is the Arts Council's core award for supporting individual professional artists to develop their artistic practice, with an emphasis on giving artists the time and resources to 'buy time' for thinking, researching, reflecting, and deeply engaging with their practice, rather than for producing or presenting finished work. The award is run in parallel across the Arts Council's artforms and arts-practice areas, including Visual Arts, Literature, Music, Dance, Theatre, Traditional Arts, Participatory Arts, Children and Young People's Arts, Architecture, Film, and Opera, each with its own dedicated guidelines. Award amounts are fixed rather than open-ended, generally ranging from €5,000 to €20,000 depending on artform and strand. Applicants may apply under only one artform per round, and in 2026 may apply for either a Bursary Award or an Agility Award (but not both). These are highly competitive awards; for example, only around 31% of Dance Bursary Award applications were successful in 2025. Additional personal disability access costs can be applied for separately.

Who can apply

• Applicant must be an individual professional artist (not an organisation) working in one of the Arts Council's supported artforms or arts-practice areas
• Applicant applies under a single artform/discipline-specific Bursary Award (e.g. Visual Arts, Literature, Music, Dance, Theatre, Traditional Arts, Participatory Arts, Children and Young People's Arts) and may only make one application per artform per round
• Applicants cannot apply for more than one Bursary Award (across different artforms) in the same funding round
• In 2026, applicants can apply for either a Bursary Award or an Agility Award, but not both, in the same round
• Most artforms offer fixed award bands between €5,000 and €20,000 (requests outside a permitted band are rounded down to the nearest lower band); requesting an amount outside the permitted bands, or below/above the stated minimum/maximum, makes the application ineligible
• Visual Arts offers a three-strand structure instead of the general band system: Strand 1 Emerging Artists (€10,000 only, capped at 5 artists); Strand 2 Visual Artists (€15,000 or €20,000); Strand 3 Curators (€10,000, €15,000, or €20,000); all Visual Arts applicants are additionally considered for the separate €20,000 Mary Farl Powers Bursary Award
• Applicant is generally expected to be resident in the Republic of Ireland; applications from outside the Republic may be considered if the applicant explains how the proposal would benefit the arts in the Republic of Ireland
• Additional personal disability access costs can be requested by artists with disabilities, in addition to the core award amount

How to apply

1. 1Identify the correct artform-specific Bursary Award (e.g. Visual Arts, Literature, Music, Dance, Theatre, Traditional Arts, Participatory Arts, Children and Young People's Arts, Architecture, Film, Opera) that matches your practice
2. 2Register for, or log in to, an Arts Council Online Services (OLS) account (allow at least five working days for new registrations to process)
3. 3Download and read the relevant artform's guidelines and application form in full (typically published around two weeks before the round opens)
4. 4Complete the application form, including your case for support and your requested award amount within the permitted fixed bands for that artform
5. 5Gather and prepare any required supporting material
6. 6Submit the completed application and supporting material through Online Services before the published deadline; applications cannot be amended after submission
7. 7The Arts Council assesses eligible applications competitively and communicates its funding decisions by email