Funding supports to projects for and with youth

The Arts Council supports work for and with children and young people in the following ways:

• €2.7million was allocated in 2011 to arts organisations wholly and exclusively dedicated to children and young people (please see Appendix list of these organisations). Included here is the National Youth Arts Programme catering for out-of-school contexts. The programme was established in 1998 by the National Youth Council of Ireland and is jointly funded by the Arts Council and Department of Children and Youth Affairs.
• An estimated €4.2million was disbursed indirectly through funding a wide range of venues, festivals, local authority programmes and arts organisations across the country providing arts services for children and young people both in and out of school, as part of a wider remit.
• A further €280,000 was allocated to supports that include professional development (mainly in the form of bursaries and training grants) for artists and practitioners working, or wishing to work in the area of children and young people’s arts; and collaborative projects between artists, children and young people involving most art forms and organised in a range of settings including:
  o Writers-in-Schools – managed by Poetry Ireland
  o Artists-in-Residence
• The Young Ensembles Scheme established by the Arts Council in 2008. By ‘young ensemble’ is meant a collection of young people working together to create art. Examples of ensembles might include a youth orchestra, youth choir, a circus group, a band, youth theatre, film group, dance group, a group of young visual artists working together to create an exhibition (or a single art work, such as a mural or graffiti piece), a poetry or writing group, or a group that works together to combine a number of art forms into a performance/event. A fund of €170,000 was disbursed to projects through the scheme in 2011.
• Other significant initiatives specifically focused on children and young people include Laureate na n-Óg managed by Children’s Books Ireland and, through our funding relationship with Music Network, we enjoy good relations and ongoing dialogue with Music Generation an initiative aimed at creating local music education partnerships supported by U2 and the Ireland Funds.