Five talented writers announced for Lyric's New Playwrights Programme |
The Lyric Theatre and the Arts Council have announced this year's recipients of the 2021 New Playwrights Programme. Now in its fourth year, the programme is a six-month writing development programme aimed at new and early career playwrights to create new work. This year saw the highest number of applicants, with 330 submissions resulting in a shortlist of 29. The five writers awarded places on the programme are: Caitlin Magnall-Kearns, Caoimhe Farren, Rose Coogan, Paul Mallon and Eléonore Maudet. |
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The Arts Council is currently dealing with an unprecedented volume of email correspondence. It may take longer than usual for staff to respond to your enquiries. We thank you for your patience. Our staff list is here. |
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World Book Night's 10th Anniversary |
World Book Night, the annual celebration of reading, will take place on Friday 23rd April 2021. This year's theme, 'Books To Make You Smile' is a response to the impact of Covid-19 on mental health, highlighting the proven power of reading and the benefits it brings to well-being. This also coincides with the launch of 'Stories to Make You Smile' a new collection of short stories compiled by The Reading Agency together with Specsavers.
To mark its 10th anniversary this year World Book Night will be hosting a number of virtual events, book giveaways, online activities, exclusive releases and promotions, calling for the whole nation to celebrate reading for pleasure.
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Arts activities to enjoy online |
The Arts Council has rounded up just some of the fantastic creative activities and performances you can enjoy online, most of which are funded by the Arts Council, the Dept for Communities and the National Lottery. New highlights include: Sadie, the brilliant new Lyric Theatre production in association with Field Day Theatre, written by David Ireland, premiered on BBC4 on 31st March as part of the BBC's Lights Up festival and is now available on BBC iPlayer. In David Ireland's unflinching new play, directed by Conleth Hill, a sharp-tongued Belfast cleaner relives painful and harrowing episodes in a showdown with her past. Watch the Arts Council's Head of Community Arts & Education, Gilly Campbell, with her weekly roundup on NVTV here. |
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Arts Council NI response to draft Mental Health Strategy, 2021-2031 |
The deadline for submitting responses to the Department of Health's consultation on its draft Mental Health Strategy (2021-2031) passed on 26th March. The strategy sets out a new vision for mental health in NI, as well as 29 high-level actions to take forward significant strategic change over the next decade. |
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WOMEX is reaching out to all artists, conference speakers, film-makers, mentors and music professionals of the global music scene worldwide to apply to be a part of the WOMEX 21 Programme and make it as culturally rich, inclusive and diverse as possible. WOMEX explicitly welcomes proposals from all backgrounds and encourages submissions, especially those that increase the international music scene's diversity - be it of culture, region, gender, styles, performance tradition, and more. The deadline for Call for Proposals is Friday, 16 April 2021. |
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The Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) is seeking your views on the draft content of the 1bn European Union-funded PEACE PLUS Programme (2021-2027). PEACE PLUS is a new funding programme designed to support peace and prosperity across Northern Ireland and the border counties of Ireland, building upon the work of the previous PEACE and INTERREG Programmes.
The design reflects the importance of peace-building activity, but also the importance of actions that will contribute positively to the economy, building prosperity and adjusting to the new environment and challenges we face. The consultation started on Wednesday 10th March 2021 and will end at 5pm on Wednesday 12th May 2021. |
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New programme announced to support the UK art market with its anti-money laundering obligations |
A new nation-wide training programme is now available to support galleries, artists and other 'art market participants' in meeting their obligations under the 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD5) which came into force in January 2020. The free training sessions and workshops, offering practical advice to support art market participants to understand, assess and respond to their obligations under the regime, is supported by Arts Council England, Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Creative Scotland. Registration is open until 10th June.
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Summer Cultural Commissions |
Derry City and Strabane District Council in partnership with Donegal County Council and supported by the North West Regional Support Group is seeking tender submissions for arts and cultural commissions designed for family audiences. The Summer Cultural Commissions (tender reference: T BUS21-055) will be delivered on the ground during the summer of 2021 (July and August) as part of the NW Audience Development Plan. It is envisaged that proposed works will be adaptable to multiple locations and support work which can tour in Derry-Strabane and Donegal. The intention is to commission four separate productions with a maximum budget of £5,000 each. |
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Arts Council NI
Digital Ambitions survey
FINAL CALL |
The Arts Council has developed a new survey for arts organisations to determine which key digital skills and technologies are currently used by the Northern Ireland arts sector and which key digital areas the sector has ambitions to develop. We also seek opinions on what digital knowledge, skills, and equipment would be of benefit to meet the sector's future ambitions.
The information gathered by this survey will inform the development of the Arts Council's first digital strategy. The survey closes on Thursday 8 April 2021. |
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Belfast Book Festival is inviting writers working towards their first full collection of poetry, short stories, or a novel to enter the Mairtín Crawford Awards for Poetry and Short Story 2021. Both published and unpublished writers are invited to submit between 3-5 poems for the poetry award, and a short story of up to 2,500 words for the short story award, with the only stipulation being that they have not yet published a full collection of poetry, short stories, or a novel. Closing date for submissions is midnight on Sunday 2nd May 2021. |
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Arts Council COVID-19 advice |
Keep up to date with the latest Coronavirus updates from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, including a list of potential funding sources which might be helpful to artists and arts organisations at this time. We will update this list as we go along. If you know of any other sources, please contact us at and we will share with the sector. |
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