Ireland Children and Young People's Arts Bursary 2027: €20,000 for Artists' Creative Development
An award for professional artists, not children entering a contest
The Arts Council of Ireland has announced its Children and Young People's Arts Bursary for the first 2027 funding round. This is an individual professional artist's bursary, with a maximum of €20,000, to deepen creative practice relating to art for, by and with children and younger people. Artists developing illustration, creative digital media, interactive visual storytelling, artistic learning formats or other youth-centred practices may have relevant research ideas. The award is not an international art contest in which children enter drawings for cash prizes, nor a standard procurement grant for schools to buy tablets or deliver compulsory curriculum.
Professional practice and eligibility must be documented
The published programme overview describes applicants as individual artists. This implies a demonstrable record of professional creative practice and a clear development proposal, rather than an organisation's general youth-service operating expenses. The Council's previous bursary guides typically require applicants to be based in the Republic of Ireland while allowing carefully specified exceptions where overseas work is of direct value to Irish arts practice. Those precise rules, age, working-with-children requirements and any professional thresholds must be checked in the new 2027 instructions; the bursary should not be presented as unrestricted worldwide registration or Irish citizenship alone as an absolute criterion.
Questions a strong project may investigate
Suitable research might examine how younger audiences experience digital installations, how children can collaborate ethically in making artworks, how interactive narrative and visual art can create meaningful artistic agency, or how an artist can make creative workshops more accessible. A successful bursary proposal should demonstrate the applicant's own artistic questions, practical methods, safeguarding and consultation where relevant, and how the development will feed into an evolving practice. A fixed commission to manufacture a commercial app or a therapeutic service with no artistic research component will not automatically meet the fund's objectives.
Advance dates: the portal is not yet accepting this round
The first-round application opens 10 November 2026 and is scheduled to close at 17:30 Ireland time on Thursday 17 December 2026. The Arts Council says scheme-specific guidelines and templates are usually published before opening. Applicants should therefore prepare a concise artistic CV, samples of relevant work, a research timetable and detailed budget, but wait for the 2027 guidelines to settle which costs and documentation are eligible. A maximum of €20,000 is a grant request cap, not a commitment to cover the whole cost of a two-year education programme.
The agency and the official programme
The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon is Ireland's national public arts-development body. It supports a wide variety of artists, artist-led research, exhibitions and participation, and publishes official bursary timetables and adjudication processes. The Children and Young People's Arts Bursary appears separately from its Participatory Arts and Architecture categories, with its own contact details. Read the official 2027 rules, applicant residency and access conditions, current fees and final submission time before submitting confidential identity or project materials.
Official programme and application details
Important: check current official terms
This independently written article summarises, edits and explains a third-party open call. Conditions, eligibility, application dates and costs may change, and errors or delays in interpretation are possible. Before applying, paying fees or sharing identity or business data, always check the official organising body's current eligibility, deadline, permitted expenditure, full rules and secure application link. Official terms take priority if any detail differs.