Cork City Council Creative Communities Grant Scheme 2025
Description
The Cork City Council Creative Communities Grant Scheme is funded by Creative Ireland — a government-backed culture and wellbeing programme which aims to inspire and transform people, places, and communities through creativity. This grant scheme is designed to financially assist community groups in actively collaborating with artists and creatives. We encourage ambitious and innovative projects which grow the capacity of individuals and communities and use culture and creativity to create positive social impacts.
Please read the Creative Communities Grant Scheme 2025 Guidance Notes before completing your application.
Funded projects must address at least two of the five strategic priorities of the Cork City Culture & Creativity Strategy 2023-2027. These are:
1. To tell our own story
2. To enrich our sense of place
3. To support creative industry, ambition and risk-taking
4. To promote well-being through creative engagement
5. To be climate active
The deadline for proposals is 12pm on 12th February 2025. Funding decisions will be announced in early March for delivery by early November 2025.
Funding Criteria
For 2025, we are introducing a pilot two-tier funding scheme to encourage both small-scale and more ambitious creative projects while maintaining the scheme’s accessibility and inclusivity for all community groups.
Level 1 funding: €1,500-3,000 for small, focused projects that experiment with new ideas or offer creative engagement on a smaller scale.
Level 2 funding: Up to €6,000 for larger, more complex projects with significant scope, scalability or longer-term ambitions.
For full details on the criteria for Level 1 and Level 2 funding, please read the Creative Communities Grant Scheme 2025 Guidance Notes. Cork City Council may offer amounts of funding less than the amount sought.
Funding requests will be assessed based on how well the following have been considered:
- Creative Merit: Appropriate creative practitioners/organisations engaged to realise the objectives in a way that facilitates inclusive and diverse community engagement;
- Strategic Merit: The proposal meets the strategic priorities of Cork City Culture & Creativity Strategy 2023-2027;
- Feasibility: The timeline and budget (including any relevant information on ‘in-kind’ resources) are realistic for the proposed activities; and
- Legacy: Creativity, innovation, and ambition are embedded in the proposal in a way that will cause lasting, positive impact for the community engaged.
Grant Conditions:
Applications must:
- be submitted to Cork City Council by 12pm on 12th February 2025;
- specify a named community as the target of the proposed project;
- enclose a Letter of Support from the named community where the applicant is an artist/creative practitioner;
- facilitate activities that are not already funded by Creative Ireland through Cork City Council;
- clearly identify at least one creative practitioner or creative organisation that will work with the group using creative processes, in support of the delivery of the Cork City Creative Ireland Strategy 2023-2027; and
- enclose the creative practitioner/organisation’s CV, biography, and information on prior experience of similar projects, including up to five samples of previous work.
Late and/or incomplete applications will not be considered. This includes any application with sections not fully completed or relevant supporting materials not included.
Funding is conditional on commitment to the following;
- fair payment of artists/creative practitioners;
- management of Garda Vetting of personnel, if applicable;
- observation of a Child Safeguarding Policy, if applicable;
- provision of written consent for use of media featuring project participants such as audio recordings, video, photographs etc;
- insurance of activities at appropriate levels;
- provision of evidence of tax compliance (such as a Tax Clearance Certificate);
- health & safety assurances in place for all funded activities; and
- acknowledgement of the support of Cork City Council and Creative Ireland in all informational and publicity material relating to the project.
Privacy Statement
Cork City Council is committed to fulfilling its obligations imposed by the Data Protection Acts 1988 to 2018 and the GDPR. Our privacy statement and data protection policy are available at:
We request that you read these as they contain important information about how we process personal data that is supplied to us.
Eligibility
Community groups based in any context and located within Cork City Council’s administrative area are invited to propose a creative project. However, groups whose sole connection as a community is their shared creative practice are not eligible for funding under this scheme (e.g. a group/community of artists).
Applications can be made by a representative of a specific community, or by a creative practitioner/organisation. The Lead Applicant must be based in Cork City. Where an application is submitted by a creative practitioner/organisation, the target community group must be clearly identified and a letter of support for the proposal from that community must be provided to confirm their interest in participating in the project.
Ineligible projects include:
· Those dedicated solely to sport and fitness;
· For-profit initiatives;
· Charitable events;
· Any project where it is determined that the main beneficiary would be a private entity;
· Projects that target the general public, without focusing on a specific named community;
· Projects that do not meet the criteria as stated.
In addition, financial support cannot be claimed for spend on building, venue or workspace improvements, purchase of equipment, alcoholic beverages, fines, penalty payments, legal costs, accountancy/audit fees, financial consultancy fees or the cost of items for resale.
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
Cork City Council proposes that the following information relating to this grant application competition will be made available on request:
- Name of the successful applicants.
- Reasons an applicant did not qualify for grant consideration.
Cork City Council undertakes to use its best endeavours to hold confidential any information provided by applicants subject to its obligations under law, including the Freedom of Information Act 2014. Applicants are requested to consider if any of the information supplied should not be disclosed because of its sensitivity. If this is the case, candidates should, when providing the information, identify same and specify the reasons for its sensitivity. If such information is not identified as sensitive and Cork City Council on consideration does not deem it sensitive, then such information is liable to be released in response to a Freedom of Information request without further consultation with the applicants. Cork City Council will consult with any candidates about sensitive information before making a decision on any Freedom of Information Act request received.
Contact:
Arts Office,
Community Culture & Placemaking,
Cork City Council,
City Hall,
Anglesea Street,
Cork,
Ireland
Tel: 021 4924768
Email: louise_tangney@corkcity.ie
Cork City Council Creative Communities Grant Scheme 2025
Deadline
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