Kildare County Council Arts Service/Short Grass Films invites applications to the Kildare Short Grass Film Commission Award 2025. This Commission aims to support film production in the county, by commissioning an original film to be shot in County Kildare in 2025/26. Applications are invited for original script ideas from filmmakers at all stages of their development.
Under the Kildare Short Grass Film Commission scheme €14,000* will be awarded towards the cost of the film production. Short film, feature film, documentary, animation, experimental and artist films will all be considered.
It is envisaged that the filming will be complete within a calendar year of the award. Kildare County Council will support the awardee to realise the project (details below).
More than one submission can be made by an applicant, but each submission must have a separate application form.
We welcome applicants who represent the diversity of Irish society. We encourage applications from all areas of the community regardless of your gender, sexual orientation, civil or family status, religion, age, disability, race or membership of the Traveller Community, or socio-economic background.
We welcome applications from artists whose first language is not English.
Although not an obligatory requirement, applicants to all grants offered by Kildare County Council Arts Service might consider demonstrating how their activity addresses the themes of climate change and climate action.
Although not an obligatory requirement, applicants to all grants offered by Kildare County Council Arts Service might consider demonstrating how their proposed activity addresses the themes of inclusivity, equality and cultural diversity.
Kildare County Council is committed to fair pay and a policy to Pay the Artist. Please refer to the Arts Council's policy on
Paying the Artist.
Your attention is also drawn to
safetocreate.ie, where you will find more information about the Safe to Create Dignity at Work programme which aims to impact change on the culture and practices of the arts sector in Ireland to provide safer working conditions for artists and arts workers.
*Note 16th January 2025: please note the amended grant amount in 2025
Access Support
You can apply for additional costs if there are access needs relating to your application. These can be personal access costs or costs for making your work accessible to others. Personal access costs might for example include costs towards additional time needed to complete your project or
additional assistance required to deliver your proposed project. Costs for making your work accessible to others might include having an ISL interpreter, using an audio description service, making your content compatible with screen readers or producing materials in other formats such as in Braille or audio. Any such requirements should be outlined in your application and a breakdown of costs should be provided within your budget. These costs may be above the maximum award amount for this grant (up to 20% of the award available).
STAGE ONE
Complete the online application form including mandatory supporting material.
Short listing of applications may take place. Short listing will be based on:
- the quality and originality of the script idea;
- the collective track record and skills of the leading creative team;
- the methodology and ability to deliver a film project.
STAGE TWO
Applicants who are shortlisted will be invited to attend for interview with an independent panel. It is expected that interviews will be held online in April 2025.
At interview shortlisted applicants will -
- introduce the lead creative team (Producer, Director, Writer or other members of the team that the applicants would like to attend);
- provide a detailed project proposal with schedule;
- discuss their ideas for making a film;
- discuss how their proposal will consider County Kildare as a film location and if/how local cast and crew may be involved;
- demonstrate budget clarity and deliverability.
- discuss health and safety, insurances, copyright, etc
STAGE TWO assessment criteria: A series of qualitative award criteria are set out below. Marks are allocated for each of the award criteria. Applicants must provide information in response to all award criteria.
- The originality and creativity of the proposal (55%)
- The ability to deliver the proposal with resources available (25%)
- The consideration of Co Kildare as a film location (10%)
- The consideration of the inclusion of Kildare based cast and crew, including opportunities for shadowing, training or mentoring of cast and crew (10%)
Supports offered by Kildare County Council to recipients of the Short Grass Film Commission
- Administrative support
- Assistance to source locations for filming
- Assistance with sourcing technical crew and casting
- Promotion and publicity including coordinating a local launch event
- Post-production facilities offered in Platform4 Digital Media Studio
- Production supports (by advance agreement)
Application deadline
Applications will only be accepted via the online application form.
Applications must be submitted before the deadline at 12pm Friday 28th February 2025.
Applications submitted after the deadline will not be accepted.
We suggest that applicants try to submit their application form early in case of technical difficulties. Should they arise, please email arts@kildarecoco.ie and we will endeavour to respond as soon as possible.
Supporting Material
It is advantageous to include supporting material that enhances your application. Applicants should not assume that the independent assessment panel are familiar with your work or your previous funding history. The panel will use the supporting material to get a better understanding of the track record of your creative collaborator(s) and the feasibility of your proposal.
Applicants to the Kildare Short Grass Film Commission 2025 must include
- CVs of the lead creative team (Producer, Director, Writer or other members of the team that the applicants wish to include);
- Screenplay;
- Treatment and one page synopsis, and
- Visual support material. The visual support material should give us a sense of your project and may include images, a trailer, a video link, interviews, a storyboard, scrapbook, etc. Please keep all video material below 3 minutes in duration and send to us in a password protected Vimeo link.
Information Session
Kildare County Council Arts Service will host a number of Information Sessions in locations throughout the county about applying for arts grants and bursary awards with Kildare County Council. Sessions will be of particular interest to individual artists, art collectives, community groups, youth groups and schools who intend to apply for Arts Grants from Kildare County Council in 2025.
Please note that information imparted at each session will be the same - there is no need to register to attend all 3 sessions. All are welcome to attend this FREE session, but booking is recommended.
If you need help to complete and submit your application we want to hear from you. Please email or call the Arts Service team at least three weeks before the award deadline, or as early as possible, to give us time to assist you. Email: arts@kildarecoco.ie / Tel: 045 980872.
- Applications will be accepted via the official online application system only.
- Applications are welcome from filmmakers with projects at all stage of development.
- The lead artists/applicants must be over 18 years of age.
- All recipients of grant assistance under the Arts Act Grant Scheme for projects involving children or young people must have appropriate Child Protection policies in place.
- Kildare County Council Arts Service will require confirmation that the appropriate insurance policies and Health and Safety Procedures are in place.
- It is the responsibility of the grant recipient to follow government public health recommendations and guidelines.
Ineligible applications:
- Applications submitted after the deadline.
- Activities that do not meet the purpose of the award.
- Applicants requesting assistance in respect of commercial activities.
- Proposals for work in retrospect.
- Applications from employees of Kildare County Council. These individuals may not apply as lead applicants, however in certain circumstances can be involved as creative collaborators / advisors / participants in proposals submitted by a third party.
- Activities better suited to others awards and/or schemes offered by the county council.
- Activities that could be better supported by other public agency supports for example Arts Council, Creative Ireland, Culture Ireland, Design & Crafts Council Ireland, Music Generation.
Steps to complete and submit your application form
Here we have outlined the steps you will take to complete and submit your application for funding for Arts Grants, and what happens next.
· Read the call out and eligibility notes
· Click Apply and Register
- Create a new Profile or review your existing details. Please include a valid email address with your application – this will be used for all future correspondence relating to your application.
- Check your email to confirm your registration
- Complete the online application form. This form can be saved in draft for you to review and edit at a later time.
- Upload Supporting Material
- Send application form
- Verify email address (check your email for a copy)*
- Submit application
*Note regarding verification. If you do not receive verification email, it may have been blocked by your mail host and you may need to whitelist our address.
How to Whitelist an Email Address
Open Gmail. In the upper-right corner, select the Settings (gear) icon. From the menu, choose Settings .
Select Filters and Blocked Addresses .
Select Create a new filter . If you already have many filters, you'll have to scroll down to find this link.
A dialog box appears. In the From field, type the email address you want to whitelist. Be sure to type the full email address, like example@yahoo ...
At the bottom of the dialog box, select Create filter.
On the next screen, tell Gmail what to do with the email address or domain you just indicated. To do so, select Never send it to Spam .
Assessment and Decision
- Applications will be assessed by an independent assessment panel.
- Applications are assessed in a competitive context and with consideration of the application form and the supporting materials submitted. Applications are assessed taking the published assessment criteria into consideration.
- All applicants will be advised of panel's decision by email.
- The Arts Service is not in a position to provide feedback on individual applications.
- Grant aid provided by Kildare County Council must be acknowledged in all publicity material associated with the project. Kildare County Council reserves the right to publicise the awarding of the Arts Act Grants. Failure to acknowledge Kildare County Council appropriately may deem the grant invalid and grant aid received may need to be refunded to Kildare County Council.
- All successful applications will receive a copy of Kildare County Council logos, along with the document ‘Requirements for acknowledging Kildare County Council funding’ via email.
- If your application is successful, you will be required to submit a short report/update at the end of the project or before 31st March 2026. An invitation to submit a report will be communicated to grant recipients in spring 2025. Failure to submit a report may deem the grant invalid and grant aid received may need to be refunded to Kildare County Council.
- The payment of a grant is not taken as an indication that the equivalent of any grant will be made to the organiser on another occasion.
- The bursary cannot be passed on to a third party or exchanged for a cash alternative.