Culture Night will take place nationwide on Friday 19th September 2025 from 4pm 'til late. Kildare County Council Arts Service now welcomes applications from individual artists and/or groups of artists for unique public-facing artistic projects of ambition across art forms to coincide with the county's Culture Night celebrations. Commissions will range from €2,000 - €4,000.
We are particularly interested in projects that:
- are of ambition and scale;
- are new and/or represent a new development to an existing project;
- are in-person, engaging and public-facing;
- consider alternative/non traditional spaces;
- reflect the cultural richness of Kildare and the diversity of all communities living in the county;
- target, engage and grow new/different audiences for culture and the arts in the county;
- engage the 18-35 demographic (although this is not an obligatory requirement).
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 might consider demonstrating how their proposed activity addresses the themes of climate change and climate action.
Although not an obligatory requirement, applicants might consider demonstrating how their proposed activity addresses the themes of inclusivity, equality and cultural diversity. We are committed to supporting projects that consider equality, inclusion, accessibility and diversity, that strive to respect, support and ensure the inclusion of all voices and cultures that make up Ireland today. Download the Arts Council's
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Toolkit.
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).
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 when valuing your time as an artist and those collaborating with you.
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.
Interested in having your event listed as part of Culture Night Kildare 2025? Please Note: This call out relates to the commissioning of new public-facing projects of ambition and scale. If you are planning an event in your local area and want to be considered for inclusion in the 2025 programme and access financial support*, Kildare County Council Arts Service will publish details of how to submit your event at a later stage. Details will be published online in early summer 2025 and via the Arts Service's monthly e-newsletter (
subscribe here). *Culture Night stipends will be available for eligible events.
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 both your track record and that of your creative collaborators, and the feasibility of your proposal.
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.
- Individual artists and/or groups of artists for new public-facing artistic projects of ambition to coincide with the county's Culture Night celebrations may apply.
- Applicants resident outside of county Kildare are welcome to apply but must clearly demonstrate how their proposal would benefit the county.
- Applicants must be aged 18 years or older.
- All recipients of grant assistance under the this scheme for projects involving children or young people must have appropriate Child Protection policies.
- 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 current government public health recommendations and guidelines.
Ineligible applications:
- Applications submitted after the deadline.
- Activities that do not meet the purpose or priorities of the award.
- Applicants requesting assistance in respect of commercial activities.
- Applications from individuals aged under 18 years of age, or individuals in second level education.
- Proposals for activities 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 2025, 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 are assessed in a competitive context and with consideration of the application form and the supporting materials submitted. Consideration will be given to the artform(s) supported and the Arts Service’s remit to support the arts countywide. Criteria for consideration at assessment will include artistic ambition; meeting the purpose/aims of the award; benefit of the proposal/arts activity to the county; feasibility; consideration to the country-wide breadth of the programme.
- 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 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 October 2025, whether the project has been completed or not. An invitation to submit a report will be communicated to grant recipients in early autumn 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.