We really look forward to receiving your application and please feel free to send any observations or feedback on this award which can help us in our planning for future awards to: ypce@artscouncil.ie
We have arranged the questions by type so you can jump to the ones that match your own queries. We reserve the right to update this Q&A.
You
should read the YPCE Project Award Guidelines in full.
If
your query isn’t answered here, contact the team at ypce@artscouncil.ie
YPCE PROJECT AWARD 2025
Q&A - WHO CAN APPLY
Q: Can an
organisation that is not arts focused, but young person focused (a youth
service), and regularly engages young people through arts processes submit the
application, or does this need to be done by an artist linked with the proposed
project being submitted?
A: The
award is open to organisations working to engage children and young people in
the arts so for example it could be a youth service. The award is also open to
individual artists.
Please
note: If the applicant organisation has a track record in a relevant area but
the proposal also relies on other key partners or individuals with a track
record in the arts, it is a good idea to be as clear as possible about the
relevant track record of each of the partners and their commitment to the project.
(See Section 1.7 for essential supporting material that will help to
demonstrate this – e.g. CVs, letters of support, examples of work.)
Q: I
have applied to Arts Grant Funding 2025; does this make me ineligible to apply
for the project award in this round?
A: Organisations or individuals in receipt of 2025 Arts Grant Funding may not apply. If you applied for AGF 2025 but were not successful, you may apply with a different or developed proposal.
Q: Can
organisations in receipt of Strategic Funding apply to the 2025 YPCE Project
Award?
A: Organisations in receipt of Strategic Funding, Arts
Centre or Partnership Funding, are not
eligible to apply for the YPCE Project Award 2025. However, these
organisations can support and partner with other applicants in making an
application.
Q: We
are a newly formed CLG– does this count us out of the application process?
A:
Individuals
or organisations are eligible to apply for a YPCE Project Award. You are not
required to be a CLG (Company Limited by Guarantee) to make an application, nor are you
ineligible if you are a CLG.
You should be aware that if you are
successful, any
grant offered will only be paid into a bank account held in the name of the
applicant, and you will need to provide an Irish tax number or PPS number and
bank letter or statement. In addition, if the total funding you have received from the Arts Council in a 12-month
period totals €10,000 or more, you must provide a valid Tax Clearance
Certificate/Tax clearance access number. You will need to agree to our
conditions of funding and to report on the use of the funding.
Q: This
will be our first Arts Council funding application – does this count us out of
the application process?
A: Applicants who have never applied
to the Arts Council before can apply
for the YPCE Project Award. You should register with online services as soon as
possible to ensure you have enough time to submit an application. https://onlineservices.artscouncil.ie/
Q: Who would the Arts Council regard as an artist
(would creatives and designers count)?
A: The
Arts Council generally describes professional artists as individuals that
identify themselves and are recognised by their peers as professional
practising artists. This can include individuals who do not earn income
continuously or exclusively from their arts practice.
The arts are defined in the arts act
as follows: “arts” means any creative or interpretative expression
(whether traditional or contemporary) in whatever form, and includes, in
particular, visual arts, theatre, literature, music, dance, opera, film, circus
and architecture, and includes any medium when used for those purposes.
For
the YPCE Project Award, we are interested in supporting projects that engage
children and young people with the arts. The people involved in delivering this
type of project are likely to include individuals from a range of creative
backgrounds – and could include designers, facilitators, etc. A YPCE Project can
include a wide range of forms and media – it may provide opportunities for
young people to express themselves through the arts, or to experience the arts
as audiences, or both.
YPCE PROJECT AWARD 2025
Q&A – YOUTH VOICE and SUPPORTING
MATERIALS
Q: We would welcome some
clarification on the strategic priority that children have a voice in the
development, delivery and evaluation of new work.
A:
A
strategic priority for the Arts Council through this award is to support
proposals that enable children and young people to have a voice in the
development, delivery and evaluation of projects. How this happens and what
this looks like will depend on the nature of the project. We expect all YPCE
Projects to ensure meaningful consultation with young people and we have asked
for a supporting document where you can outline how you plan to go about this. We
have provided a template here: http://www.artscouncil.ie/uploadedFiles/Main_Site/Content/Funds/YPCE%20Project%20Award_Youth%20Voice%20Template.docx
The youth voice template asks you to consider how
children and young people will have space, voice, audience and influence in the
decision-making for your project. Please see the National Participation
Framework for further information and guidance: https://hubnanog.ie/participation-framework
The
youth voice template allows you to explain if you do not plan to consult with
young people at all stages of your project, so that we can understand your
rationale. We would expect this to be relevant in very few cases. You can include
in your budget any relevant costs that will support you to ensure young people
are supported to have space, voice, audience and influence in the development,
delivery and evaluation of the project.
Q: Should
the plan on how the proposal gives young people a voice be submitted as a
separate supporting document or can I make this clear within the application
form?
A: As
per section 1.7 of the guidelines, it should be a separate supporting document.
Please use the youth voice template here: http://www.artscouncil.ie/uploadedFiles/Main_Site/Content/Funds/YPCE%20Project%20Award_Youth%20Voice%20Template.docx
Q: Is there a general
guideline on the number of letters of support? Is there a limit?
There is no limit, but it is important to ensure that the letters of
support are relevant to your application. You should include letters/emails of
support from any partners that are key collaborators on your project. The
nature of the support should be clear in the letter. For example, an
organisation may be confirming that they will offer relevant
advice/resources/time to support your project. If there is a financial
commitment from a partner organisation and this is listed in your budget, the
letter of support from the partner should reference this. If you are including
letters of support from more than one partner, we encourage you to put these
into a single document with a cover page listing contents.
YPCE PROJECT AWARD 2025
Q&A - BUDGET
Q: Is
it possible for a project to be funded by multiple sources?
A: All recipients of Arts Council funding need to
confirm that where they are in receipt of other sources of public funding,
there has been no duplication in the use of public funding for the same activity. This means you should not apply to the Arts
Council for funding to cover costs related to your project, which are already
funded through other sources.
However, it is good to have different sources of
funding contributing to a project, so long as there is no duplication. This can
help to support the feasibility of your proposal, as well as demonstrating the
commitment of partners. You will need to
make this clear in the income section of the application form (section 3.2) and
include the income from other sources that relates to the project you are
proposing. The amount you are requesting from the Arts Council should be the
difference between your income from other sources and your expenditure. In addition, all income noted should be
backed up by your letters of support.
Q: I
see that in addition to the Income and Expenditure within the application form,
a detailed budget is one of the required supporting documents. Is there a budget template for the YPCE
Project Award?
A: You are correct that you need to complete the
I&E within the application form, and also submit a separate detailed
budget. A budget template for the YPCE Project award is available here: YPCE Project Award 2025 Budget Template. We strongly encourage you to use this budget template. However, you may use a budget template that has been developed by the Arts Council’s art form teams for other awards if you find this helpful. (For example, the Theatre Project
Budget template). Alternatively, you may present the budget for your project in a format that you consider best suits the project you are proposing. As per the award guidelines, please ensure that your budget shows the proposed rates of pay
for all personnel involved in your project, and is submitted in Microsoft Excel or Open Office Calc.
Q. What
would the Arts Council view be of an application being submitted with a zero
income position?
A: While zero income from other sources can be
acceptable for some awards, such as Bursary, it would not typically be a strong
position for a Project Award application. For larger scale projects in
particular, we would generally expect to see different sources of income to help
demonstrate the feasibility of the project. It may be useful to consider the
value of in-kind support being offered by partners when looking at the overall
budget for your proposal. If you are including in-kind supports as income, you
must also show it as expenditure to ensure your budget balances. This helps to
provide context for the requested investment from the Arts Council.
YPCE
PROJECT AWARD 2025
Q&A: TIME-FRAME
Q: Can we start our project before January
2025?
We can only support projects that take place from 1 March 2024. It is fine if you have carried out development work ahead of that
date, or if you are building on a previous project. However, the award cannot
be used to fund those activities.
Q: How
long do I have to complete the project?
A: The YPCE Project Award is intended to support
projects that commence on or after 1 March 2024 and will be completed before
the end of 2026. For projects that are awarded funding, the Arts Council seeks
to be flexible if there are unavoidable delays in completing the proposals as
planned. The final instalment of the award will not be paid until the project
is complete. If you believe there will be a delay to the completion of your
project, you should contact the YPCE team to discuss this with us as soon as
this becomes known to you.
Q: Do
the YPCE Project Awards allow applications to create and develop work to
different stages or does the project need to be completed?
A: You should apply for a project that can be developed
and delivered through the funding you receive. Your project may be related to a
wider programme that takes place over a longer time-frame, or you may have
ambitions to build on your project in future as a next stage. However, your
proposal for the YPCE 2025 Project Award should focus on a specific project
that is feasible and will achieve the award objectives in its own right.
YPCE PROJECT AWARD 2025
Q&A: Applying to the RIGHT PROJECT AWARD AND THE
RIGHT STRAND
Q: Is
my proposal better suited to a Theatre Project Award or a YPCE Project Award?
A: The only way to determine this is to read the
award guidelines for both the Theatre Project Award and the YPCE Project Award
and decide which is best suited to your proposal. The Theatre Project Award and
the YPCE Project Award each outline particular priorities, and each strand
within each award is also quite distinct. It is very possible that your
proposal might include elements that are relevant across both Theatre and YPCE
priorities – in this case you will just have to choose which you think best
suits what you are planning to do.
If you apply for a Theatre Project Award, your
proposal will be assessed primarily by the Theatre team, and will be considered
in a competitive context alongside other theatre projects, regardless of the
age-group they are targeted towards. The YPCE team will provide a secondary
assessment with regard to the quality of your application with regard to young
people’s engagement with the arts. The panel is likely to be comprised mainly of
Theatre practitioners.
If you apply for a YPCE Project Award and the main
art form area for your project is Theatre, your proposal will be assessed
primarily by the YPCE team, and will be considered in a competitive context
alongside other projects that seek to engage young people with the arts, across
a range of art forms. The Theatre team will provide a secondary assessment with
regard to the quality and feasibility of your application from an art form
perspective. The panel will include arts practitioners from a range of
backgrounds, who have experience of working with and for children and young
people, and are representative of the art forms in the applications received.
Q: If
I am working with children who are between the ages of 5 – 8 which strand of
the YPCE Project Award should I apply through?
A: We have included different strands in an effort to
encourage projects that will enable children and young people at different ages
and stages to have opportunities to engage with the arts. It sounds like your
project could potentially be suited to Strand 1 (early childhood) or Strand 2
(childhood). It could potentially be suited to Strand 3 (transitions) if the
focus is on the transition between these age-groups. You should choose the
strand you consider most suited to your project, depending on the nature of the
project and giving consideration to the age-group of the majority of
participants.
YPCE PROJECT AWARD 2025
Q&A: HOW YOUR APPLICATION IS ASSESSED
Q:
Are the assessment criteria weighted equally?
There is no numeric weighting attached to each of
the assessment criteria for a YPCE Project Award. All of the criteria (artistic
merit, feasibility, meeting the priorities of the award) are given equal
consideration in the assessment process, and then the panel gives a single
score for each application. The collated scores of all panel members create the
final score for an application.
Q.
Is each application question considered in isolation or is information
presented in a previous question considered?
A: The application form and supporting materials are
read by the assessors in full. Each section of the application form and
required supporting document we ask for should assist in making a comprehensive
assessment. A primary assessment text focussed on each of the criteria is
written drawing on all of this information.
Secondary assessments from the art form teams are
likely to focus on the artistic quality and feasibility of the proposal from an
art form perspective. They may look specifically at your examples of work, CV,
and the track record of the partners or key individuals involved, as well as
your detailed budget.
The Details
of your proposal (Section 2.4 of the application form) is an important
place to include all of the key information relevant to your project, as if
your proposal is shortlisted for consideration by panel, this will appear as
the front page of your proposal. The panel will also have access to the full
application and support materials, and to the assessment team’s analysis of
these.