The Arts Council announces round one of the Festivals Investment Scheme (FIS) for festivals that commence between 1st of January 2024 and 30th of June 2024.

The Arts Council’s role is to advocate for and support the development of a diverse and varied arts-festival ecology, and to provide a suite of supports that encourage best-practice festival models that increase opportunities for public engagement and participation in the arts or develop the work of an artist/artform.

In this regard the Arts Council offers financial support to small-to-mid-scale festivals to deliver high-quality arts experiences for audiences, and prioritises programmes engaged with, and relevant to, local communities or communities of interest.

The Arts Council acknowledges the diversity of festival operating models and the rich variety of artform-practice areas presented by festivals and their critical role in broadening public access to the arts. The Council also acknowledges the valuable contribution made by voluntary committees in developing these festivals.

In this regard the Arts Council welcomes applications from organisations (voluntary and professional) operating annual, biennial or triennial festival programmes and supports both multi-disciplinary arts festivals as well as those in a single artform discipline through this award.

The Festivals Investment Scheme is a competitive scheme that offers funding to support the staging of festivals on a non-recurring basis.

It is important to note that funding under this programme is offered on a once-off basis. Therefore, those offered awards in previous funding rounds of the Festival Investment Scheme should not assume that funding will be provided.

There are three bands of funding available:

Band A – For awards up to €10,000 

Band B – For awards of €10,001–€25,000 

Band C – For awards of €25,001–€45,000 

Selecting the appropriate application band for the Festivals Investment Scheme (FIS)

There are three funding bands in the Festivals Investment Scheme and each one is designed to support festivals at different stages of their development. An organisation may make only one application under the Festivals Investment Scheme in a year (i.e. one application in one band per calendar year). You should choose the one most suitable for your festival organisation. Please refer to the application guidelines for more details.

Applicant organisations that wish to apply to Band B must be established for a minimum of three years and have executed three consecutive festival programmes as a minimum requirement to apply to this band (see section 1.3 Who can apply? in the application guidelines for further details)

Applicant organisations that wish to apply to Band C must be established for a minimum of five years and have executed five consecutive festival programmes as a minimum requirement to apply to this band see section 1.3 Who can apply? in the application guidelines for further details)

Application forms and application materials are only accepted online using the Arts Council’s Online System (OLS).

Posted, e-mailed or faxed applications will not be accepted.

Late applications will not be accepted.

Festival clinics for applicant organisations take place on Thursday the 18th of May at 2pm . Details of these clinics can be found on the Festivals initiatives page Clinics | The Arts Council | An Chomhairle Ealaíon and in the Arts Council Newsletter along with links to book places.