Community Arts Grant
This grant is to support community arts activity in the County. What do we mean by community arts activity? You could be planning art workshops, an exhibition of art by a local community, a performance by a local amateur group and need help with these costs.
What do I need to know before I apply for this grant?
- This grant is for activities from January to December 2026.
- Before you begin, read the General Grant Scheme Guidelines
- We will not fund any arts activity you have already received funding for from the Council in the last 12 months.
- We will only accept one arts grant application from you.
- Grants are for activities or events taking place in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County.
- We will not fund building programmes, third party grants.
- The grant will not fund loans or charity fundraising events.
- We will not fund capital equipment, for example computers, TV, musical instruments.
- We will not fund the hire of Council premises, international travel or third level education.
- If you or your group received an arts grant for 2025 you must have sent us your report or we will not accept a new application.
- We will not accept late applications.
The application form will ask you to confirm that you have read the guidelines and are eligible to apply for this grant.
If you have any queries please contact us by email arts@dlrcoco.ie or by telephone (01) 236 2759.
Who can apply for a Community Arts Grant?
A local community group, individual artist or service/organisation can apply for this funding. This funding is not for UBU funded youth services/projects or for primary schools. dlr Arts Office supports an annual programme in primary schools and youth services in the County, please contact the Arts Office if you'd like more information about these programmes.
If an individual artist is applying to work with a group of people you must have a letter from the group that you wish to work with. This letter must outline the groups wish to work with the artist and detail what the project/event is.
What is the Community Arts Grant to be used for?
Community arts activities such as a community art exhibition, a publication of creative writing by a local group, or a performance by an amateur group are some examples. These grants do not support professional artists. They support local groups and people to take part in and celebrate the arts in their local neighbourhood.
How much can I apply for?
You can apply for a maximum of €1,500. You can also apply for less than this, you can apply for as little as €100.
How do I apply?
If this is your first time to apply for a grant on the
dlr.submit.com portal, you will need to register. You will need to fill in contact information for you or your group. Once you are registered you can hit the "Apply" button on the right hand side of this page.
Applications must include the following:
- A description of your community group.
- Details about what you will use the grant for. Please include as much detail as possible, we need to understand what you want to use the funding for, when and where will the activity take place, who will benefit and why are you applying for funding?
- The amount you are applying for.
- An outline budget, outlining the different costs for your activity and any other income (if you have other income).
- If you are an individual artist we also need a letter of support from the group that clearly states that they are interested in participating in the event/activity.
How will we select the successful applications?
Your application should describe for us the benefit that this grant will make to the local community.
We will use these criteria and marks to select the artists:
- Ability of the application to support arts activity in the community (40/100)
- Quality of application (35/100)
- Feasibility of proposal (25/100)