Arts Council Funding Decisions

News of the funding decisions (and revised decisions) are trickling out slowly.

The Irish Times carries a piece today about the range of cuts facing most organisations – Alas is seems that all funding to the Irish Writers Centre has been cut. A total cut like this is obviously devastating. I hope Cathal, Ian and the team can cope.

For us in CBI things look a bit better. Our funding has been maintained at 2008 levels which is a massive relief.

Not such a happy Christmas for the arts community it seems-  though some good news comes with the announcement of Celine Kiernan’s new book deal – see David or Irish Times

budget blues

David has some quick off the draw analysis of what the budget means for the Arts sector. Its not cheery.

But even worse and what may have slipped under the radar is the fact that €7.5m has been taken off aid for books in DEIS schools and €2.1m is gone from school library grants. That €2.1m is 100% of the department of education contribution to school library grants. It’s shocking that despite all the evidence about the importance of school libraries DES have withdrawn all of their funding.

The implications of the budget for the public library sector are not so easy to see currently but it is clear that any cut in library funding usually hits the book budget hardest of all.

A river of good information

I’ve been impressed by Stony River Farm blog since I happened upon it and that’s not just because she says some nice things about CBI!

Recently there has been a lot about the business of writing and keeping solvent and sane while doing it. There is a brilliant series of posts about grant and bursary applications. There is also some equally valuable stuff about submissions etc. When aspiring children’s writers contact us we always recommend the Children’s Writers and Artists Yearbook – I think perhaps Susan on stony river farm should consider producing an Irish version of it…….

Part One – Finding relevant grants is here

Part Two – Completing the application is here

Part Three – What to do after the application is sent is here

If you’re are inspiring writer I recommend printing them off and framing them – they are succinct, relevant and totally honest. Writers may not like this part of their role but it’s vital if you are going to survive.