National Lottery Support for Individual Artists Programme - Artists' International Development Fund
Application Deadline: Thu 30th Jul, 2026, 12:00PM
The Artists’ International Development Fund (AIDF) is an annual programme jointly funded by the British Council and Arts Council of Northern Ireland and is open to individual artists and organisations.
Programme Aims
The programme will support early-stage international development opportunities for individual, freelance and self-employed artists and organisations based in Northern Ireland.
It will afford recipients the opportunity to spend time building links with artists, organisations and/or creative producers in another country.
The aim of the programme is to support individual international developmental opportunities for talent and artistic excellence from Northern Ireland and, thereby, enhance Northern Ireland’s international artistic development, reputation and standing.
Who can apply?
Eligible applicants to Project Funding for Individuals are as follows:
- Artists of all disciplines and in all types of working practice , including creative producers, curators and editors.
- Emerging Artists: The Arts Council particularly welcomes applications from emerging artists - an emerging artist is someone who is in the early stage of their career as a professional artist. They are developing their artist ‘voice’ and are in the process of establishing a reputation and recognition among critics, galleries, producers etc, and will have practiced as a professional artist for less than 5 years.
- Practicing artists who are also undergraduates, postgraduates and academics employed at 3rd level educational institutions are eligible to apply but – where their project proposal lies within the same artform area as their study or work - they must prove that the funds which they are seeking are for costs which are not properly the concern of their employer and/or are not related to their work or academic study. They must submit evidence of this in the form of a letter on headed paper from their Head of Department.
- In the case of post-graduate students, the letter must clearly state the title of the student’s PhD thesis and include a declaration by the Head of Department. This declaration must state “The project for which funds are being sought does not form part of any academic work undertaken in relation to the above-titled PhD nor will it be assessed as part of any academic course”.
- Applicants undertaking a Masters or a PhD must also include a separate statement which provides information on how the project applied for differs from their Masters or PhD work.
- Please note: The Arts Council may use its own judgement in determining this matter.
In addition, AIDF applicants must also:
- have received recognition for their work in Northern Ireland;
- not have had extensive international experience;
- be applicants whose work will benefit from launching better international networks – either artistically or in terms of developing an audience for their work; and,
- be able to demonstrate an interest in their work from an overseas partner/host.
What you can apply for
Eligible costs vary across schemes but can include:
- Art materials
- Costs of your own time in undertaking the proposed activity
- Residency costs (ACNI’s contribution is up to a maximum of 4 weeks’ duration), including travel costs (NB: if you are applying for a residency you must provide evidence of an invitation or support from the host organisation.)
- Artistic or technical fees including those towards production or post-production costs associated with presentation or exhibition of work
- Venue hire e.g. rehearsal space
- Project-related travel costs, including mileage costs (@25.7p per mile) and air travel
- Technical equipment related to the project/proposal (equipment requests cannot comprise more than 50% of the value of your request)
- IT Equipment : A maximum contribution of £1,200 will be made towards laptops and pcs, and £500 towards tablet computers.
If you have any queries about the eligibility of your project or a cost within it in relation to a particular scheme, please contact the relevant art form officer at least 2 weeks before the closing date of the scheme to which you intend to apply. Staff contact details are available from artscouncil-ni.org/about-us/our-people/our-staff
Frequently Asked Questions
You are eligible to apply to this scheme if you are:
- An Artist of any discipline and in all types of working practice
- An emerging Artist
- A practicing artist who is also an undergraduate, postgraduate and academic employed at a 3rd level educational institution
- An Arts organisations who wish to take small scale work abroad
You must also:
- Have received recognition for their work in Northern Ireland;
- not have had extensive international experience;
- be applicants whose work will benefit from launching better international networks – either artistically or in terms of developing an audience for their work; and,
- be able to demonstrate an interest in their work from an overseas partner/host.
You must also:
- Live in Northern Ireland
- be at least 18 years old and are not in secondary education
- Have contributed to artistic activities in Northern Ireland for a minimum period of 1 year within the last 5 years.
You may not be eligible to apply if you:
- Received an Artists International Development Fund award in 2024/25 or 2025/26
- Are in breach of any previous letters of offer (regardless of the letter of offer date).
- Students, for projects related to their course of study or their tuition fees (by student we mean a person following a course of study in a school, a college, or a university)
You may apply to more than one scheme (for which you are eligible) but if successful, you will only receive one award in any funding round.
If you choose to apply to more than one scheme:
- You must complete a separate application form for each scheme.
- The projects within each application must be significantly different from one another.
- If your proposals to multiple schemes are not deemed significantly different, you will be contacted and asked to select which scheme and application you would like to proceed with.
You are not permitted to submit multiple applications for different projects to the same scheme.
The application deadline is 12noon on Thursday 30 July 2026.
Artists and organisations are able to apply for small grants from £1,000 to £7,000.
To receive advice about the eligibility of your project and/or project costs, please contact the relevant art form officer no later than Thursday 16 July 2026. Staff contact details are available on the Arts Council of Northern Ireland website at artscouncil-ni.org/about-us/our-people/our-staff
Our advice is restricted to general proposal eligibility and costs. We cannot offer advice on detailed budgets or written proposals. Please note, that it is only on submission of the full application that a final determination of eligibility can be made.
University of Atypical can provide support with your application. Advice sessions will start on/after Friday 19 June 2026. Please contact University of Atypical as soon as possible for support. Phone: 028 90239450; Email: [email protected].
Yes this is permissible. Arts Council will allow travel from Northern Ireland to Dublin and will cover associated travel costs from Northern Ireland to Dublin.
You must provide the requested mandatory enclosures. If you do not, your application will be ineligible.
Mandatory enclosures are the documents which you must submit with your application.
You must submit the following mandatory enclosure with your application:
- Artistic CV
- Detailed project budget (you must use the ACNI budget template)
- Artform-Appropriate Support Material (please see pages 15-18 of the Guidance Notes)
- AIDF Developmental/networking summary
- Letters of invitation from contact venues/host organisations/residency organisation/galleries/project partners etc.
Remember, if relevant to your proposal, you must also submit the following documentation, where applicable:
- Letter from Head of Department regarding employment/academic assessment/study
- Masters/PhD statement
Your application might be deemed ineligible for the following reasons:
- You have not provided all relevant mandatory enclosures
- You have received an Artists International Development Fund award in 2024/25 or 2025/26
- You do not live in Northern Ireland
- You have submitted enclosures which do not meet our requirements (e.g. you haven’t used the budget template)
- We are unable to open your enclosures (i.e. weblinks provided are not accessible, weblinks provided require log in details)
- You have provided dates which are outside of the programme timeframe
- Your proposal does not fit the remit of the programme
We will issue you with an email notification outlining the reason(s) for ineligibility. You will not be able to provide any missing enclosures or supplementary information after a notification of ineligibility has been issued. However, you may wish to address the reasons for ineligibility and submit a new application before the application deadline. Ineligible applications have no bearing on any further applications you wish to make.
Decisions will be issued in October 2026. The Arts Council will contact you with the final decision via email.
Submitting an application does not guarantee that you will receive an award.
How to apply?
You must apply using our online system. We will not accept applications in hard copy or by email.
If you are d/Deaf, disabled, or neurodivergent, University of Atypical can provide support with completing your application. Due to the time needed to match you with the best advisor, it is likely that advice sessions will start on/after Friday 19 June 2026. Please contact University of Atypical as soon as possible to ensure sufficient time for the support process. Phone: 028 90239450; Email: [email protected].
- Online applications may be edited, saved and returned up to the closing date.
- You must submit all mandatory enclosures associated with the application at the same time as your application, ie. they must be uploaded to your online application prior to its submission. These enclosures are listed on the Attachments page within the online application and are detailed below.
- Please ensure that you leave sufficient time to upload all documents to the system as there can be long delays as the closing deadline approaches and the system will shut down at 12 noon precisely on the closing date, Thursday 30 July 2026. If your complete application is not fully uploaded when the system closes, your application will not be accepted.
- If you submit your application by the closing deadline, you will receive an automated email advising that your application has been successfully submitted to the system. If you do not receive this email, your application has not been submitted.
Please remember that it is your responsibility to ensure that we receive the application form and uploaded enclosures by the closing time and date.
Online Applications
You must apply using our online system. We will not accept applications in hard copy or by email.