Arts Council announces £84,000 National Lottery funding to support 12 exceptional artists
20th November, 2022
12 exceptional artists from Northern Ireland have been announced as the latest recipients of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s Artist Career Enhancement Scheme (ACES) and are set to benefit from £84,000 funding. ACES is a professional development programme supported by The National Lottery which provides funding awards to Northern Ireland’s most talented emerging and mid-career artist artists; helping them to create new work and develop their professional, artistic careers.
Awards under the Artists Career Enhancement Scheme (ACES) are made annually to artists working in music, visual arts, drama, dance, literature and participatory arts, and are among the most prestigious awards offered by the Arts Council. This year’s awardees include three visual artists, four musicians, two drama awardees, two writers and one dancer.
In addition to receiving a bursary of up to £7,000 each to develop new work, many of the 12 artists will partner with a professional organisation or leading artist, at home or abroad. Some of these partners include; Golden Thread Gallery, Echo Echo Dance, Dumbworld and AEMI (Artists Experimental Moving Image).
Roisin McDonough, Chief Executive of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, commented:
“The Arts Council of Northern Ireland is delighted to award £84,000 to 12 exceptional artists from Northern Ireland, thanks to support from The National Lottery. These artists are already established and highly regarded in each of their fields and the ACES awards are given in recognition of their work to date. The award also provides them with the financial support to take their careers to that vital next level. The ACES programme has been running successfully for a number of years now and addresses the need for on-going skills development and training within the arts sector here. A warm congratulations to all 12 ACES awardees. We’re truly excited to see their ACES projects develop in the year ahead.”
The 12 artists awarded ACES funding 2022-23 includes:
Visual Arts
Alessia Cargnelli
Anushiya Sundaralingam
Dorothy Hunter
Music
Darren Beckett
James Thompson
Peter O'Doherty
Xenia Pestova Bennett
Drama
Dominic Montague
Gavin Peden
Literature
Jamie Guiney
Peter Jordan
Dance
Mrs Suzannah McCreight
The Artists Career Enhancement Scheme (ACES) forms part of the wider Support for the Individual Artist Programme (SIAP) which is administered by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland annually with funding from The National Lottery. As part of its continuing commitment to supporting the development of individual artists, the Arts Council made 262 SIAP awards to individual artists in 2022/23 totalling £985K. Visit www.artscouncil-ni.org/funding for information on all funding opportunities.