Culture Night Cork County 2025 Expressions of Interest to Participate

Application Guidelines

Cork County Council Arts Office invites arts organisations, community groups, artists and others to submit proposals for events that will be programmed as part of Culture Night 2025. Cork County Culture Night will take place in the 17 Culture Night Hub Towns: Fermoy, Mitchelstown, Mallow, Charleville, Clonakilty, Skibbereen, Bantry, Bandon, Kinsale, Carrigaline, Passage West, Macroom, Baile Mhuirne, Midleton, Youghal, Cobh and Watergrasshill, as well as on the islands and in other locations around the county.

Expressions of interest are sought for cultural events in various forms. Cork County Council will programme and promote eligible events as stated below. Cork County Council will support events that are seeking financial assistance where they meet the objectives as set out below, and where proposals are feasible within our budget.

Cork County Council Arts Office will work with successful applicants to develop and promote events as part of the programme. The Arts Office will coordinate the Culture Night Cork County programme, promoting events, and providing marketing materials to organisations.

For Culture Night 2025, Cork County Council aims to support:

• Ambitious Culture Night activity throughout the county, and particularly the 17 hub towns.
• Collaborations between local groups proposing town programmes.
• County Cork based arts organisations, community groups, and professional or voluntary artists/performers working in any medium. 
• Opportunities for target audiences including families, youth audiences, adults, and older. people and the hardly reached to participate.
• Initiatives that have the capacity to animate public spaces in innovative and creative ways.
• Events that ensure that professional artists/performers receive fair remuneration for their work.
   

Eligibility:

• Events must take place after 4pm on the 19th of September 2025.
• Events must be free and accessible to the public.
• Events must have a cultural focus.
• Applicants must demonstrate a commitment and capacity to deliver safe and controlled events.
• Proposals must be feasible from an artistic and event management perspective.
• Applicants must demonstrate their interest in and ability to engage target audiences.
• Applicants must demonstrate that professional artists employed will be supported in their work and remunerated fairly.
• Where required applicants must provide public liability insurance and be in a position to provide an indemnity to Cork County Council.
• Applicants are required to ensure that if any part of the proposed event/activity is to take place on Cork County Council controlled property or in a public space controlled by Cork County Council, to demonstrate that provisional approval has been given from the relevant Municipal District Office. This is to ensure that notice of planned events taking place on Council controlled areas complies with safety and event management requirements.
• Cork County Council funding policy requires that any organisation seeking funding, whose activities involve children to submit a copy or link to their current child safeguarding policy along with their completed application. Failure to do so may render the application invalid. 

Where financial assistance is sought; the following are not eligible:

• Any application intending to use funding to generate income for personal or organisational benefit.
• General administrative or capital costs of organisations.
• Events or exhibitions that take place outside of Culture Night.
• Costs towards food or alcohol purchased for events.
• Marketing and print costs.

Assessment of applications

The assessment process will consider all relevant information provided. It is important that information is presented clearly and concisely and that you demonstrate how the application meets the funding aims and objectives as set out above.

Application procedure and deadline

• Applications must be submitted via the 'Make an Application' button below.
• The deadline for submission of proposals to the Arts Grants Scheme is Friday 18th April 2025. Late applications will not be considered.
• We recommend you include supporting materials in your application this may include examples of previous work, letters of support from collaborators, or a further budget breakdown.
• We strongly advise making the application ahead of the deadline to avoid any difficulties with uploading times.
• If the application is successfully submitted you will receive a confirmation email and an application reference number. This mail can sometimes be classified as spam and may be directed to your spam folder.
• Keep a copy of all material submitted.

Notification of Decision

Applicants will be notified of the decision by 23 May 2025. Please also note that detailed proof of expenditure and documentation must submitted in order to draw down Culture Night funding. Reporting and draw down must be completed by 31 October 2025.

Freedom of Information

Cork County Council undertakes to use its best endeavours to hold confidential any information provided by applicants subject to its obligations under law, including the Freedom of Information Act 2014. Applicants are requested to consider if any of the information supplied should not be disclosed because of its sensitivity. If this is the case, candidates should, when providing the information, identify same and specify the reasons for its sensitivity. If such information is not identified as sensitive and Cork County Council on consideration does not deem it sensitive, then such information is liable to be released in response to a Freedom of Information request without further consultation with the applicants. Cork County Council will consult with any candidates about sensitive information before making a decision on any Freedom of Information Act request received.