Clare Arts Office is committed to supporting artists in their professional development by offering numerous opportunities for upskilling and professional development.

We work with local, regional and national partners to assess needs and deliver supports that are relevant and current. In recent times all supports and training has been delivered online.

We also provide studio spaces for artists at our EASI Studios facility in Ennis and our Tulla Stables Studios,

Recent Supports

1. Starting a Creative Business

Clare Arts Office ran three sessions to support artists looking to set up creative businesses in Clare. Our facilitator, Theresa Mulvihill from Smart Marketing looked at the following areas over three sessions.

  • Module: Starting a business essential considerations
  • Module 2: Getting sales and promoting your business
  • Module 3: Managing your money

This programme was for creative artists who wanted to make money from their creations. Artists newly arrived in the country were particularly welcome and Ukranian language supports were provided. The course provided guideance on

  • Understanding of setting up a business in Ireland
  • What supports are available to you
  • How to promote your business
  • How to manage your money
  • Network of like minded people in a similar business

2. Pilot Artists Bursary Scheme

This pilot scheme provided opportunities for artists and members of the community participating in the arts to attend publicly funded summer schools, artists retreats, professional development events in Ireland eg Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Drama League of Ireland Summer School etc.

Applications were welcomed from established and emerging artists as well as those involved in the community, amateur or voluntary sectors. Young people attending high quality summer schools were also welcome to apply.

The following artists were supported through the scheme

Ana Colomer – Tyrone Guthrie Centre Residency

Nathalie el Baba – Tyrone Guthrie Centre Residency

Mary Fahy – Residency at the Cowhouse Retreat, Wexford

Eilis Murphy – – Tyrone Guthrie Centre Residency

Marcus O’Connor – Oil Painting Course at The Old Schoolhouse, Wexford

Susan Rice – Drama League of Ireland Summer School

3. First Music Contact Regional Development Project

First Music Contact is the leading national music organisation for resourcing popular musicians and the independent music sector in Ireland. They deliver projects at key stages of an artists’ development, helping them develop real careers.   This new project, in association with Clare Arts Office, aims to develop a way of offering equal access to professional development services to musicians in Clare as well as developing a framework for supporting artists locally.

This is a musician-first project in which we consulted with musicians locally as we wanted to find out what they need to get their music career off the ground or to take the next step – what are the practical things they need and what kind of advice they are after..

We held an initial session on “Introduction to the Music Industry and First Music Contact supports” and having analysed the results of this survey we designed professional development panels based on

  • Online Marketing
  • Gigging outside Ireland,
  • Management
  • Approaching Media
  • How to reach your audience online as you develop your professional practice

4. Regional Professional Development Series for Visual Artists

In 2023 we again worked with Visual Artists Ireland in conjunction with our colleagues in Limerick Arts Office and Tipperary Arts Office to devise an annual Professional Development Series for visual artists that included webinars on

  • Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in the Visual Arts
  • Starting and Re-Starting Your Career
  • The Ethical Artist – Creating Challenging, Meaningful Work in a Changing World.

Places for artists from Clare are free on the webinars as we support the participation of local artists.