In the Arts Council’s Equality, Human Rights and Diversity Policy, we commit to collecting more information about artists that apply for and receive funding, and reporting on this data on an annual basis. We do this to provide a clear picture of gaps we are not addressing and to inform new actions to address those gaps
On 9 June 2022 we published a report covering data collected during the 2021 calendar year. This report provides details of all those who applied for and received funding across our individual awards. It also looks at applicants to specialist schemes operated on our behalf by third parties: the Artist in the Community Scheme managed by Create and Arts & Disability Connect managed by Arts & Disability Ireland. To understand the relative demographic representativeness of applicants and recipients, each of the report metrics are compared to the population of Ireland Census 2016.
Download the full report here: Equality Data and Arts Council Awards 2021
The following differences are most pronounced:
Gender: There is a higher proportion of both applicants and recipients who identify as female compared to the general population. On average individuals who identify as non-binary apply for and are granted the highest award value.
Disability: Individuals who identify as having a disability are under-represented by half amongst applicants and recipients compared to the general population. On average, individuals who answered ‘Yes’ to having a disability apply for and are granted the lowest award value.
Ethnicity: The majority of applicants and recipients identified as White Irish, which is in line with the census 2016 data. The success rate for awards is also highest among applicants from White or White Irish backgrounds. The rate of application and award is lowest among individuals who identify as Other or Mixed, Asian or Asian Irish, Black or Black Irish, or belonging to the Traveller Community.