You must set up an account for your school/centre on the Arts Council’s Online Services system (OLS) to access the application form and to make your application to the Arts Council. When you set up this account, please register your school/centre as an ‘organisation/group’ (rather than as an individual). Please ensure your school/centre name is the same as the one used on your school’s/centre’s bank account. 

Once you have registered you will be issued with an ‘Art Reference Number’ (ARN) for your school/centre. You use your ‘ARN’ reference number to log into the Online Services system. 

If your school/centre has already registered with the Arts Council’s Online Services, you do not need to register again. You should use your school’s/centre’s reference number (ARN) to log in and make an application. The Guidelines for Applicants are available here. 

Click on the Arts Council’s Online Services system (OLS) here and enter your school’s/centre’s details to set up an account for your school/centre.  

You must set up an account for your school/centre on the Arts Council’s Online Services system (OLS) to access the application form and to make your application to the Arts Council. When you set up this account, please register your school/centre as an ‘organisation/group’ (rather than as an individual). Please ensure your school/centre name is the same as the one used on your school’s/centre’s bank account. 

Within five working days you will be emailed a unique Art Reference Number (ARN) and password that you can use to sign in to your school’s/centre’s account on the Arts Council’s Online Services system and to access the application form. While you are waiting for confirmation of your registration read the Guidelines for Applicants and FAQs. 

If your school/centre has already registered with the Arts Council’s Online Services, you do not need to register again. You should use your school’s/centre’s ARN (reference number) to log in and make an application. The Guidelines for Applicants are available here. 

You must set up an account for your school/centre on the Arts Council’s Online Services system (OLS) to access the application form and to make your application to the Arts Council. 

You must submit your application through the Arts Council’s Online Services system. 

If your school/centre does not have an Online Services account, please set one up here. 

No. All applications must be made through the Arts Council’s Online Services. Applications made in any other way (by post, fax or email) will not be accepted.  

If your school/centre does not have an Online Services account, please set one up here. 

An ARN is your school’s/centre’s ‘Art Reference Number’, which is your school’s/centre’s file reference number in the Arts Council.  You will need this to access your Online Services account. 

You can contact the Creative Schools team who will provide you with your school’s/centre’s ARN (reference number). Email creativeschools@artscouncil.ie  

If you have been awarded Creative Schools already, you can refer to the correspondence you received from the Arts Council offering you the award, and this will contain your school’s/centre's ARN.  

On the login page for the Arts Council’s Online Services system, there is an option to select ‘Forgot my password’.  When you click this, the system will generate a new password for your school, and email it automatically to the email address that you have included in your Online Services account.  

No. You save a copy of the application form to your computer, and you fill it in off line. You are free to return to it at your own leisure. Once you and your colleagues are happy with your completed application form, you log back on to your school’s Online Services account to upload your form and to submit your application to the Arts Council. 

No. You will only need to supply these details if you are awarded a grant. 

Yes, the Guidelines for Applicants and application form are available in both Irish and English through the Arts Council’s Online Services system. We welcome applications through Irish.  

No, unfortunately not. If you are still in advance of the application deadline, you can correct your form on your computer off-line, and then log on to Online Services and submit a new application. We can withdraw the earlier application.  

Participating schools/centres will be provided with a package of supports that includes working with a Creative Associate to support them to create their Creative Schools Plan, and a flat-rate grant of €4,000 (in total) towards implementation of their plan in the two school years 2023–24 and 2024–25.  

All primary and post-primary schools and Youthreach centres that are recognised by the Department of Education that have not already participated in a previous round of Creative Schools are eligible to apply. The Guidelines for Applicants are available here.  

See also question 15 regarding Creative Clusters. 

Eligible schools/centres may apply to both Creative Schools 2023 and the Creative Clusters initiative 2023. However, schools/centres cannot participate in both initiatives at the same time. This means schools/centres that apply successfully to both initiatives may accept an offer from either Creative Schools 2023 or Creative Clusters 2023.  

Creative Clusters is an initiative of the Department of Education, led by and in partnership with the twenty-one full-time Teacher Education Centres (Education Support Centres Ireland – ESCI) and funded through the Schools Excellence Fund. 

No, they are separate initiatives. They are both under the ‘Creative Youth’ pillar of the Creative Ireland programme and in the Creative Youth Plan. 

Participating schools/centres nominate a Creative Schools Coordinator for participation in the initiative. This must be a principal or teacher currently employed in the school/centre. 

There is substitution paid to cover the School Coordinator to attend Creative Schools training sessions.  

Yes, we will try to pair you with an Irish speaking Creative Associate and all documentation we supply can be completed in Irish also. 

Each school and Youthreach Centre is different, and Creative Schools has been included in the timetable in many different ways, from weekly sessions to short modules and once-off workshops. For example, Primary Schools have timetabled Creative Schools activity across the full range of the curriculum, from SPHE, Arts Education and Language, to Physical Education and Mathematics. There is a lot of opportunity to include creativity in many aspects of the curriculum in Post Primary schools and Youthreach Centres. Creative Schools activity can be very useful for cross-curricular collaboration, and it is also very relevant to key skills and wellbeing. 

Assemblies and other existing forums can be very useful for sharing Creative Schools ideas and work, and to make the programme visible across your school/centre.

No. This is your school’s/centre’s decision to make. Creative Schools encourages schools/centres to mobilise and involve their whole school community as far as possible. Many of our schools get the whole school involved while others focus in on a number of particular class groups. 

No. Our team has an established panel of Creative Associates. Each participating school/centre will be matched with a Creative Associate. Matching is based on geographical proximity, as far as possible.  

However, your school/centre does choose the external professional artists and other creative practitioners who you might work with on projects and activities arising from your school’s Creative Schools Plan. Your Creative Associate can advise you and help your school/centre to make connections with artists, creative practitioners, cultural groups and organisations.

Yes, but not all the time. Often, a teacher or a visiting artist or creative practitioner may be leading Creative Schools activity. At various stages of the Creative School journey, the Creative Associate might engage directly with students, and also with teachers, e.g. by facilitating an introductory creativity workshop.  

The Creative Associate works closely with the School Coordinator. They listen actively to what the students and school community are saying about creativity, and help reflect that back to them. Creative Associates can also advise and help in the planning of key activities and projects decided by the school and included in the Creative Schools Plan.

Sign up to the monthly Arts Council newsletter for future opportunities and arts related news; and occasionally check the Arts and Education Portal for arts and education news and examples of practice. 

Contact creativeschools@artscouncil.ie directly, or: 

• Rebecca Lam – 087 214 3131 
• Natalie Byrne – 087 278 6276 
• Erin McNulty – 087 280 5422 

You can find Creative Schools information on the Arts Council website: http://www.artscouncil.ie/creative-schools/ 

The Guidelines for Applicants are here.