Limerick City and County Council Culture and Creativity team is pleased to announce an open call for Limerick based creatives, community organisations and groups to submit applications for the Limerick Creative Communities Small Grants Scheme 2025 (formerly Made in Limerick Grants Scheme). These grants are offered as part of Limerick’s Creative Ireland Programme to deliver activities taking place in 2025. 

 

The Creative Ireland Programme is an all-of-government initiative committed to enhancing access to, engagement with, and enjoyment of Ireland’s culture and creativity. Within the broad range of available definitions, creativity is considered as a set of innate abilities and learned skills; the capacity of individuals and organisations to transcend accepted ideas and norms and by drawing on imagination to create new ideas that bring additional value to human activity. 

 

The vision of the Creative Ireland Programme 2023 - 2027 is to mainstream creativity in the life of the nation so that individually and collectively, in our personal lives and in our institutions, we can realise our full creative potential thereby promoting individual, community and national wellbeing. 

Limerick Creative Communities Small Grants Scheme 2025 aims to support the implementation of the Creative Ireland Limerick Culture and Creativity Strategy 2023-2027 Strategic Priorities. 

Limerick Creative Communities Small Grant Scheme 2025 has five separate strands under which you may apply. These align with the five strategic priorities of the Limerick Culture and Creativity Strategy 2023-2027 and are as follows: 

 

Enhancing the creative landscape and cultural infrastructure of Limerick, for the benefit and enjoyment of all. Applications under this strategic priority should: 

Facilitate and support the development of creative spaces and/or, 

Celebrate Limericks heritage and cultural identity. 

There is a fund of approximately €10,000 available under this strand. Grants of up to a maximum of €5,000 will be awarded. Please note that successful applicants may not receive full amount requested. Please also note that this is not capital funding. 

 

Nurturing, supporting and empowering artists, arts practitioners and creative workers across the arts and cultural sector, as well as within the broader creative industries. Applications under this strategic priority should: 

Support Limericks artists, art practitioners and cultural workers and/or, 

Support creative entrepreneurship across the wider creative industries in Limerick. 

There is a fund of approximately €13,750 available under this strand. Grants of up to a maximum of €5,000 will be awarded. Please note that successful applicants may not receive full amount requested. 

 

Connecting people and communities to each other and the world. Applications under this strategic priority should: 

Connect different communities across Limerick City and County by nurturing creativity and/or, 

Engage, inspire and connect people across all generations and/or, 

Connect Limerick to the World, and the World to Limerick. 

There is a fund of approximately €6,250 available under this strand. Grants of up to a maximum of €5,000 will be awarded. Please note that successful applicants may not receive full amount requested. 

 

Harnessing culture and creativity to facilitate positive change within appropriate health care settings, social services and in the areas of climate action and biodiversity. Applications under this strategic priority should: 

Promote, facilitate and support creative change making across a diverse range of settings and/or, 

Contribute to climate action and biodiversity initiatives, advocacy and awareness raising. 

There is a fund of approximately €6,250 available under this strand. Grants of up to a maximum of €5,000 will be awarded. Please note that successful applicants may not receive full amount requested. 

 

Supporting innovation, attracting investment and encouraging participation across the cultural and creative industries. Applications under this strategic priority should: 

Support the growth and development of Limerick’s Film, Screen and Digital Technology sectors and/or, 

Encourage broader participation across the wider culture and creative industries. 

There is an allocation of approximately €13,750 available under this strand. Grants of up to a maximum of €5,000 will be awarded. Please note that successful applicants may not receive full amount requested. 

This scheme is open to Limerick based creatives, artists, community organisations and groups. Please note that ‘community’ can refer to a community of place or interests. Community of place is a group of people that live in the same area, while a community of interest is a group of people brought together through a common interest, for example a heritage group, literary group, community drama group, artists collective, community choir, after-school club, active-retired etc. 

The minimum amount available is €1,000 up to a maximum of €5,000. We envisage the average offers to be in the €4,000 - €4,500 range and that about 10 projects will be supported by this scheme. Funding will be allocated on a competitive basis. This is in line with the assessment criteria set out in the guidelines document.

Eligibility: 

An applicant may only apply submit one application for Limerick Creative Communities Small Grant Scheme 2025. 

Projects at all stages are eligible for this funding strand. This means that you can apply for research and development of your project idea and/or delivery of the project, given that:  

The project and the benefiting community are based in the Limerick City and County Council administrative area, or the applicant is based in Limerick, or operates substantially within Limerick City and County and is able to demonstrate this in their application; 

Proposed activities will take place in 2025.