Simplified process for new Artists in Schools scheme

A simplified process for the Artists in Schools scheme was announced this week by the County Arts Office. The Artists in Schools scheme provides students and teachers with the opportunity to work with an artist on a once-off project designed collaboratively between the artist and school and is open to all primary schools in County Roscommon. It has been a successful project of Roscommon County Arts Office for several years. This year the structure of the programme has been greatly altered to make the application process easier for schools and to increase and enrich the collaboration between the artist and the school.  Previously a lot of time and effort went into making an application and while these applications were often of a very high standard, funding was only available for a small number of projects with the result of disappointing a large number of schools and artists who had put a lot of work into their applications. This year, schools are simply asked to register their interest in the scheme by filling in an application form available from Roscommon County Council Arts Office. Suitably experienced artists will then be invited to apply to the Arts Office after which a shortlist of artists will be invited to attend interview so artists’ skills can be matched to schools needs. As this is a collaborative process it of the utmost importance that the teachers who will be working with the artist are involved at project development stage and enabled to bring their professional skills and experience to the planning of the project. The Artists in Schools scheme funds an artist to work in a primary school for 50 hours with funding for an additional five hours development work with the school. The artist can be from any discipline; visual arts, music, drama, multimedia etc.  For further information on this scheme, contact Avril Carr, Arts Education & Development Co-ordinator on (090) 66 32541 or acarr@roscommoncoco.ie