–          €38k fund for an emerging Irish artist

–          Closing date 26 February 2015

Business to Arts is delighted to continue to support Sky’s investments in emerging talent in the arts in Ireland.  This year, Sky Academy will award one scholarship to an artist living in the Republic of Ireland, aged 18 – 30. This is the first year a Sky Academy Arts Scholarship is open exclusively to artists in Ireland. The successful recipient will receive €38,000 to go toward living costs and the development of an artistic project plus high level mentoring – giving them the time and support to develop their creative practice and take their career to the next level.

Sky Academy Arts Scholarships, which is run in partnership with IdeasTap, will support talented emerging artists in the areas of Music; Theatre and performance; Visual Art;Dance; Creative Producing and Creative Writing (excluding film and tv scripts)

Since 2011, the Scholarships – formerly known as the Sky Arts Futures Fund – have supported fifteen young artists. Each scholar receives £30,000 (€38,000) towards the development of an artistic project and living costs for one year, as well as mentoring from Sky and the Arts industry, giving access to new skills and networks.  In addition, each artist receives a short film about their project and practice, and wider developmental support from Sky and IdeasTap. As part of the initiative, one scholarship will be awarded to an artist living in Ireland and four scholarships will be awarded to artists living in the UK.

Mark Deering, Director of Corporate Affairs, Sky Ireland said: “Sky Academy is all about helping young people fulfil their potential and so we are thrilled to continue our support of emerging artistic talent. Supporting the development of young artists is crucial to the future vitality of the arts, and we are proud to once again be working with Sky Arts, Business to Arts, and IdeasTap, to do this. We can’t wait to support a brilliant young artist from Ireland.”

Sky Academy Arts Scholarships are open to artists aged 18 to 30 living in the UK and Ireland.  Applicants need to be a member of IdeasTap.com, which is free to join, and can submit either a written or filmed application in the categories of visual art, theatre, dance, music, creative writing (excluding film or TV scripts) and creative producing. Applications will then be assessed by industry professionals as well as individuals from Sky and IdeasTap, with winners announced at the South Bank Awards in June 2015.

Business to Arts and Sky Ireland together with Sky Academy will host a briefing session in Dublin in January for artists interested in applying. Date TBC. Please email to express your interest in attending. For more information and to apply (closing date 26 February 2015), visit Sky.com/artsscholarships

Business to Arts is delighted to continue to support Sky’s investments in the Arts in Ireland. Together with Sky Ireland, we will shortly announce a date for a Dublin Briefing Session for Irish arts organisations and production companies to find out more about applying for Sky Arts Amplify, a new €1.25m annual fund for new TV ideas to be created collaboratively, as part of a broader investment in the UK and Ireland’s creative industries.

Sky Arts Amplify, is designed to foster integrated partnerships between creative institutions and TV production companies, bringing the vibrancy and breadth of the arts in the UK and Ireland to life on screen in innovative, new ways.  €1.25million (£1m) is available annually for the next three years.

Amplify furthers Sky’s position as an established supporter of the arts in the UK and Ireland and reiterates Sky’s ongoing commitment to investing in original, homegrown content. Amplify seeks to offer ways for arts organisations to reach new, wider audiences, and to create high quality arts programming for Sky customers.

Sky Arts Amplify is the evolution of Sky Arts Ignition which saw partnerships with Rough Magic for their production in the Olympia Theatre in June 2014 of ‘The Rise and Fall of The City of Mahagonny’ in association with Opera Theatre Company; and with the V & A Museum and Tate Liverpool to stage groundbreaking new work. It underlines Sky’s position as the home of the UK and Ireland’s only dedicated arts channels, as well as a leading corporate supporter of the arts following the success of long-standing partnerships with the Hay Festival and the English National Ballet.

Phil Edgar-Jones, Director, Sky Arts: “The arts landscape of the UK and Ireland is more exciting than it’s ever been, and we want to reflect that on Sky Arts. But we don’t just want to make TV about the arts – we want to make artistic TV. Sky Arts Amplify is about bringing the best people in their fields together to do this in bold, fearless ways.”

Business to Arts and Sky Ireland will host a briefing session in Dublin in January (Date TBC) which will be attended by Director of Sky Arts, Phil Edgar-Jones.  This session will facilitate arts organisations meeting with production companies to brainstorm ideas. Please email to register your interest in attending this event. Places will be limited.

The application process for Sky Arts Amplify will see arts organisations are encouraged partner with a production company of like-mind to submit one-page treatments for an idea.

The Deloitte InFocus Photography Competition is taking place as an integral staff-engagement piece and as part of the refurbishment to D&T House.

Aimed at enhancing everyone’s working environment, staff members, including alumni, are invited to submit their own photographs for consideration as part of a competition to find images which will subsequently be displayed in Deloitte’s offices and meeting spaces.

The competition seeks to find great images, which fit within the following themes:

1. Category A: Deloitte – People & Brand
2. Category B: Nature & Built Environment
3. Category C: Open Theme

A specially-convened Judging Panel will select up to 10 winning images from those submitted. The winning images will be professionally printed and mounted for display, and as such will become part of Deloitte’s Art Collection in Ireland.

Each winning photographer will receive a cash prize of €250. One overall winner will receive a cash prize of €1,000. All winners will also receive a professionally produced and mounted copy of their image (approximately 20 x 30cms).

How to enter

All entrants eligible to participate in this competition must complete the Entry Form.

Entry forms must be saved as a pdf file and emailed to deloitteinfocus@businesstoarts.ie together with your image/s by 5pm on Monday 19th January 2015.

Each participant may submit up to 9 images in total to the competition

As the image/s will be printed and mounted professionally to a large scale, it is important that they fit certain requirements in terms of file size, quality etc. The specifications for the image/s should follow these guidelines:

1. JPEG/File format: saved as JPEG (.jpg) set at High Resolution (300dpi resolution)
2. JPEG/File size: at least 2MB and no larger than 3MB
3. Each image should be saved as follows: ‘Name of Image by Your First Name & Second Name.jpg’ e.g. ‘Flower by John Smith.jpg’ or ‘Untitled by Jane Smith.jpg’
4. Entrants may be requested to provide a higher resolution image for display purposes related to the competition.

The winning entries will be announced by 9th February 2015. Prizes will be presented at an exhibition of chosen work in mid-March 2015.

Category Guidelines

There are three categories in the Competition:

1. Category A: Deloitte – People & Brand: It’s a place, a space of work, a place for connections… what does it mean to work in Deloitte? Have you found the Deloitte ‘Green Dot’ out in the world, or naturally occurring?
2. Category B: Nature & Built Environment: The outdoors, flora, fauna, interiors, architecture are part of what we experience daily… what do these words express to you?
3. Category C: Open Theme: Category for images representing any theme.

Eligibility

The competition is open to all staff members and alumni of Deloitte (Ireland).

Judges’ Criteria

A selected panel of judges, comprising internal members and external experts, will assess all entries under the following criteria:

1. Creativity & composition of image
2. Quality
3. Relevance to theme
4. Suitability for inclusion in an office setting

Terms & Conditions

1. Incomplete entry forms will not be accepted.
2. Images submitted must not have been published or exhibited previously.
3. By submitting an entry, you agree that you hold authorship of any image submitted, including having the permission of any person featured in the image(s).
4. Entries should not involve nudity; harassment of wildlife; damage to the environment; put any individual in danger; or infringe on the rights of any other person.
5. Deloitte reserves the right to reject work that they believe may be in breach of copyright or that may be deemed inappropriate for an office environment.
6. The winning participant gives Deloitte and Business to Arts expressed permission to use their name and the winning image for any future publicity purposes for the project. This includes any use on website, print (magazine, newspapers and trade publications) and social media. Please note: this is only relevant to winning / selected images.
7. The winning participant agrees to involve themselves in some future publicity and marketing purposes for the project, should that be required.
8. By submitting photographs into this competition you agree to grant Deloitte an exclusive, perpetual, royalty-free right to use and reproduce those pictures in any of its publications or promotional materials, and authorise partners of Deloitte to do likewise.
9. Winners will be paid one month after the culmination of the competition.
10. Entry into this competition shall be deemed full and unconditional acceptance of these Terms & Conditions.

Some Considerations

1. It is recommended that you use the highest image quality setting your camera can achieve.
2. You can use any type of camera to create your images as long as images comply with entry specifications mentioned above.
3. Images scanned from transparencies or negatives are also welcome. The high-resolution scan submitted should adhere to file specifications.

A document with further photography tips is available for download.