Bank of Ireland, in partnership with Business to Arts, have announced the 36 projects spanning music, theatre, dance, traditional arts, and the visual arts that will receive support from the first phase of the Bank of Ireland Begin Together Arts Fund.

Funding of €300,000 will be provided to artworks or arts projects which have been inspired by the experience of living through COVID-19 or have been adapted in response to the pandemic. The all-island Begin Together Arts Fund will open for a second round of applications in April and will make a total of €1 million in arts funding available between 2020 and 2022.

Among the 36 artists and projects funded, the Begin Together Arts Fund grants will support:

The Space Between, conceptualized by musician Susan O’Neill, is a series of short films in which musicians are paired with artists they haven’t played with before to create new work in the setting of Bunratty Castle.

Drawing from the Well will see artists including Radie Peat and Caitlín Nic Gabhann produce new work inspired by material from the Irish Traditional Music Archives (ITMA).

Branar’s How to Catch a Star, a non-verbal children’s show with puppetry and an original score by composer Colm Mac Con Iomair.

Locked Up in Lockdown, a piece of theatre with a number of current and former students from a young offenders’ centre in Belfast based on their letters, poems and prose about the pandemic. The theatre piece will be presented in partnership with the Lyric Theatre, Belfast.

Travelling Cycle Circus, a 45-minute show inspired by Flan O’Brien’s satire that will traverse the Sligo and Donegal coast by bicycle.

Village People, Kilkenny-based artist Blaise Smith will paint portraits in four-hour sittings in gardens (for social distancing) and webcast them online.

Please see here for the full list of supported projects.