Judging Criteria & Rules

The Business to Arts Awards champion outstanding relationships between businesses, artists and arts organisations. The Awards seek exceptional partnerships in areas such as sponsorship, commissioning, training and events, staff programmes, CSR initiatives and community engagement. In their evaluation, the judging panel focus on the level of success and creativity in achieving both the business and arts organisations (or individual artist’s) objectives, the history behind the partnership and how the partnership has been successfully activated.

Your entry will be judged on the following points:

• How the partnership came into existence, its evolution and duration
• The key objectives and targets established for the partnership and the strategies used to successfully activate the partnership e.g. marketing campaigns, bespoke events, branding, PR, staff engagement, etc.
• The factors that make the relationship both innovative and special for both parties
• An overview of the activation spend including the cash and/or in-kind sponsorship budget allocated and its percentage of the overall project budget. (This must be included but will be treated in the strictest confidence). This will assist the judging panel in understanding if the return was commensurate with the spend
• How both partners measure the success of the partnership and an overview of your main achievements
• The key impact and outcomes of the partnership

The judging panel will apply these criteria irrespective of the scale or financial value of the partnership.

Judging Process

The Business to Arts Awards are judged by a panel of industry professionals and experts, in a rigorous process developed over our 30 years of awards experience. Each entry is scored independently by each judge, based on the development, activation, impact and innovation of each creative partnership. Judges cannot vote for their own organisation. The aim of the judging panel is to select the most innovative and impactful creative partnerships in Ireland, celebrating and promoting collaborations between the corporate and cultural worlds.

Judges

The names of the judges will be announced in June 2023.

Rules

1. The Business to Arts Awards 2023 are open to all businesses and organisations (of whatever nationality) promoting, using or supporting artists or the arts (of whatever nationality) within the Republic of Ireland, and to all businesses promoting Irish arts or Irish arts organisations overseas. Heritage, craft and design-related partnerships are also eligible for entry.
2. Nominated partnerships should have taken place between January 2022 and 27th April 2023. Your application will need to address the outputs and outcomes of the partnership, so please take this into consideration when preparing to apply.
3. Businesses, philanthropists and other organisations that have engaged with more than one arts project, artist or arts organisation may submit more than one entry.
4. In cases where an arts project, artist or arts organisation has more than one partner, each partner is eligible to be entered but a separate entry must be submitted. This rule will not apply where two or more businesses have collaborated jointly on a single project or sponsorship.
5. Jim McNaughton/TileStyle €10,000 Bursary for Artists will be awarded towards the development of an artist’s practice, body of work or a project by an emerging artist(s) in any art form. Nominations must be made by a partnering business, arts or other organisation. The recipient(s) of the Jim McNaughton/TileStyle €10,000 Bursary for Artists will be asked to acknowledge TileStyle’s support as appropriate, as a funder of any final output/project; and provide short interim and completion reports to TileStyle and Business to Arts to verify progress and completion of the agreed work.
6. The Accenture Digital Innovation in Art Bursary, worth €10,000 will be awarded towards the development of an artist’s practice, body of work or a project by an emerging artist(s) in any art form that involves work created exclusively in the digital space. Nominations must be made by a partnering business, arts, or other organisation. The recipient(s) of the Accenture Digital Innovation in Art Bursary will be asked to acknowledge Accenture’s support as appropriate, as a funder of any final output/project; and provide short interim and completion reports to Accenture and Business to Arts to verify progress and completion of the agreed work.
7. All entries are eligible for the Judges’ Special Recognition Award supported by Accenture. The judging panel will be looking for businesses and organisations who feature across a number of applications, showing evidence of an exceptional portfolio approach to sponsorship, scale of their sponsorship or longevity in supporting the arts.
8. All entries are eligible for the daa €5,000 Arts Award. The judging panel will be looking to recognise great relationship management, imagination and creativity in working with the corporate community. The recipient(s) of the Award will be asked to acknowledge daa’s support as appropriate, as a funder of any final output/project; and provide short interim and completion reports to daa and Business to Arts to verify progress and completion of the agreed work.

1. Business to Arts reserves the right to publish the names of all nominated business sponsors and associated organisations, artists or events.
2. Business to Arts reserves the right to use any content and attachments submitted through the entry process unless specifically specified by the entrant.
3. The decisions of the judging panel will be final and neither Business to Arts nor the sponsors will enter into discussion or communication in respect of any entry or result.