The Arts Council has announced the recipients of the 2020 Bursary Awards. Over €7m was allocated to 530 artists across all art forms, including €1.6m to 133 artists in the categories of music, traditional arts and opera. Awards were also made in the categories of literature, dance, film, theatre and visual arts.

The bursary supports professional artists at any stage of their career, providing them with the resources and time to engage with their art. The maximum bursary amount was increased by the Arts Council to €20,000 for the award, due to the impact of the pandemic on the sector.

Commenting on the announcements, Maureen Kennelly, Director of the Arts Council, said:

We are particularly happy this year to be able to provide so many with a bursary award. I am hugely encouraged by the resilience of our artists and the quality of the applications we received. It is a strong indicator that the arts in Ireland can play a huge role as our society recovers in 2021.

Among the recipients for the 2020 award are opera singer Celine Byrne, TG4 Young Traditional Musician of the Year Sharon Howley, Lankum singer and RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Singer of the Year Radie Peat, violinist and member of the Fidelio Trio Darragh Morgan, hip hop artist MuRli, and singer-songwriter Hilary Woods.

The deadline for the next round of bursary applications is 28 January 2021. See full details on applying at www.artscouncil.ie/funding/

For the full list of recipients, see below.