The first residency of Sligo Arts Service’s new Wonder Programme has come to a close, following six weeks of creative exploration at Ballintogher Community Childcare.

The pilot programme is a partnership between Sligo Arts Service & Kids’ Own, supported by the Arts Council of Ireland. It will see four artists work in two early years settings (two artists per setting) in 2026. The first residency was led by artists Brenda Kearney and Karen Webster in Ballintogher.

The residency responded to the children’s own interests, particularly their love of spending time outdoors and inspired by the natural environment surrounding the playschool, the artists created opportunities for children to experiment, play and make discoveries through sculpture, painting and photography.

Across the six weeks, the children explored materials and processes in imaginative ways. They made clay paint pots, created artworks using natural materials and developed a photography installation along the Ballintogher Nature Trail. The residency encouraged curiosity, collaboration and creative thinking, with experimentation at the heart of every session.

The experience proved rewarding for everyone involved, including the artists and childcare staff.

Reflecting on the residency, one staff member shared:

“I look at art now in a different light, that it’s not just about using paint and a canvas. You can create anything with a stick.”

The Wonder Programme places children’s ideas and interests at the centre of the creative process, supporting meaningful collaborations between artists, educators and young children in early years settings.

The programme continues this September with a second residency at Benbulben Community Childcare, where artists Anna Spearman and Lorna Watkins will begin a new six-week creative journey with children and staff.

Further information on the programme can be found here: https://sligoarts.ie/programming/arts-in-education/ and on Kids’ Own website here:  https://kidsown.ie/projects/the-wonder-project/

The 2026 Unheard Voice Award is now open for applications. This award is specifically for individuals from communities and backgrounds under-represented in Irish writing. This includes, but is not limited to those based on age, civil or family status, disability, gender, membership of the Traveller Community, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, or displaced/migrant communities.

The award includes a €2,000 fee plus 4 one-to-one mentoring sessions.

Full details of the award can be found on this site, link here:  https://sligoarts.ie/artist-supports/unheard-voice-award/

Applications can be made online via Sligo County Council’s Grants Portal, which is accessible on the menu bar of this website.

Closing Date: 4pm Thursday 17th September 2026

The award is supported by Sligo County Council’s Arts Service Department & The Arts Council of Ireland

Sligo Arts Service is offering a number of micro bursaries to enable Sligo-based visual artists (professional) to attend Visual Artists Ireland (VAI) annual get together.

“Life: Being a Visual Artist” is the title of this year’s event and it will bring artists together with curators, producers, funders, and other arts professionals to explore the realities, challenges, and possibilities of sustaining a life in the visual arts.

This year, the event will take place over two days, one in-person event in Dublin and an online International Curatorial Conference on Day Two, exploring the impact of shifting political, social, and economic conditions on contemporary exhibition-making.

Day One Life: Being a Visual Artist – From Emerging to Established Practice 
Date: Friday, 11th September 2026
Location: TU Dublin, Grangegorman Campus, East Quad

Day Two  Navigating Power in Contemporary Curating
Date: Thursday, 17th September 2026
Location: Online

Full information on the event, can be found here: https://visualartists.ie/get-together-2026/get-together-2026

Each bursary includes:

• Ticket for the event
• An Individual curator/specialist clinic(s)
• Day return train ticket (Sligo-Dublin)
• Online conference ticket

If you are:

• A professional visual artist
• Sligo based
• Available to go to Dublin on September 11th

You’re eligible – Email us if you are interested and free to attend: arts@sligococo.ie before Sunday 6th September 2026.

Sligo Arts Service has a new mailing list which you can sign up to at the bottom of the Homepage. The intention is over time, to share information which may be of interest to both the arts sector and the general public.

Alongside this, SAS also shares information via its Social Media platforms on Instagram and Facebook.
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Jamie Carswell has been selected as the recipient of the 2026 Incu/Space award for his project “Stompbox”. Jamie is a Lecoq-trained clown, actor and theatre-maker whose practice combines physical theatre, live music, clowning and audience participation.

The Incu/Space award was launched in 2025 and  includes financial support of €4,000, a 5-day “incu-space” at the Factory Performance Space and a mentoring session on Application Writing – for further information on the award, see here: https://sligoarts.ie/artist-supports/incu-space/

This award is funded by The Arts Service Department of Sligo County Council & The Arts Council of Ireland

Theatre-maker Bob Kelly was the recipient of Sligo Arts Service’s Incu \ space award in 2025 for “Barbarian” a new theatre/movement work exploring themes of masculinity, authority, childhood and generational trauma.

Created by Bob Kelly, dancer/choreographer Diarmuid Armstrong and dancer Hannah Rogerson, we were delighted to see the full production of “Barbarian” premiere at this year’s Cairde Arts Festival in July in the Hawk’s Well Theatre – congratulations to all involved!

The Incu \ space award is aimed at Sligo-based professional artist/collectives from the performing arts sector who already have a project/new work in development and would now benefit from time, space and resources to progress the project further.

Incu \ space seeks to support independent professional artists living in Sligo or who can demonstrate that their practice is primarily based here. Further information on the award can be found here: https://sligoarts.ie/artist-supports/incu-space/

Incu \ space is funded by The Arts Service Department of Sligo County Council & The Arts Council of Ireland. 

Sligo County Council Arts Service is delighted to announce that filmmaker Patryk Łukaszewski has been awarded the 2026 Creative Heartlands Film Bursary for Sligo for his short film “Svitlana “

The Creative Heartlands Film Bursary is an annual award by Sligo Arts Service, together with both Leitrim and Roscommon Arts Offices as part of their Creative Ireland programmes.  The award is open to both established and emerging filmmakers and production companies, living/working in the SLR (Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon) region, and designed to support collaboration among filmmaking teams in the development of an original Short Film, see more information here: https://sligoarts.ie/artist-supports/creative-heartlands-film-bursary/

Patryk’s new short film, Svitlana, follows a Ukrainian mother and daughter as they attempt to rebuild their lives in rural Sligo while awaiting news from the husband and father they left behind. The project has recently completed production and is now in post-production.

A graduate of the National Film School at IADT Dún Laoghaire, Patryk’s work explores themes of memory, grief and identity. His recent short film, Tymek, premiered at the Dublin International Film Festival and led to him being named a runner-up in Ireland’s Emerging Director Awards.

This bursary is funded by The Arts Service Department of Sligo County Council & The Arts Council of Ireland. 

As part of Sligo’s 2026 Bealtaine Festival, a new residency opportunity for full-time professional artists aged 50+ was announced. Fifteen artists applied through an open call and following an independent assessment, visual artist Emma Stroude was selected as the award recipient.

The one-week residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre is funded by The Arts Service Department of Sligo County Council & The Arts Council of Ireland.