Arts Council mistakenly offers €25,000 funding grants to more than 100 artists

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By Katy Thornton

Every applicant received an email from the Arts Council to say they were receiving the €25,000 award when only 20 were available.

In an email malfunction, over one hundred artists in Ireland received word that they had been chosen for a Next Generation Award via the Arts Council, only for that award to be rescinded moments later. Only 20 people were to receive the award.

The follow-up email informing applicants of the mistake went as follows:

“Please accept our apologies, an administrative error which resulted in an incorrect decision email being sent to you on our recent Next Generation application.

“Please disregard this email, the correct email will be sent after 4.30pm today.”

The Artists Union of Ireland released a statement following the error, calling for a sincere apology from the Arts Council.

“We received word today that 100+ artists in Ireland received an email from the Arts Council of Ireland saying they were receiving one of 20 Next Generation Awards. They then received an email rescinding the award without an adequate apology for the mistake.

“The level of distress that this has caused highlights the financial precarity we face. As artists we know Arts Council awards like this are a primary source of income. We can only imagine the sense of relief these artists felt when they thought they were funded.

“We offer our solidarity with the artists that this has affected.”

The Arts Council yesterday made a regrettable error.
We issued letters to 141 applicants for the Next Generation Artists award, incorrectly indicating that an award would be granted.
We then emailed all affected to inform them of our error and we apologised unreservedly. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/xpfComqVe1

— The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon (@artscouncil_ie) June 29, 2023

The Arts Council explained to Lovin Dublin: “The Arts Council yesterday made a regrettable error. We issued letters to 141 applicants for the Next Generation Artists award, incorrectly indicating that an award would be granted.

“We then emailed all affected to inform them of our error and we apologised unreservedly.

“Our mistake has understandably caused upset and disappointment and for this, we are truly sorry.

“We have now put in place additional checks for the issue of decision letters to prevent a repeat of this error.

“Supporting artists is a core goal of the Arts Council and we sincerely apologise to the artists that we let down on this occasion.”