Roscommon County Council Arts Office aims to supports artists of all disciplines in their practice through professional development and networking opportunities. It also aims to develop tailored training to address specific needs and enhance expertise in the Roscommon area, including areas Inclusion and Engagement, Arts & Health and Arts & Education.
 

National Supports

Arts Council
Artist Support and Funding

Visual Artists Ireland (VAI) - Representative body for professional visual artists in Ireland.
Lifelong Learning Services Publication Archive

CREATE - National Development Agency for Collaborative Arts
Resources

Artists' and Experimental Moving Image Initiative (AEMI) 
Artist Supports

Age & Opportunity - National development organisation working to enable the best possible quality of life for us all as we age.
Artist Supports  

Réalta - National body for arts and health in Ireland.
Training Programmes

Artists' Professional Development Training and Opportunities

First Music Contact: Regional Development Programme

The First Music Contact Regional Development project partnered on Stage 4 with Kildare Arts Office, Louth Arts Office, Galway City Arts Office, Galway County Arts Office, and Roscommon Arts Office in April & May 2025.

The project aims to develop a way of offering equal access to professional development services to musicians all around Ireland and develop a framework for supporting artists at a local level. They will deliver a high level of professional development series to musicians in each county and give musicians in these counties an opportunity to give feedback on what local supports they need to develop their professional careers moving forward.

Find out more: https://www.firstmusiccontact.com/regional-development-plan-intro 

First Music Contact is the leading national music organisation for resourcing popular musicians and the independent music sector in Ireland. They deliver projects at key stages of an artist’s development, helping them develop real careers. These projects include Breaking Tunes, Ireland Music Week, and Music From Ireland. 

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Safe to Create: Active Bystander Training (ATHLONE)

Equipping artists & arts workers with the knowledge and tools to intervene safely and
stop harmful behaviour in the arts & creative sectors.

Date: Wednesday, December 4
Time: 12 - 3pm GMT
Location: Radisson Blu Hotel, Athlone. Northgate Street N37 A8X9 Athlone

Book Here

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Creative Schools Bridging Workshop for Artists & Creative Practitioners, April 23rd 2024.

Roscommon County Council Arts Office is delighted to partner with Creative Schools on training for artists interested in working in school settings, delivered by Joanna McGlynn Creative Schools Regional Coordinator.

Workshop Overview
Creative Schools in partnership with Roscommon Arts Office present a bridging workshop for artists and creative practitioners with an interest in furthering their potential to work in schools.

This professional development workshop is designed to support artists who wish to expand their creative practice to include working in schools and educational contexts. It is especially suited to those emerging into this field, with little or no experience.
The content is designed to provide artists with an overview of the arts in education landscape, including Creative Schools and the broader range of opportunities available at both local and national level. The approach is both informative and practical, modelling practice.

The focus will be on preparing artists to get school ready, understanding the basic requirements for working in this context. It will include practical tips such as planning, costing and communicating workshops and best practice guidelines such as drafting memorandums of understanding and including the voice of young people. Key principles underpinning the Creative Schools programme (Creative Habits of Mind and Voice of Children and Young People) will be referenced in support of artist professional development.

The session will be held on: Tuesday 23/04/2024, 10am – 2.30pm. With short break for lunch.
Location: Loughnaneane Suite, Roscommon County Council.

This is free to attend, with limited capacity. Interested artists/practitioners are required to submit an Expression of Interest in advance.
Closing date for expressions of interest is Monday 08/04/2024.

Expression of Interest Form 

Creative Schools Bridging Workshop for Artists & Creative Practitioners - Who is this for?
This is a continual professional development workshop aimed at:
 Emerging artists with an expressed interest in developing their practice to work in schools / educational contexts
 Newly arrived artists with little or no knowledge of the Irish arts in education landscape
 Established artists with no experience of working in schools but with an expressed interest in developing their practice in this area
It is open to participants in all artforms inclusive of but not limited to visual arts, drama, performance, music, writing, poetry, circus, dance, traditional arts, streets arts, digital media arts, opera, film & craft.
Priority will be given to those with little to no experience of working in educational settings.
This workshop is kindly supported by Roscommon Arts Office and is open to practitioners who reside in Roscommon County Council local authority area.

Facilitator Bio
The workshop is presented by Joanna McGlynn, Regional Coordinator for Creative Schools (Galway / Mayo / Roscommon) in partnership with Roscommon Arts Office.
For almost two decades, Joanna has designed and delivered a wide range of creative programmes for both primary and post primary level. From once-off workshops to artist in school residencies, her experience spans across artforms and curricula.
Joanna has worked extensively with multiple art organisations and service providers in Ireland throughout her freelance career including Architecture At The Edge Design Labs, Artlink (Donegal), Arts Council, Clifden Arts Festival, CREATE, Creative Places Tuam, Fidget Feet (Limerick), Galway County Council, Galway Public Libraries, LUXe (Donegal), National Concert Hall (Dublin), Office of Public Works, South Inishowen School Completion Programme, The Playhouse (Derry) and TULCA Festival of Visual Arts. & was a Creative Associate on the Creative Schools programme 2018 - 2023.
In addition to her work in education, Joanna has a socially engaged arts practice, stemming from a visual arts background. Projects are context specific, developed in response to the immediate physical environment with a sensitivity to communities of people, place and interest. They are realised through processes of participation, co-creation and collaboration.
Joanna holds a Masters in Social Practice and the Creative Environment from Limerick School of Art and Design and a Degree in Fine and Applied Art from the University of Ulster, Belfast.

About Creative Schools
Creative Schools is a flagship initiative of the Creative Ireland Programme Creative Youth Plan, to enable the creative potential of every child. Creative Schools is led by the Arts Council in partnership with the Department of Education and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (https://www.artscouncil.ie/creative-schools/).
Further queries should be directed to creativeschoolswest@gmail.com or 086 877 4710.

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Language Explorers Facilitators Training and Work opportunity

📣 OPEN CALL! If you are a skilled artist experienced in creating and delivering engaging activities for children and proficient in a language other than English, we have an exciting opportunity for you!

Roscommon Arts Centre in partnership with Mother Tongues are offering training in their Language Explorers programme to individuals interested in joining a paid panel of facilitators.

This panel will be called upon to conduct workshops in Co. Dublin, Co. Galway, Co. Roscommon and Co. Limerick

In Roscommon, the artist will deliver workshops as part of the Lollipops Festival programme this coming October, and to the community into 2025.

 Find out more and apply here

Deadline to apply: April 14th, 2024

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Previous CPD Training for Artists

Professional Development: Creative Schools Bridging Workshop for Artists & Creative Practitioners 2024. 

Professional Development: Language Explorers Facilitators Training and Work opportunity 2024. 

2022 - 2023. Planning for Inclusion in the Arts

Training Modules for Roscommon artists for including children/young people with Special Educational Needs in Arts Programmes. 

• PHASE 1 - 2 x SEN introductory session which provided training for artists of all genres working with children and young people with SEN and physical disabilities, particularly in education settings. The training covered areas including autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD, general learning disabilities and sensory disabilities. The training also included strategies for inclusion when working with adults with learning, sensory and physical disabilities.
• PHASE 2 - Focused mentorship, artist preparation and development of own projects for delivery under the: Inclusion in the Arts Bursary. 

2021. Artist Training & Talks Programme 2021

• Classroom Management with Kathy Butler (online). Tips, strategies and activities to assist you with classroom management, while you engage the group in their arts activity, in partnership with the class teacher.  

• Primary School Arts Curriculum with Catherine Sheridan (online). Introduce artists to the strands of the arts curriculum covered at Primary School level and discuss practical examples of artist responses. 

• Online platforms with Kate Wilson (online). Training session for artists looking at delivering arts projects online, focusing on education settings but not excluding other contexts.

• Eco Literacy with Cathy Fitzgerald (online). Professional development talk for creative practitioners on essential ecoliteracy.

• Project Management for Visual Artists with Eamonn Maxwell, Curator (online). Followed by selected participants for 1:1 Mentoring.

• Preparing Proposals with Linda Shevlin (online). Proposal writing and preparation, applying for funding and how to maximise your presence online.