Spark

Call for ARTISTS

Closing Date for expression of interest: Wednesday 24th June 2026

About Spark

Spark is an initiative developed by Leitrim County Council’s Arts Office and Local Enterprise Office funded by Leitrim County Council and the Arts Council. It supports companies interested in collaborating with artists and fostering creativity within their organisations, and artists who wish to explore how their thinking, knowledge, and practice can have relevance and impact in new contexts.

As part of the programme, three Leitrim-based businesses each partner with an artist to explore shared interests and to undertake work that could benefit both the company and the artist. Artists may come from any discipline. There are no predetermined outcomes for the residency and while a materials budget is available if required, there is no obligation to produce a final work.

The residency typically consists of approximately 10 working days over a three-week period, which may be undertaken as a single block or scheduled flexibly, as agreed between the artist and the host company.

The nature of each residency will be shaped by the particular environment, encouraging engagement between artist and management, staff, clients, and context that may lead to new perspectives, creative approaches, and innovative ways of thinking for both artist and company.

Where a strong partnership between an artist and company emerges, that artist and company may choose to apply for a subsequent six-month artist-in-residence programme to further develop the work initiated through Spark.

Participating Companies

Pathfinders

Pathfinders Custom Conversions is a Leitrim‑based workshop specialising in handcrafted campervan and vehicle transformations, offering artists an inspiring environment where design, engineering, and imagination meet. Known for creating personalised homes on wheels from contemporary campervans to restored vintage vehicles, the Pathfinders team combines skilled craftsmanship with a spirit of adventure. Their workshop is a lively space where carpentry, problem‑solving, material experimentation, and bespoke fabrication unfold daily, reflecting a culture of innovation and hands‑on creativity.

Working closely with clients, Pathfinders transforms raw vehicles into functional, beautiful spaces that support travel, sustainability, and freedom. This blend of technical precision and creative thinking provides fertile ground for artistic exploration.

For artists, Pathfinders offers a unique context to engage with themes of mobility, craft, rural enterprise and sustainability, making it an exciting setting for a Spark residency and a valuable opportunity for the company to discover new perspectives.

https://pathfinderscustomconversions.com/

Kelly Costello

Kelly Costello is an emerging Irish perfumery and museum of scent in Carrick‑on‑Shannon offering artists a sensory‑rich environment for a Spark residency. Housed in the historic Victoria Hall, the space brings together fragrance creation, heritage, and hospitality, inviting visitors into a world where scent becomes both memory and narrative. As a perfumery and museum, Kelly Costello explores the cultural, emotional, and imaginative dimensions of fragrance, crafting scents with care, character, and a strong sense of place.

For artists, this setting opens up fertile ground for interdisciplinary exploration at a time when the company and venue is just opening and establishing itself. The combination of a working perfumery, exhibition‑style museum, and café creates a dynamic, public‑facing context for engagement, experimentation, and dialogue. Kelly Costello offers a unique platform for a Spark residency, inviting artists to respond to scent as medium and immersive experience.

https://kellycostello.com/

Vincents, Carrick-on-Shannon

https://www.facebook.com/vincentscarrickonshannon/

How to apply

Applicants can be from any arts discipline. While some companies may appear suited to one or other artform, neither the arts office nor any of the companies have any preconceived ideas on what a project might look like or what approach any artist might propose, and as such are entirely open to all artists, disciplines and ideas.

a) Declaration of Interest

Interested artists should first register their interest in the programme online at the link below. Artists who have declared an interest are invited to a site visit to the three companies and meet with the arts office and management and staff at the three companies, leading to a better understanding of the programme and the companies involved. While attendance at the site visit is not essential to make an application, it is strongly advised that applicants do so. To declare your interest in SPARK, please register online at this link before midnight on Wednesday 24th June 2026.

b) Site Visit

Site visits will take place on Tuesday 30th June 2026 according to the following timetable.

Train times for those using public transport

• 09.05 Train from Dublin Connoly arrives Carrick on Shannon 11.15
• 09.05 Train from Sligo arrives Carrick on Shannon 09.49
• Train from Carrick on Shannon to Dublin Connolly departs – 17.51

c) Proposal

Following the site visit, artists are invited to propose ideas and approaches for a 10-day residency over three weeks at any of the companies. This document is not a definitive proposal that you would be expected to carry out. Rather, by identifying potential approaches, methodologies or even outcomes, the document provides a vivid insight into your thinking, your understanding of the company, and your capacity to develop an innovative project appropriate to that context. Given that this proposal is only based on a short site visit, while it may serve as a useful starting point, the anticipation is that the residency would differ substantially, if not completely, from this proposal. This document shouldn’t be sizeable, generally no longer than four A4 pages, but can take any format and can refer to concepts, lines of enquiry, processes for engagement, methodologies for collaboration - and even potential outcomes. The proposal should be accompanied by a CV and images, recordings etc. of relevant previous work. Proposals should be submitted online only before midnight on Sunday 26th July 2026.

Artists may submit multiple proposals for a single company or different proposals for more than one company.

Selection Process

A panel comprising representatives from the Arts Office and Local Enterprise Office, along with external experts, will shortlist applications. Up to three proposals will be presented to each company for consideration. Each company will select one of the shortlisted proposals and invite that artist to meet with them, with a view to agreeing a programme and schedule for the residency.

Applications will be assessed based on the following criteria -

• The quality, innovation and artistic merit of the proposal.
• Understanding of the company and the physical, social and cultural context of the project.
• Previous work and track record (or potential) of the applicant.
• Proven understanding of and ability to collaborate successfully.

Dates

Fees

Artist Fee: €2,000.00 Materials Budget: €500.00

Leitrim County Council will provide a materials budget as indicated above. This does not prohibit a company providing further funding towards the project or further funding being sought from other sources.

Access

Leitrim County Council aims to remove barriers that might prevent artists from achieving the objectives of their artistic proposals. While some access requirements may incur additional costs, others may not. A budget is available to cover access costs to be agreed in advance. The maximum amount of this budget is an additional 25% of the artist’s fee, i.e. €500.

Travel & Accommodation

A travel and accommodation budget of up to €1,000 is available, to be agreed in advance and reimbursed on submission of receipts. This support is intended for artists who are not based locally or who are required to travel significant distances to the host company. As a general guide, this may apply where travel exceeds approximately 30km one way or where accommodation near the host company is required. All travel and accommodation arrangements must be discussed and agreed in advance with the Arts Office.

* Please note that while some off-site or remote work may be crucial to a project, given that the project is about collaboration between the artist and company at that location, remote work should be kept to a minimum.

Insurance and Health & Safety

Selected artists must hold appropriate public liability insurance and indemnify both the company and Leitrim County Council with respect to any loss, damage, or costs arising directly or indirectly from their activities during the residency. Each host company has a duty of care to provide a safe working environment for all those on its premises and will ensure that relevant health and safety procedures are communicated to the artist. Artists are expected to familiarise themselves with, and work in accordance with, these procedures, and to take reasonable care for their own health and safety, as well as that of others, in the course of their work.

Continuing a Project

The Spark programme also consists of a longer 6-month programme. Should the 10-day residency give rise to work that would be suitable for the longer 6-month Programme, the Arts Office will look to progress that project with the artist and the company. Should more than one artist/company partnership wish to pursue a longer residency, each partnership will be asked to prepare a further proposal, one of which will be selected for the 6-month programme.

Contact

For further information email arts@leitrimcoco.ie.