EARLY CAREER ARTIST RESIDENCY AWARD

Photo Museum Ireland’s Early Career Artist Residency Award is a developmental programme offered to the most promising photography
and visual media graduates from degree courses across the island of Ireland. This is a 12-month programme with three recipients. This programme is only possible through the generous support of our patrons. The Early Career Artist Awards are a major contribution to the future of photography as an artform in Ireland. They provide support and mentorship that we know from experience early career artists have found invaluable, but we need help to sustain and grow the Awards further. With support from our patrons we would be able to significantly expand the scope and public profile of the programme.

Benefits to artists include:
• Regular critical feedback sessions with Photo Museum Ireland curators.
• Mentoring and advice sessions with leading international expert photo experts.
• Free workshops to support professional development.
• Networking opportunities within the wider photography and cultural sectors.
• Access to production facilities at Photo Museum Ireland, including our state of the art digital suite and fully serviced darkroom.
• Inclusion in a major group exhibition in our main gallery space, payment of production and artists’ fees.
• Selection of work produced during the residency acquired for Photo Museum Ireland’s Collection.

New Developments
In 2024 we included the Awardees in our Talents exhibition, showcasing their work in our main gallery space for the first time. They were able to develop their projects on a much larger scale and reach larger audiences. This was a significant increase in the profile of the Awards and the work produced by the winners.

 

CURRENT: EARLY CAREER ARTIST RESIDENCY AWARD 2024-2025

Early Career Artist Awards 2024-25

Past Residencies
horse

Early Career Artist Awards 2023-24

yellow house

Early Career Artist Awards 2022-23

Crowd at night in blue light

Early Career Artist Awards 2021-22

“This programme gives that bridge to the real world. A tentative baby step towards being a practising artist. So now, outside of the safe confines of a college, I’ve produced the body of work independently, self-motivated, and shown it to a wider community in a distinguished space.”

– Spencer Glover, Emerging Photographer on the Early Career Artist Residency

 

“It has given me a sense of courage to be able to do new things and work in new ways that I hadn’t before. Taking older methodologies I use and applying them in new ways that gave me confidence to work using materials that I hadn’t used before.

It also gave me a stronger direction in what I want to do in my career. I found the final exhibition to be extremely beneficial in that it legitimised the work we did over the year. It was a definitive outcome that gave me a huge sense of accomplishment.”

– Luke Ryan, Emerging Photographer on the Early Career Artist Residency

“The resources and support that made the greatest impact were the guidance and the mentorship. That opportunity to have someone available to me that I could bounce ideas off, who could look objectively at the work and suggest things. As we moved out of the safety net of the college environment, having that outlet for ideas, for missteps and encouragement was very valuable.“

– Spencer Glover, Emerging Photographer on the Early Career Artist Residency

Discover Our Mission

Photo Museum Ireland stands as Ireland’s leading charity and museum dedicated to contemporary photography. Photo Museum Ireland is the national centre for contemporary photography, dedicated to advancing the development, appreciation and understanding of photography and visual culture across Ireland. We connect diverse audiences with inspirational and exciting photography and visual culture.
Our mission is to support, curate and promote great photography while supporting both established and emerging artists to develop their practices.

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Become a part of Photo Museum Ireland’s vibrant community. Whether through donations, volunteering, or attending our events, your involvement helps us continue our mission to celebrate and promote contemporary photography. Together, we can make a lasting impact on the cultural fabric of Ireland.

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