The Arts Council has announced the 20 recipients of the Next Generation award. The bursaries are awarded to promising emerging artists across all disciplines at an early but pivotal stage of their career. The €25k award allows them to buy time to develop their work and practice.

Among the recipients are violinist and fiddle player Aoife Ní Bhriain, who is well known as a soloist, including her performances focusing on the music of Tommie Potts, and she has also released two albums of music from the Goodman Collection with Mick O’Brien and Emer Mayock; harper and fiddle player Éadaoin Ní Mhaicín, who was the first Irish person to win the Trophée des Harpes Camac at the Festival Interceltique de Lorient, is a member of The Provenance with Frankie Gavin, and also performs with the National Folk Orchestra of Ireland; and composer and musician Darragh Kelly, who is a previous winner of the West Cork Music Composition Competition and has worked with Crash Ensemble, Kirkos, The Smith Quartet, Darragh Morgan and the Psappha Ensemble.

The full list of recipients includes: theatre-maker Áine O’Hara; choreographer Ali Clarke; poet Alice Kinsella; artist Chanelle Walshe; theatre maker Choy-Ping Clarke-Ng 吳彩萍; painter Ciara Roche; visual artist Cóilín O’Connell; artist and educator David McGovern; visual artist Ellen Duffy; writer Francesca Bratton; writer John Patrick McHugh, artist, researcher and educator Léann Herlihy; performer, facilitator and theatre maker Martha Breen; and writer and actor Mary-Lou McCarthy.

Commenting on the awards, Arts Council Director Maureen Kennelly said: ‘I am really excited by the range and diversity of these young artists who have received these awards. These bursaries offer artists valuable time to cultivate their artistic voice, develop their practice and pursue their vision. I look forward to seeing the work of the Next Generation.’

As well as receiving the award, the artists will be invited to participate in a collective week-long residency in the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Annaghmakerrig in the spring of 2023.

For more, visit www.artscouncil.ie.