The Arts Council of Ireland has apologised today after mistakenly telling over 140 people they would be receiving grants.
In a statement released on Twitter today, they said they issued letters to 141 applicants for the Next Generation Artists award, "incorrectly indicating that an award would be granted". The Council has said they have now put in place "additional checks for the issue of decision letters to prevent a repeat of this error".
The applicants were then informed about the error and received apologies, however the mistake caused upset and disappointment, the Council said. They added: "Supporting artists is a core goal of the Arts Council and we sincerely apologise to the artists that we let down on this occasion."
Praxis - Artists' Union of Ireland immediately hit out with a statement of their own, saying: "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."
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The Union offered solidarity to those affected and urged the Arts Council to clarify how this happened and outline what they are going to do to ensure such mistakes don't happen again.
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