Kilkenny County Council Arts Office works to develop, co-ordinate, motivate, inspire and strengthen artistic activity throughout the city and county. We promote the arts as a worthwhile activity for all, coordinate key national arts and culture events and provide advice and support for groups and individuals. The Arts Office works to further strengthen Kilkenny’s position as a centre of excellence for the arts and ensure a successful and thriving arts environment within the region.
At the core of all of this work is the artist. Professional and practical development initiatives across all art forms are offered thus affording practitioners the time, space and skills to develop their practice.
There is a strong commitment to community arts practice, participation and public engagement. The Arts Office’s community and educational activities have a strong focus on increasing capacity, building audiences and civic participation. The impact and benefits of such programmes on both the artists, participants and audiences are understood and valued.
We collaborate and partner with a number of local, regional and national agencies in order to deliver our initiatives as we recognise, understand and appreciate the benefits of partnership in developing and sustaining long term programmes. This is also critical to maintaining and developing policy and programming.
The Arts Office is part of the Cultural Services Team (CST) of Kilkenny County Council, alongside the Libraries, Heritage, Community, Economic Development, Forward Planning, Architect and Conservation. The mission for the section is “Creating and sustaining great places and communities”.