Traditional Arts Assistant Open Competition

A.              Details            

Position: Traditional Arts Assistant

Grade: Clerical Officer (CO)

Whole time equivalent: Part time, 17.30 hours per week

Reports to: Head of Traditional Arts

Duration: Permanent

Role Closing Date: 12 noon, Thursday 24th November, 2026.

B.           Department & Role Overview

The Arts Council is the government agency for developing the arts in Ireland. We work in partnership with artists, arts organisations, public policy makers and others to build a central place for the arts in Irish life.

The Traditional Arts Assistant role is to provide clerical support to the Arts Team with designated focus on Traditional Arts (including Arts Department support) to deliver the Arts Council corporate plan in support of strategic objectives.

C.           Key Responsibilities

POLICY &STRATEGY  

• Support team policy initiatives, e.g. set up meetings, take minutes of meetings, liaise with external third parties, research history of funding relationships etc;

• Provide information to feed into the mapping of the arts profile for your area/s.

FINANCIAL SUPPORTS/FUNDING RELATIONSHIPS

Funding applications

• Action tasks in Client Relationship Management system (CRM) team’s queues (e.g. assign application and assessments etc.);

• Monitor assessment progress in CRM by using appropriate advanced find;

• Provide assistance, as required, to Executive Officer (EO) with regards to liaising with the Adviser/s to ensure that inputs to assessments run smoothly;

• Act as the main point of contact and co-ordinator for your areas in relation to awards and grants.

Enquiries

• Be the first point of contact for your artform/practice areas on funding/general enquiries via phone/email;

• Action funding application enquiries e.g. closing dates, application forms etc: and file in Sharepoint and/or log in CRM as appropriate (i.e. resolve on first contact or assign to appropriate team member);

• Provide other arts area advice as appropriate;

• Identify queries that you can answer, those to be referred to other organisations and those that require further research by you and revert to public/artist/organisation.

• Record enquiries on CRM and elsewhere as appropriate;

• Direct technical queries to the ICT team and track resolution;

• Contribute to the development and updating of information resources to support enquiry response;

• Generate suggestions as to how to continuously update team-based web pages e.g. FAQs, ‘How To’ guides;

Panels

• As required, attend panel meetings in your areas, to support the smooth running of Panel Meetings. Provide cover to other teams, as required;

• As required, provide assistance to the Head of Team in the absence of the EO in responding to requests from applicants for written feedback from panel meetings, according to protocol;

• Liaise with the Head of Team to ensure that list of panellists for teams is up to date.

Monitoring funding relationships

• Generate reports as required to support monitoring funding relationships.

General

• Become proficient in all standard procedures and systems as appropriate to the role;

• Collaborate with other Arts Department Assistants and team members, where appropriate, in identifying, agreeing and applying consistent processes and systems that maximise efficiency;

• Provide cover for other Arts Department Assistants as required;

• Actively participate as a team member with suggestions to continuously improve the funding process and service to the public, artists and organisations.

PARTNERSHIP

• Provide clerical support as required to partnershipinitiatives.

ADVOCACY

• Provide clerical support as required to advocacy initiatives.

ARTS TEAM

• Provide inputs to team work planning to ensure sufficient resources are available to maintain smooth operation of work of relevant arts areas.

CORPORATE

• Participate in project team(s) on specified projects driven by the Strategic Development Department;

• Collate information from CRM related to arts areas, to support strategic projects;

• Assist the officer in the co-ordination of information for the Arts Council events calendar;

• Support the team on Freedom of Information (FOI) requests through locating and retrieving documents/files;

• Deal with internal queries on Artist Exemption scheme, in relation to your areas;

• Provide training and support to new team members;

• Provide cover to other Sections/Departments as required.

Note: Arts Council roles and responsibilities are subject to change as per on-going and future organisational requirements and developments. Other duties appropriate to the grade may be assigned from time to time.

D.           Skills Knowledge and Experiences

• A proven record of excellent administration skills;

• Excellent general office skills and a working knowledge of relevant ICT systems including Word, Excel, CRM and Online Services;

• Very organised in prioritising and processing work including record keeping and filing systems;

• Flexible and enthusiastic in the context of a busy and demanding workplace;

• An ability to anticipate needs, to work effectively as a member of a team and work on her/his own initiative;

• A willingness to contribute positively to the building of a new team and effective ways of working;

• Very good verbal communications skills and be confident dealing with both internal and external customers;

• A commitment to high standards of public service;

• The ability to communicate through the Irish language, both verbal and written, is desirable but not essential.