Fostering Ireland’s Creativity

Inspiring and supporting creativity across Ireland

RTÉ Short Story Competition

Life, death and Zoom calls, culture clashes and suburban turf wars, success, failure, and love through the ages were among the themes which featured at the centre of ten exciting new stories shortlisted for the RTÉ Short Story Competition in honour of Francis MacManus 2021, from almost 2,800 entries. ‘The Third Day’, by Kevin Donnellan, a writer and journalist from Kilbride, Co. Meath, now based in England, won the 2021 RTÉ Short Story Competition. The winning story was announced on RTÉ Radio 1’s Arena, as part of a special programme. All 10 stories were broadcast and podcast in a season of new writing as part of Late Date on RTÉ Radio 1.

Junk Kouture: Powered by RTÉ

The acclaimed Irish platform for youth expression, creativity and sustainability, Junk Kouture, announced in October that it would be joining forces with RTÉ for a second year in a row, continuing this successful partnership first initiated in 2020. The collaboration brought the design contest to the small screen for the first-ever televised Junk Kouture Grand Final on RTÉ2 and streamed on RTÉ Player, when the live final was rescheduled and redesigned because of Covid-19. The Junk Kouture 2021 Grand Final was once again televised on RTÉ2 and streamed on RTÉ Player featuring an array of incredible designs created and modelled by the talented young designers who waited so patiently throughout the pandemic for their moment to shine.

This is Art!

Due to the incredible response from young artists from all corners of Ireland, and as the country headed into another lockdown, RTÉ and the Creative Ireland Programme extended the closing date for This is Art! Almost 9,000 young people from around the country responded with creativity, enthusiasm and great thoughtfulness to the theme of ‘This Is Now’. What emerged was a visual representation of our young people’s perspective on the pandemic and how it has impacted their lives and the lives of those they love. All artworks are now showcased in an online art gallery on www.rte.ie/thisisart that will be available for generations to come.

Animating Success

In January, RTÉ and the Creative Ireland Programme continued a successful partnership by launching a new TV, social and radio campaign in support of a major new exhibition in Kilkenny’s Butler Gallery, Wolfwalkers. The exhibition went behind the scenes of the Oscar-nominated Cartoon Saloon– Apple movie original. The campaign was voiced by the star of Wolfwalkers, 12-year-old Eva Whittaker.

Supporting the Arts

Like so much of what we do, RTÉ Supporting the Arts had to evolve during the pandemic. This is perhaps best illustrated through another collaboration with the Creative Ireland Programme to create a unique series of 24 short films, produced in 68 days at the beginning of 2021, supporting and celebrating 15 arts, cultural and community projects and organisations.

Scholarship for Artists

RTÉ 2fm continued its commitment to supporting the next generation of Irish musicians by funding, for a fourth year, a Music and Audio Production Scholarship at BIMM Institute Dublin. This scholarship offers one lucky student the opportunity to study BIMM’s year-long Music and Audio Production Foundation Diploma course free of charge. Through this scholarship, RTÉ and 2fm are hopeful the successful student can develop their skill set to grow their career in music and contribute positively to the Irish music scene.