merrion street

The Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Heather Humphreys, has today (Monday) announced that she has sanctioned the funding of $60,000 (approx. €57,000) towards the setting up of short-term research fellowships for Irish postgraduate students at three of the top museums in the United States in a joint collaboration with the Fulbright Commission. The funding is being made available under the Creative Ireland Programme.

This exciting development, initiated by the U.S. Embassy in Dublin, will see a total amount of $120,000 made available to fund twelve fellowships over a four year period from 2018 to 2022. The participating museums are The Smithsonian Institution, The Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas and The Exploratorium in San Francisco. The fellowships will be known as ‘The Fulbright-Creative Ireland Museum Fellowships’ and the award of the fellowships will be made by the Minister and the U.S. ambassador in conjunction with the Fulbright Commission.

Speaking today Minister Humphreys said:
“I am delighted to announce this wonderful opportunity for Irish postgraduate students to study in three of the world’s most celebrated museums, recognised leaders in the fields of science, art, and the humanities.

“This fellowship program is based on the principle that culture, creativity, scientific inquiry, arts and heritage preservation are of intrinsic value to individuals and to society. These are all key elements of the Irish Government’s five-year Creative Ireland Programme which aims to place culture at the centre of our lives, for the betterment of our people and for the strengthening of our society.

“The setting up of ‘The Fulbright Creative Ireland Museum Fellowships’ sends a very important message internationally about how Ireland values its culture and how the Irish Government is setting out an ambitious creativity agenda. A key part of the Creative Ireland Programme is to unify Ireland’s global reputation, engender new exiting creative networks, learn from international examples, and explore how other countries prioritise arts and culture and I am delighted that Irish students will be able to experience this first hand”.


Notes to Editors:

The Fulbright Commission in Ireland is a bilateral partnership supported by the U.S. Department of State and the Department of Foreign Affairs. The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. Government designed to increase mutual understanding. It aims to:

• Harness the transformative potential of arts, culture, creativity, scientific inquiry and heritage preservation through research collaborations;
• Provide post-graduate students with dedicated access to the internationally renowned research collections held at one of three world-class museums in the U.S.;
• Through such access, to enhance the depth, range and quality of research activities conducted by Irish students in the United States;
• Create opportunities for collaboration between Irish, U.S., and other international scholars at those institutions