What We Do

Cultural & Creative Industries Skillnet designs, develops and delivers responsive, bespoke, flexible and relevant skills and talent development programmes to address the ongoing needs of the cultural & creative sectors. Cultural & Creative Industries Skillnet was established in January 2023 as a consolidation and expansion of three existing and established Skillnet networks (Animation Skillnet, Screen Skillnet and Immersive Technologies Skillnet) to support the following cultural and creative sectors: Animation, Visual Effects, Games, Film, TV, Documentary, Post-Production, Immersive Technologies, AR/VR, Virtual Production, Digital Media, Entertainment Events, Music, Theatre, Performing Arts and Visual Arts.

We aim to provide opportunities to our members to gain an advantage and remain competitive in an increasingly complex and dynamic sector.

We support the ongoing development of the sector in the following ways:

1. We run regular (short and long) subsidised training programmes for member companies/organisations and freelancers working in the sector that are designed and delivered by industry experts.
2. We offer subsidised in-house training solutions to companies/organisations (for current staff or new recruits).
3. We offer subsidised delegate rates to high level personnel to attend key international events, conferences and markets.
4. We fund, organise and support key conferences/networking events for the sector, including out flagship Culture Crush event – https://culturecrush.ie/
5. We work closely and engage with key industry stakeholders and government departments and agencies to influence policy for the sector and conduct research to ensure our offering is relevant and meeting the needs of the sector.

Members of Cultural & Creative Industries Skillnet can avail of subsidised rates on our programmes and events. Membership is FREE and open to companies/organisations or individual freelancers or sole traders working across the cultural and creative sectors. You automatically become a member once you register for a programme or event.

The specific level of subsidy is allocated on a programme-by-programme basis, according to programme type, number of trainees, accreditation and other factors.

Those eligible for our programmes and events include all employees of member companies/organisations (private and semi-state) and all sole-traders and freelancers working in the sector in the Republic of Ireland.

The subsidised offering is not available to public sector organisations. Our current funding parameters mean that our subsidised programmes are generally not open to those in receipt of unemployment benefit.

Cultural & Creative Industries Skillnet supports the workforce development needs of businesses within the cultural and creative sectors. We offer a small number of industry-led and fully-funded programmes for people who are not in employment, subject to eligibility criteria and the availability of places. If you are currently not in employment and wish to upskill or reskill, click for details of Skills Connect training for people seeking employment.

Further details of Skills Connect and the eligibility criteria can be found on the Skillnet Ireland website.