Who we are
The Arts Council of Ireland is the Irish government agency for developing the arts. We work in partnership with artists, arts organisations, public policy makers and others to build a central place for the arts in Irish life.
This Privacy Notice
is to provide you with information around how we, the Arts Council, use (‘’process’’) your data as an organisation, information around our obligations, and on your rights as an individual in relation to your personal data.
This notice applies
to the activities of the Arts Council. We may, at times, provide you with a separate Data Protection Notice where applicable, for example where you are participating in specific activities such as events, research, or applying for a job with us.
The
Arts Council is the data controller in regard to the data described in this notice. We are subject to Irish and EU laws, including the General Data Protection Regulation (EU Regulation 679/2016), Irish Data Protection Acts 1988 to 2018, the ePrivacy
Regulations 2011 and Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive 2002/58/EC on Privacy and Electronic Communications.
Freedom of Information
If you are interested in making a Freedom of Information Request under the Freedom
of Information Act 2014, we have information about how you can do so here: How to make a Freedom of Information request.
Please note Freedom of Information requests are separate to Data Subject Rights requests as detailed below in this Notice.
Arts Council Data Protection Contact Details
Email: dataprotection@artscouncil.ie
Post: The Arts Council, Data Protection Officer, 70 Merrion Square, South Dublin, Dublin 2, D02 NY52.
Telephone: +353 1 6180200 or +353 1 6180243
What is personal data?
Personal data is data that belongs to you and can identify you as an individual. For example, this can be any information such as your name, address, email address, or data that you provide in application forms when you apply for funding or opportunities
with us. Personal data also includes any correspondence that you have with us.
Certain types of personal data merit additional protection (special categories of data). This includes data that reveals your racial or ethnic origin, political
opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade-union membership, genetic data, biometric data or data concerning your health or sexual orientation.
The types of personal data we process
Administrative data
Purpose: To keep record of and carry out general administrative tasks required for the day-to-day functioning of the Arts Council.
Legal basis: Contract, Legal Obligation.
Artist registration data
Purpose: To be able to identify and record information related to artists, creative groups, and organisations that register and apply for funding.
Legal basis: Contract, Public Interest.
Back ups
Purpose: For business continuity and disaster recovery purposes.
Legal basis: Legal Obligation.
Board and committee data, minutes and reports
Purpose: To record meetings, inform the public and to comply with relevant legislation.
Legal basis: Contract, Public Interest.
Closed Circuit Television (CCTV)
Purpose: To aid security of buildings and for the security and protection of staff and visitors.
Legal basis: Public Interest.
Communication handling
Purpose: To communicate with and contact you by post, telephone, text message, or email.
Legal basis: Contract, Public Interest.
Complaints, enquiries, and feedback
Purpose: To handle and respond to any complaints, enquiries and/or feedback you may have.
Legal basis: Contract, Public Interest.
Conferences and events
Purpose: To inform you of and for us to be able to organise, advertise, and host events and conferences.
Legal basis: Consent, Public Interest.
Databases/Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Purpose: To keep a record of your details, contact you, support the provision of our services such as funding, and to retain records of our engagement and relationship with you.
Legal basis: Contract.
Financial information
Purpose: To make payments for expenses incurred, invoicing, and for goods and services received.
Legal basis: Contract, Legal Obligation, Public Interest.
Funding applications and management
Purpose: To assess, provision and enable you to apply for funding and for our management of funds and funded organisations and individuals.
Legal basis: Consent, Contract, Public Interest.
- To enable individuals to apply for funding.
- To receive and assess funding applications.
- To enter into funding agreements with successful applicants.
- To enable us to work with third parties e.g., panel members to assess applications for funding we receive. Please note that the Arts Council has contracts and agreements in place with third parties who participate in funding assessments.
- For evaluation and reporting on funding initiatives and projects we provide.
- For research and statistical purposes. Where we undertake research, we may work with independent agencies to assist us.
- To ensure we provide fair incentives and outcomes for all, e.g., we may run anonymised reports to help us identify groups who may be under-represented. We do this to ensure our practices are not discriminatory.
- We use location data to understand the share of funding awarded to different counties and areas in Ireland.
- To understand how successful the funding we provide is, and the impact/s it has on the sector.
- To create and publish reports, figures, and case studies on funding we have offered and awarded.
- For transparency purposes, to publish records of funding that has been awarded.
- To understand and improve the services we provide around funding.
- To communicate with local authorities, arts organisations we may partner with, and government officials.
- To promote the funding we have available, offered and awarded.
- To invite individuals and organisations to conferences, events and programmes.
- To respond to regulatory requests, such as Freedom of Information requests.
Images and recordings (audio and visual)
Purpose: To take, create, receive, edit (where applicable), produce, store and use images for social media broadcast, online platforms, research, publications, and marketing and educational purposes in our promotion of the arts in Ireland
and the Arts Council. Please note that we may select images and recordings for permanent storage and use. We will communicate with you around this. Should you have any queries please contact communications@artscouncil.ie
Legal basis: Consent, Contract, Public Interest.
Mailing lists
Purpose: To send communications and newsletters to you where you have registered for our newsletters and/or other mailing lists. We also receive statistical data around newsletter interactions.
Legal basis: Consent.
Planning
Purpose: To review and comment on planning applications which have a potential effect upon arts and culture.
Legal basis: Legal Obligation, Public Interest.
Policy and publications
Purpose: To produce policy documentation and publications that aid the promotion of the arts in Ireland.
Legal basis: Contract, Public Interest.
Press releases and media
Purpose: To inform the public of developments in the Arts Council.
Legal basis: Contract, Public Interest.
Procurement
Purpose: To procure and receive tenders and quotations from service providers for a range of services. Please note, the Arts Council is on the National Public Procurement Policy Framework.
Legal basis: Contract, Legal Obligation.
Recruitment
Purpose: To allow you to apply for roles in the Arts Council, to review applications and for us to carry out general recruitment processes e.g., interviews.
Legal basis: Consent (e.g., for processing of special category data for employment purposes), Contract, Legal Obligation.
Please note applicants will be provided with a separate Data Protection Notice. The Arts Council also advertise job opportunities on publicjobs.ie who are subject to their own privacy notice and practices.
Regulatory compliance
Purpose: To communicate and comply with relevant regulations and legislation.
Legal basis: Legal Obligation.
Research and strategic planning
Purpose: To engage with organisations and individuals around research and to aid the development of the arts in Ireland.
Legal basis: Consent, Contract, Public Interest.
Social media
Purpose: To manage our social media accounts, inform the public of events and opportunities, and to communicate with you.
Legal basis: Public Interest.
Surveys
Purpose: To receive feedback, opinions and responses on various projects and initiatives, for research and statistical purposes, and to aid us in understanding individual and public needs in relation to the work we, and those we fund, do.
Legal basis: Consent, Public Interest.
Third parties
Purpose: To assist us to carry out business functions and deliver our services via the use of third-party service providers.
Legal basis: Contract.
Visitor records
Purpose: To record visitors to our office for safety and security purposes.
Legal basis: Consent, Contract.
Web and technical data
Purpose: To ensure our online platforms and services are accessible and functional and to analyse usage of our platforms.
Legal basis: Consent.
Other data we process
Aosdána
If you are a member of Aosdána, you will be supplied with a separate Data Protection Notice. If you have queries about Aosdána, please visit the
Aosdána website or alternatively please contact us.
Safeguarding data
Quality Assurance Framework
The Arts Council requires all organisations, groups and individual artists that receive funding from our organisation to work with children, to provide evidence of their compliance with the Children First Act 2015 and Children First National Guidance
2017. We require all funded organisations, groups, and individual artists to have suitable policies and procedures in place to keep children safe from harm while availing of their services.
Every organisation, group or individual artist working with children and young people who receives funding and/or grant aid from the Arts Council will be required to complete a quality assurance self-audit, which will be assessed by the Arts Council,
utilising the quality assurance framework to measure compliance with legislation and national guidance for the protection and welfare of children.
Children’s data
When we refer to children’s data, please note that this may include data such as names, images (including images and recordings, please see above) where children attend Arts Council events, where we administer programmes and initiatives such as Creative
Schools, where we carry out research and produce reports around children, young people and the arts, and via the provision and administration of awards and projects.
The Arts Council has a Safeguarding Team, and further information and our Safeguarding Statement can be viewed on our website: Safeguarding.
Should you have any queries or concerns around the Arts Council and our processing of children’s data please email us at dataprotection@artscouncil.ie or contact our Safeguarding Officer at safeguarding@artscouncil.ie.
Criminal convictions and offences
As part of the Arts Council’s safe recruitment policy and in line with current legislation, staff whose work brings them into contact with children and/or vulnerable persons will be Garda vetted. Garda Vetting is a procedure through which the National
Vetting Bureau of An Garda Síochána is asked, with a person’s permission, to disclose any information held on Garda file.
The National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Acts 2012 and 2016 provide a legislative basis for the mandatory vetting of persons who wish to undertake certain work or activities relating to children or vulnerable persons or to provide
certain services to children or vulnerable persons.
Culture Night
View our Data Protection Notice around
Culture Night.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)
The Arts Council, in everything it does, strives to respect, support and ensure the inclusion of all voices and cultures that make up Ireland today. You can view our EDI Policy and get more information around
our EDI practices.
How we collect your personal data
We collect your personal data...
- Where you have supplied your data directly to us through our application processes, including funding applications and job opportunities.
- Where you provide us with your data from publicly available sources e.g., where you provide us links to your social media pages, websites.
- Through our interactions with you and where you make an enquiry, for example via email, postal correspondence, telephone calls, over our website, social media and email communications.
- Via relationships including those around procurement, payments to grant recipients, payments to suppliers and other third parties
- Where we gather your data through other sources including events and research.
- From third party sources, such as other arts and funding bodies, press contacts and other sources.
We will take reasonable precautions to prevent the loss, misuse or alteration of information you give us. Agents or contractors of the Arts Council who have access to information you give us while providing services to us are required to keep that information
confidential and are not permitted to use it for any purpose other than to carry out the services which they are performing for us.
Where you are providing us with personal data
belonging to another individual
Please note that if you provide us with another person’s personal data, (e.g., content or information that personally identifies other individuals as part of a funding application) you should ensure you are complying with Data Protection Laws and provide
them with a copy of this Notice. If you have any questions around this, please contact us.
Where you do not provide information that we
require
If you choose not to provide us with your personal data, we may not be able to communicate or provide you with our services.
Who we share your personal data with
The Arts Council, in the course of our business and where necessary and proportionate, may share your information with third parties. We carry out appropriate due diligence checks on third parties we engage with, and we have contracts and agreements in
place with third parties, including assessors, consultants and suppliers.
We may share your data with other organisations, stakeholders and service providers.
These may include:
- Governmental departments and public service bodies.
- Arts Offices and local authorities.
- Partnership organisations.
- Professional, legal, audit, and insurance advisors and service providers.
- Service and technical providers such as IT solution companies, cloud storage providers.
- External assessors.
- Contractors and other agents.
- Media, Press, and production companies/organisations.
- Other funding bodies and organisations.
- Educational institutions.
- Regulators and other bodies.
In certain circumstances we may also share your personal information:
- Where we are required to by law, such as with law enforcement including An Garda Síochána.
- For court or other legal proceedings where we are involved.
- For fraud prevention purposes.
- For medical assistance where/if you are involved in an accident with your interests in mind.
How long we keep your personal data for
We retain your personal data for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected by us, or as required or permitted for legal, reporting, regulatory and legitimate business purposes. In determining retention periods, the Arts Council
take into account the purposes we collected your data for, along with the sensitivity and any legal or other requirements.
If you have any questions about how long we are retaining your data, please contact us at dataprotection@artscouncil.ie.
International data transfers
The Arts Council use some third parties that are based outside of the European Economic Area (EEA). This means that your data may be transferred to a country outside of the EEA. Where such transfers occur, we ensure a similar level of protection or safeguard
is provided to your data. The Arts Council may also transfer your data to countries that have been deemed by the European Council to provide an adequate level of protection of data.
If you have any questions around international transfers or the mechanisms we are using to transfer your data outside of the EEA, please contact us at dataprotection@artcouncil.ie.
How we keep your personal data secure
The Arts Council has implemented appropriate technical and organisational measures to keep personal data that you provide to us secure. We use data minimisation, anonymisation, access controls, encryption and other features to protect your personal information.
The Arts Council has data breach procedures in place. Should you be concerned about a potential breach of your data please contact us at dataprotection@artscouncil.ie.
Your rights in relation to your data
You have the right to...
Be informed about the collection and use of your personal data. This includes the right to request information about whether we are holding your data and why.
Request access to your personal data (also known as a ‘data subject access request’). This enables you to receive a copy of your personal data. However, please note that there are some exemptions, so you may not receive all of the data we process.
Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This means you can ask us to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected. In some instances, we may need to verify data that you provide us.
Request erasure of your personal data. Under this right you can ask us to delete or remove your personal data under certain circumstances. You can also ask us to delete or remove your data where you have objected to processing (see below) or where
we have processed your data unlawfully. However please note that this right has limitations, we may not always be able to delete your data as we may need to comply with legal obligations, or it may be in the public interest to retain the data. We
will inform of you of this at the time we carry out your request.
Object to processing of your personal data. Where we are relying on a legitimate interest, the processing forms part of our public task, or where you feel that your rights are being impacted you may object to the processing of your data. This includes
direct marketing for example if you wish to unsubscribe from the Arts Council newsletter.
Object to automated decision-making including
profiling. You have the right to not to be subject to automated decision-making and/or profiling.
Request restriction of processing of your personal data. You can ask us to suspend the processing of your data in certain circumstances. This may be, for example, where you want to confirm the accuracy of the data we hold, or where you need us
to hold the data where we no longer need to hold it for legal or other reasons.
Request transfer of your data (‘data portability’). Where you wish to have your data transferred, we will provide you, or a third party you have chosen, with your personal data. We will provide your data in a commonly used electronic format in
such instances. This only applies to automated data that you have given consent for us to process or where we have a contract with you.
Withdraw your consent. If you have provided your consent to the processing of your data, you may withdraw this at any time. Please note that this will not affect the lawfulness of processing prior to the withdrawal of your consent.
In some instances, we may need to confirm your identity or request further information from you in order to process your request for you. We will inform you in these situations of what is required and why.
For further information on your rights please visit the Data Protection Commission website.
Updating your details with us
You can update your details with us if you are registered via our website by logging into your account and updating your details under the ‘Online Services’
section.
You can also update your details by contacting us, or if you require assistance, by email on reception@artscouncil.ie or phone (01) 6180 200 or (01) 6180 243.
Making a Complaint
In the first instance, should you wish to make a complaint about how we have handled or used your personal data, please contact our Data Protection Officer. We welcome any complaints so that we can rectify any issues.
You can contact us at the following:
The Arts Council
Data Protection Officer
70 Merrion Square,
South Dublin
Dublin 2, D02 NY52
Telephone: +353 1 6180200 or +353 1 6180243
Email: dataprotection@artscouncil.ie
You also have the right to complain to a supervisory authority around our handling of your data. As an Irish organisation, our supervisory authority is the Irish Data Protection Commissioner.
They can be contacted at the following:
Data Protection Commission (‘DPC’)
Website: www.dataprotection.ie
The DPC website includes a webform that you can contact them on.
Email: info@dataprotection.ie
Address:
Data Protection Commission
21 Fitzwilliam Square South
Dublin 2
D02 RD28
Ireland
Cookies
With your consent, we collect data through the ‘cookies’ we use on our website. Cookies are small text files that may be stored on your computer or mobile device that contain data relating to a website you visit. For more details on how we use cookies,
see our Cookies Policy.
Third-party websites
Our website includes links and details of third-party websites, please note that the Arts Council is not responsible for the privacy policies of websites that it does not control or operate.
Updates to our Privacy Notice
Any changes we may make to this Privacy Notice will be posted on our website. The last update date is stated at the top of this Notice. It shall be your responsibility to check our website frequently to see recent changes.