Aosdána

Aosdána is an autonomous affiliation of artists, established by the government in 1981 to honour artists whose work had made an outstanding contribution to the creative arts in Ireland, and to assist members, where necessary, to devote their energies full-time to the practice of their art. Alongside the originally recognised disciplines of the visual arts, literature and music, Aosdána has extended its mandate to include the fields of architecture and choreography. With a limit of at most 250 members at any given time, membership of the Aosdána is for life and conferred by peer nomination.