Minister Humphreys announces capital funding of more than €745,000 for voluntary arts organisations nationwide

The Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Heather Humphreys TD, has today (Friday) announced funding of almost €750,000 for more than 60 local arts organisations around the country. The funding is being made available under Stream 3 of the Arts and Culture Capital Scheme 2016-2018. Earlier this year, Minister Humphreys announced funding of over €9 million under Stream 1 and 2 of the Scheme.

The maximum grant being awarded under this round of funding is €20,000.

Announcing the funding, Minister Humphreys said:

“We deliberately made the Arts and Culture Capital Scheme 2016-2018 as flexible as possible to ensure that a diverse number of arts organisations would benefit. As a result of this latest round of funding, more than 120 organisations have benefitted from this very worthwhile scheme.

“The first two rounds of funding were for the larger arts and cultural organisations that required upgrading of existing facilities. The funding I am announcing today is specifically aimed at smaller organisations with a defined arts and cultural remit, which make such a positive contribution to their local communities.

“While the amounts involved are relatively modest, these grants will make a positive difference to the individual organisations concerned, which include small arts centres, theatres, galleries, museums, heritage centres, archives as well as artist studios and creative and performance spaces.

“A wide variety of projects will benefit including IT related projects, new lighting and sound systems in theatres and arts centres, seating, staging and storage and the improvement of digital facilities. These projects all aim to improve the audience and creative experience.

“As part of the Creative Ireland Programme, I want to enable creativity in every community. In that regard, this investment is an important way of supporting the arts in the regions and ensuring that people right across the country can access quality cultural facilities.

“I am also pleased that almost 80% of the funding being allocated today is for projects outside of Dublin. This is in line with the Action Plan for Rural Development which is the first ever whole-of-government strategy aimed at delivering real change for people living and working in rural Ireland.”

ENDS

The list of successful projects under the Arts and Culture Capital Scheme 2016-2018 (Streams 1 &2) is available on the Department’s website at:

https://www.chg.gov.ie/arts/creative-arts/grants-and-funding/

Please see below the full list of organisations to benefit from funding under Stream 3 of the Arts and Cultural Capital Scheme 2016-2018: