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Minister Martin announces allocation of funding to help stabilise the arts and culture sector in the context of challenges arising from Covid-19
Minister for Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht, Catherine Martin TD, today announced a number of funding measures to help the Arts and Culture sector recover from the Covid19 Emergency.
In June 2020, the government announced €25 million in extra supports for the sector, which was deeply impacted by the Covid-19 crisis. This extra funding is being made available through the Arts Council (€20 million) and directly through the Department (€5 million).
This was followed, last week, by an additional €31 million investment in the sector, announced by Minister Martin as part of the Jobs Stimulus package.
Today’s funding announcement forms part of this overall suite of measures, totalling €56 million, which have been introduced to support the sector. Specifically today:
- A further €1 million in grant aid to key cultural organisations in receipt of annual funding from the Department as part of the extra supports to help the Arts and Culture sector recover from the Covid-19 Emergency. These organisations – which include Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, the Hunt Museum, Archbishop Marsh's Library, the National Print Museum and Foynes Flying Boat & Maritime Museum – house collections of moveable cultural heritage of national importance, or are unique in the country and relate to matters of national interest.
- A new €2 million Audience Re-engagement Fund for small, regional and specialised museums. The Scheme is reserved for appropriate not-for-profit small, regional and specialised museums that are not in receipt of operational funding from the Department or bodies under its aegis. The intention is to support those museums in regional and rural areas or with a specific focus of both local and national interest that were particularly impacted by the Covid-19 Emergency.
- An allocation of €58,000 to Business to Arts as a continuing support for their fellowships designed to support and enhance investment by cultural organisations in the development of fundraising, human resources and capacity building. This represents a continued commitment to supporting cultural bodies to assist with capacity development and engaging with philanthropy to assist with their activities.
- Also announced today is total funding of €134,095 to support cultural projects with a significant cross-border elements under the Cooperation with Northern Ireland Scheme 2020 benefitting 12 projects including a live streamed traditional arts event by Cavan NYAH and a cross-border crafting and artisan expertise sharing by Newry, Mourne and Down District Council (details in appendix 1).
- Minister Martin also announced total funding of €137,581 to fifteen projects under the Regional Museum Exhibitions Scheme 2020 including an exhibition on the life and work of artist Nano Reid at the Highlanes Gallery, Louth and the restoration of an RA105 vintage double decker bus exhibition with back stairs at the national Transport Museum in Howth, Co. Dublin (details in appendix 2).
- €270,000 has been allocated to the Music Capital Scheme which is administered by Music Network which is Ireland’s national music touring and development agency. Since its inception, over €2m has been awarded to 160 organisations and 119 individual musicians across the State, performing in genres including traditional Irish, classical, folk, jazz, electro-acoustic, early/baroque and rock/pop.
Notes to Editor
Appendix 1: Cooperation with Northern Ireland Scheme 2020
Applicant | Project Description | Amount of proposed funding |
Cinemagic | 2020 Dublin Film and Television Festival - providing creative opportunities to young people | €15,000 |
BEAM | Arts and cultural workshops in partnership with Clogher Historical society | € 7,095 |
NYAH Cavan | Two day event of traditional arts at two cross border locations which will also be webcam streamed | €10,000 |
Donegal County Museum | An exhibition commemorating the 1500th anniversary of Colmcille | €15,000 |
Irish Heritage Trust | The Irish Famine and cottier cabins Heritage project exploring heritage displays, interpretive strategies and the architecture of 19th century cottier and famine cabins and their inhabitants in Ireland | €6,000 |
Children's Books Ireland | A toolkit to reinvigorate how children in primary and secondary school engage with books and reading | €10,000 |
Newry, Mourne and Down District Council | This project is bringing together a dedicated group of master craftspeople from the North and South of Ireland to help maintain lace crafts, styles and heritages. | €10,000 |
IMA | Interpreting Museums is an innovative online project exploring the potential of the accelerated move towards a digital- and audience-first approach to museum practice for research, peer-learning, and public engagement. | € 9,000 |
Pop Up Projects | Over ten days in August a pair of published authors - one writer from Republic of Ireland, one illustrator from Northern Ireland - will deliver five days of writing and illustration workshops per group for up to 50 LGBTQ+ young people in Dublin and Belfast, recruited and hosted by LGBTQ+ organisations Outhouse and Cara-Friend. | €9,000 |
Fighting Words | Young Playwrights Project North and South - Playwriting workshops for young people | €9,000 |
St Mary's Primary School | Connecting two communities at opposite sides of the country, virtually through a collaborative project researching the histories of their two schools and how the schools’ development impacted upon their villages, communities and surrounding area. The project will also connect the communities intergenerationally with pupils interviewing older members of their communities about school life in the past whilst also sharing their experience of using virtual classrooms in 2020. | €10,000 |
The Irish Military Heritage Foundation | Ireland’s Great War Story - A Story of War, Sacrifice and Division - This project aims to capture, record, preserve, and tell the story of the Irish contribution in the Great War (1914 – 1918) and the impact that conflict had on the island of Ireland. | € 9,000 |
Smashing Times | Creative Connections for a Brighter Future - a project using creative high quality artistic processes combined with new digital technologies to create a body of work celebrating the arts and peace and to work with nine diverse groups from the island of Ireland | €15,000 |
Total | | € 134,095 |
Appendix 2: Regional Museum Exhibitions Scheme 2020
Applicant | County | Project Description | Funding |
Limerick Museum | Limerick | Exhibition to commemorate the centenary of the 1920 local elections in Limerick city and county | 3,000 |
National Transport Museum | Dublin | Restoration of an RA105 vintage double decker bus exhibition with back stairs | 7,500 |
IAA | Dublin | Final stage of an internationally linked exhibition entitled "Alternative Histories" involving international architecture techniques | 9,785 |
Foynes Flying Boat and Maritime Museum | Limerick | Cinema projector and curation of film linked to an expanded celebration of the centenary of Maureen O’Hara, to include digitisation of artefacts and a virtual tour | 10,946 |
Little Museum of Dublin | Dublin | An educational and outreach programme via radio which sees the LMD take the message of the museum nationwide with interpretative displays on the rails at Stephen's Green | 10,000 |
The Model | Sligo | Digitisation of elements of the collection with a view to a full colour publication around the Niland collection for national distribution | 10,000 |
Kerry Writers Museum | Kerry | Expansion of the ‘Listowel through the Ages’ exhibition including new panels, life size models and AV equipment | 11,000 |
Tipperary County Museum | Tipperary | Tipperary’s Road to Independence - development on an exhibition on Tipperary between 1919 and 1921 | 15,000 |
Donegal County Museum | Donegal | An exhibition to commemorate the 1500th anniversary of Colmcille to be held through 2021 and when available in 2020 | 5,850 |
Marsh's Library | Dublin | Physical and online exhibition (pushed through social media) entitled "China: The fragrance of books" on China through 16 and 17th century texts | 10,000 |
DIAS Dunsink Observatory | Dublin | New external signage | 10,000 |
Highlanes Gallery | Louth | Extensive research and curation of an exhibition on the life and work of artist Nano Reid, which will form the basis for a 2021 Summer School | 10,000 |
The GAA Museum | Dublin | An exhibition that reflects and respectfully commemorates and remembers the events of Bloody Sunday | 5,000 |
Sirus Arts Centre | Cork | A community-sourced exhibition about Cobh – and, more broadly, Great Island – as the inaugural project of the newly considered Cobh Office of Civic Imagination at the centre | 7,000 |
The Hunt Museum | Limerick | physical and online exhibition of costumes worn by Irish actors | 12,500 |
137,581 |