Arts Council in £2m funding lifeline for 150 local groups
SOME 150 local arts organisations have been awarded almost £2m in grants to help them recover from the effects of the pandemic.
The small and medium-sized operations will receive £1,949,113 from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, with each getting up to £25,000.
Twenty-one of those to benefit have never received Arts Council funding before.
The cash is drawn from the Arts Council’s organisations emergency programme (OEP) and will help them stay afloat, assist with costs and help plan for their recovery.
Since lockdown in March theatres, concert halls and other venues have been unable to open, with live audiences vanishing, scores of events cancelled and many employees and performers unable to earn a regular wage as a result.
Arts venues have only been able to reopen to staff since August 10.
However, audiences will not be back until September 1.
Roisin Mcdonough, chief executive of the Arts Council, said funding for the sector was already in a “fragile state” prior to the pandemic and it estimated that, since the outbreak, organisations are facing deficits of more than £6m — a figure that is likely to increase.
“These organisations are among the most creative, flexible and inventive in our society and many are already finding imaginative and innovative ways to deliver online content,” she added.
“However, the impact of the lockdown on their earned income has been both severe and immediate.
“The OEP will support arts organisations by helping them buy creative time to produce new ideas for programming, plan for recovery and also aid them to withstand the shock to their organisation of substantial loss of income during lockdown.
“We hope now, with outdoor opportunities opening up, to see even more engagement with live audiences and participants in a safe and meaningful way.”
Organisations that have received funding include Maywe, a drive-in entertainment company, which will use the money to produce a project called Lough Down, a weekend of outdoor music, comedy and arts in Belfast’s Titanic area.
Seacourt Print Workshop, a printmaking studio based in Bangor, has also received funding.
Seacourt runs courses and workshops for the public and will use the grant to run more workshops serving smaller groups to ensure social distancing rules can be followed.
The organisation also hopes to develop a new series of online workshops for people who cannot attend because they are shielding.
Other organisations receiving funding include the Dylan Quinn Dance Theatre in Fermanagh and the Greater Shantallow Community Arts and Studio 2 based in Londonderry.
For a full list of organistions that received OEP funding visit the Arts Council for Northern Ireland’s website at www. artscouncil-ni.org.