Organisations, festivals and individuals to benefit from Arts Council funding
ALMOST €400,000 will be invested in the arts in Wicklow this year by the Arts Council.
Announcing the funding last week, the Arts Council said the funding of €391,911 will see people in the county get to experience arts in new and exciting ways.
Outlining its plan to invest €68.4 million nationwide over the course of the year, the agency for developing the arts said the focus of this year’s investment would be on creating opportunities for the public to experience large-scale work, as well as work of real artistic ambition, by supporting organisations through its two new funding programmes.
Arts Council Director Orlaith McBride said: ‘2018 is going to be an excellent year for people in Wicklow who enjoy the arts. Whether you enjoy dance, theatre, visual arts or festivals and events, whether you are young or old, you will experience great work that will lift your spirit.’
Among the organisations being funding in Wicklow are: Mermaid Arts Centre (€125,000); Wicklow County Council Arts Office (€54,300); Courthouse Arts Centre, Tinahely (€45,000) and Bray Jazz Festival (€31,000).
Other organisations around the county to receive funding include: Bray Literary Festival (€4,000); Emily Gillmor Murphy (€9,846); Katie Hennessy (€2,180); Laura Kelly (€2,250); Michael Nielsen (€20,250); Redmond O’Toole (€5,375); Sacred Spaces: Sacred Sounds (€6,000); Aine Stapleton (€49,710); West Wicklow Festival (€2,000); Wicklow Screendance Laboratory (€10,000) and Wordwell Ltd (€25,000).
The Council said more than half of its total grant from Government would be invested through its new Strategic Funding programme, for established organisations operating at the highest level across all the areas of the arts. This includes funding for the first time at this level for several organisations.
In addition, there will be increased funding for particular work by artists, emerging companies and organisations through the new Arts Grants Funding programme
Individual artists will be supported through a range of schemes such as bursaries and the Next Generation award, the Council said, with funding too for the dozens of unique festivals that take place in communities across Ireland in 2018.