€540,000 funding for Culture Ireland’s promotion of Irish arts globally
The Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD, today announced funding of over €540,000 by Culture Ireland for the promotion of Irish arts globally in 2022. Through Culture Ireland’s grant programme, 85 projects will be supported involving Irish circus, film, literature, music, theatre and the visual arts to be presented in venues worldwide.
Announcing the awards, Minister Martin said: “It is great that Irish arts can again be enjoyed on world stages and that international programmers have such an appetite for presenting Irish artists to their local audiences, especially after challenges with the pandemic. I am pleased to be able to support our artists to gain the international attention they deserve.”
The range of music genres being supported reflects the diversity and strength of Ireland’s music sector with tours by Camerata Ireland, Fidelio Trio, Pillow Queens, Tolu Makay and recent Music Moves Europe award winning artist Denise Chaila. A strong line up of traditional Irish musicians include Kila, Socks in the Frying Pan, Sharon Shannon and JigJam who will tour in the US and Europe. The Irish Baroque Orchestra and the Irish Baroque Youth Orchestra will perform in Croatia in September as part of an Irish focus at Varazdin Baroque Evenings, marking the first time that Ireland has been the spotlight country at this prestigious festival which gains much media coverage in Europe.
Irish writers are being supported to take part in festivals in Europe, New Zealand and Canada. In May, Stephen James Smith will undertake a spoken word tour in Britain and the Hay Festival in Wales will celebrate the centenary of the publication of Ulysses with contemporary Irish writers this summer. Reflecting Culture Ireland’s new strategy to support online presentations, the Auckland Writers Festival will present Irish writers virtually to a wide audience and Once Off Productions will present ‘Looking for América’ by Janet Moran and Federico Julián González online with Teatrix MX, Mexico
Irish theatre will also again take to international stages with the Abbey Theatre at the Kiln Theatre London, and Brokentalkers’ productions being presented in Paris and Harstad, Norway, while PanPan will present Beckett at in New York in June. A highlight of the visual arts support is the selection of Ailbhe Ní Bhriain to exhibit at the prestigious Lyon Biennale running from September to December 2022. Please see www. cultureireland.ie for the full list of February 2022 grant round recipients.