Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 March 2017
390. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if she will create an arts capital fund, modelled after the sports capital fund, to ensure better long term funding for Irish arts. [11680/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraI recently announced details of grants of over €9 million in capital funding for arts and culture centres across the country. This capital scheme is the most significant investment in arts and cultural centres in a decade and will target investment at a range of different facilities, including arts centres, theatres, galleries and museums, as well as artists’ studios and creative spaces. This kind of investment is at the centre of what I am trying to achieve through Creative Ireland and the Action Plan for Rural Development.
The Arts and Culture Capital Scheme was considerably over-subscribed. The Department received 106 applications in total under Stream 1 and 2 seeking total funding of over €20m with eligible requests for funding totalling over €14.6m. Following the assessment process, 56 projects are being funded. Seven flagship projects will receive substantial funding allocations while a further 49 projects will receive funding ranging from €20,000 to €276,000.
I will be opening a further Stream of funding under this Scheme in the coming weeks. It will provide smaller capital grants of up to €20,000 to not-for-profit organisations with a defined arts and cultural remit. While the amounts involved are relatively modest, the grants will in themselves make a huge difference to individual organisations and will be of particular benefit to local cultural centres throughout rural Ireland.
The arts and culture capital grant scheme is operated in a similar way to the sports capital grant scheme.
