Donegal TD Joe McHugh has today welcomed funding to support cultural projects with a significant cross-border element, including two with a Donegal presence.
Some 13 projects are benefitting from grants from the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht in cooperation with Northern Ireland Scheme 2018.
Some of the successful applicants with Donegal connections announced by the Department include a digital intergenerational project of communities of South Armagh and Donegal being run by St Mary’s Primary School in Armagh which was awarded €15,000.
€10,000 was awarded for Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin for a major art exhibition for the Derry-Donegal region. Also, €6,000 was allocated to Cardiff Universirty to help fund research of the border area of Strabane, examining the characteristics of this area in terms of landscape, built form, building and landscape uses.
Mr McHugh, Minister for the Irish language, Gaeltacht and the Islands, said: “Funding these cross border cultural initiatives should be commended.
“All of the successful applicants involve bodies on both sides of the border cooperating in a cultural context. And it is through this collective work and learning that communities are tied closer together and we see first hand how there are more things that bind us than divide us.”
Mr McHugh added: “The Cooperation with Northern Ireland Scheme 2018 is a timely piece of symbolism and recognition of the intertwined lives we share in our border communities.
“It is about the people. It allows ideas to flourish and grow and it creates the environment to deepen cultural ties that have a global appeal.”
Other significant projects being supported in the Cooperation with Northern Ireland Scheme 2018 include the Children’s Book Ireland project, an all-island competition and platform for engaging thousands of young readers, and the Gallery of Photography which will continue to produce its well-received Reframing the Border project through short films of Orange Lodge members in South, videos or oral history of people on both sides of the border and capturing local images of people and landscapes.
