Two local theatres in Donegal are to share a €378,000 funding boost announced today.
An Grianán Theatre in Letterkenny will gain €290,299 and the Abbey Arts Centre in Ballyshannon will receive €88,000 under the Cultural Capital Scheme.
The investment aims to improve the audience and creative experience while upgrading the facilities and reducing the organisation’s carbon footprint.
In line with the Government’s action on climate change, this scheme prioritises projects that reduce an organisation’s carbon footprint that will make a real and positive impact on the environment. Projects that provide additional capacity for artists and artistic production particularly in arts centres will also be favoured.
This new Scheme which has four separate streams of funding. Today’s allocations are under Stream B, announced by Minister Catherine Martin’s Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media as part of an overall €4.7m capital investment scheme in the arts and culture infrastructure around the country.
Donegal Green Party Chairman Michael White has welcomed the boost and said: “We are delighted to see this funding for cultural projects in Donegal. Only 11 projects were funded nationally under this allocation and Donegal is getting 2 of them. This funding again demonstrates that Donegal is at last getting a fair share of investment.”
Minister Martin said: “This investment at a range of different facilities including arts centres, theatres, galleries, museums, as well as artists’ studios and creative spaces aims to improve the audience and creative experience while upgrading the facilities. This overall funding package will ensure past investment in these arts and cultural centres is protected and sustained.
“The funding being announced today is in addition to my earlier allocations of funding under this Scheme in December together with funding to visual artist workspaces and Stream D funding which is specifically for capital adaptations or equipment necessary to assist arts organisations in re-opening safely after COVID-19. Today’s announcement will bring the total awarded under this Scheme to date to almost €2.5m. Further funding under this Scheme will follow in due course. I wish these arts and culture facilities continued success in the future.”