28 February 2024
By Bryan McCarthy
bryan@TheCork.ie
128 Artists and arts organisations are set to receive funding of over €166,000 from Cork County Council through its 2024 Arts Grants Scheme. Considering the scheme at their meeting on Monday February 12th Councillors noted that there has been a sharp rise in applications to the Arts Grants Scheme over the past two years. This 42% increase in requests for funding indicates that not only has arts and cultural activity returned to pre-pandemic levels, but also that the county’s organisations and artists have strong and ambitious plans for the coming year.
Welcoming the Council’s funding decision, Mayor of the County of Cork Cllr. Frank O’Flynn said,
The Arts Grants Scheme is one of Cork County Council’s funding mechanisms designed to support events, activities and new initiatives that enhance public access to the arts and support cultural development across all eight of the county’s Municipal Districts. The scheme covers services provided by voluntary arts groups and others that enable public engagement in the arts. The scheme supports Arts for older people, community arts, craft, dance, disability access projects in the arts, festivals, literature, music theatre, visual and youth arts.
Chief Executive of Cork County Council, Valerie O’Sullivan
Chief Executive of Cork County Council, Valerie O’Sullivan, highlighted the role of the Council in making the practice and enjoyment of the arts accessible to all citizens.
Cork County Council is one of a few local authorities to offer a specific scheme supporting arts projects that promote use of Irish language. This year the scheme will support two strong initiatives in Youghal and the Mhuscraí Gaeltacht that will assist young people making films through Irish.
The Arts Grant Scheme also supports the work of individual artists, and this year 18 bursaries and residencies will be awarded to individual creative artists. This includes two awards supporting artists developing projects to promote their work abroad.