· Up to €300,000 funding available for suitably qualified regional museum development projects for 2013
· Deenihan: "Museums make a huge contribution to local communities, to tourism, to historical groups, and to our understanding of who we are and where we have come from."
Thursday, February 7th - Jimmy Deenihan TD, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, has today announced a significant expansion of the Local and Regional Museums Scheme for 2013.
The Local and Regional Museums Scheme is designed to support small and medium museums across the country. This year, Minister Deenihan is expanding the funding which will available under the scheme. For 2013, up to €300,000 funding is being made available for suitably qualified museum development projects in small and medium regional museums.
The increase in funding - from €57,000 awarded in 2012 - will allow many more small and medium museums to apply for support this year. Projects funded under the Scheme should seek to make a contribution to the development and promotion of Ireland's cultural tourism offering, to the benefit of both the domestic and foreign tourist. They should also encourage the use of local and regional museums by a larger segment of society.
Projects which benefitted from the scheme last year include the Allihies Copper Museum, the Irish Jewish Museum, Rothe House and Garden, the Dundalk County Museum and the Waterford Museum of Treasures. Successful projects included the translation of audio tours, the hosting of specific exhibitions, and the extension of opening hours at a number of museums.
Minister Deenihan commented:
"Museums make a huge contribution to local communities, to tourism, to historical groups, and to our understanding of who we are and where we have come from. The network of small and medium museums that are found across the country are a rich repository of local knowledge, and guide us in understanding different strands of our political, social and economic history. By assisting our regional museums, I believe we help all people - both citizens and tourists - to understand and appreciate the complexity of our national narrative.’
Applications for funding under the 2013 Scheme are invited from local and regional museums and/or organisations and institutions that operate as not for profit institutions whose primary role is to collect, safeguard, hold in trust, research, develop and interpret collections of original objects and original objects on loan, for the public benefit.
Funding can only be awarded to projects which meet the criteria for selection. All projects proposed should be creative and innovative and meet one or more of the following objectives:
· Enhance the primary cultural product or related ancillary services offered by the Museum
· Encourage greater access to the Museum by a larger segment of society
· Promote cultural tourism in general and having particular regard to the fact that 2013 is the year of the Gathering
· Encourage the establishment or expansion of volunteer initiatives
· Promote co-operation and joint initiatives between eligible museums and cultural organisations
Details of the newly expanded Local and Regional Museums Scheme is available on the department’s website at:
http://ahg.gov.ie The closing date for receipt of all applications is 28 March 2013.