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Catherine Martin, T.D., Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media has today announced awards under the first round offers of Streams A and B of the Cultural Capital Scheme 2019-2022. Capital funding of €254,754 is being awarded to eight arts and culture organisations for their upgrading and development. The remaining eligible applications under Streams A and B are undergoing further assessment and decisions on these will be made in the coming months.

This funding is part of an overall €4.7m capital investment scheme in the arts and culture infrastructure around the country. The funding is being made available under the National Development Plan, Project Ireland 2040.  Investing in our Culture, Language & Heritage 2018-2027 sets out the Government’s objectives for capital investment in Ireland’s culture, language and heritage.  

The Cultural Capital Scheme 2019-2022 will run until 2022 and will focus on enhancing the existing stock of arts and culture centres throughout the country. In line with the Government's action on climate change, this scheme prioritises projects that reduce an organisation's carbon footprint and 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 builds on the success of the former Arts and Culture Capital Scheme 2016-2018.

Speaking today, Minister Martin said:

“I am delighted to be in a position to award this funding today to these arts and culture organisations. This capital scheme prioritises projects that reduce an organisation's carbon footprint. This is in line with the Government's action on climate change and I’m delighted that some of these projects will make a real and positive impact on the environment.”

“Projects that provide additional capacity for artists and artistic production, particularly in arts centres, are also favoured. This investment is in a range of different facilities including arts centres, theatres, galleries, museums, as well as artists’ studios and creative spaces, and 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. This funding announced today is in addition to my recently announced Stream C funding to visual artist workspaces which all fall under this overall scheme. I wish these arts and culture facilities continued success in the future”.