€200,000 boost for county organisations

Three Clare arts organisations have received a funding boost of more than €200,000 through the Arts Council.
The three beneficiaries are Glór Irish Music Centre, which will receive €86,000, Salmon Poetry receiving €42,000 and Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy awarded €80,000.
The Arts Council said it chose to invest a total of €208,000 in these three Clare-based organisations due to their proven track record of delivering great arts experiences for people all over the county and beyond.
The funding comes through the Arts Council’s three main annual grants programmes. In addition, people in Clare will enjoy the arts through Arts Council funding for touring, projects and bursaries for talented artists throughout the year.
The Arts Council offered the following annual funding for the period to the end of March 2014 to
The ever-popular Scoil Samhraidh celebrates its 40th year this year, and is held annually since 1973 in memory of the piper Willie Clancy, it is also Ireland’s largest traditional music summer school.
Glór, now in its 12th year, showcases the very best of traditional arts, theatre, children’s shows, music, dance and visual arts in the county.
Salmon Poetry marks its 30th anniversary this year and the publisher will run a series of events, along with its publishing programme, to celebrate this.
Speaking about the funding boost Arts Council chairman Pat Moylan said, “We are delighted to be able to continue supporting and developing the arts in Clare. For over 60 years the Arts Council has been at the forefront of developing and promoting the arts and even with reduced funding, the Arts Council continues to build a central place for the arts in Irish life”.
“Despite that funding to the arts has been cut by around 30% since 2008, we recognise that work of the Arts Council produces an important social dividend that positively impacts on the quality of life of citizens across the country. Not only this, but the arts play a vital role in our economy, especially in job creation and tourism. Therefore, we see it as vital to areas such as Clare and other areas across the country that support for the arts is maintained,” he said.
He concluded that as the year progresses, the council will announce further funding grants to individual artists and to groups undertaking projects, festivals and other events.