The Arts Council, the government agency for leading the development of the arts in Ireland, this week announced funding of €314,500 for Mayo in 2017. The Ballinglen Arts Foundation and the Ballina Arts Centre are among the four local centres and organisations that have been awarded funding by the arts agency.
Arts Council Director Orlaith McBride said “In our investment approach, we have focused in particular on broadening the reach of the arts in Ireland. We will work with a range of partners, in local, community, educational, youth and other settings, to ensure that people experience the best of the arts over the next 12 months.”
The Mayo-based arts centres and organisations that have successfully been awarded funding include The Linenhall in Castlebar which will receive €193,500. The Linenhall was founded in 1990 and is an independent, multi-disciplinary, 144 seat venue with a gallery, workshop space and a café. It also maintains an extensive programme of work with schools and young people.
The Ballinglen Arts Foundation received €56,000 and is a residential workspace for visual artists in Ballycastle, North Mayo. There are five studios, residential cottages, a printmaking facility and a gallery. It also runs an education programme with a number of local schools in the surrounding counties. It provides visual artists with residential, studio spaces in rural Ireland. This allows artists to access occasional space so that they can have time to consider their work away from day-to-day pressures.
Ballina Arts Centre will get €50,000 is a multi-disciplinary arts centre in north Mayo, founded in 1993. A 300 seat theatre was opened in 2011 along with a dance studio and gallery. It is an arts resource for north Mayo, providing rehearsal space, dance studio and work spaces along with an auditorium for hosting touring work and a gallery for a curated programme of visual arts exhibitions.
The Achill Heinrich Böll Association will receive €15k, the association provides the Heinrich Böll cottage in Dugort, Achill as a live-in work-space for artists and writers in successive two-week residencies. The two-week residencies at the Achill Heinrich Böll cottage provide artists with a secluded space away from their home environment in which to make work.
