At its monthly meeting, on Monday March 10, Waterford City Council approved the expenditure of €235,000 on Arts Grants and Venue Programmes. The motion was proposed by Clr. Mary Roche and seconded by Cllr. Seamus Ryan.
ARTS PRACTICE GRANTS 2014
Arts programmes and workshops in schools, performances and concerts in a Community Arts Garden, music in the Large Room as well as the Museum, song writing and performance workshops, a film about Ballybricken and the Bullpost, new plays by Red Kettle and Stagemad, music by Katakana and In the Willows and a madcap performance of a Tea Party are some of the programmes supported this year by Waterford City Council’s Arts Grants Programme.
There were a total of 57 applicants for the 17 grants areas spread over the three categories identified in the 2011 – 2016 Arts Plan, namely The Production of Quality Programmes, Audience Development and The Artist and the City.
This adjudication followed the 4th year of competitive applications, as outlined in the Arts Plan. It also marked the specification of areas the Council needs to invest in to ensure a strategic approach to both the City Arts Programme and Arts audiences of the future.
The adjudication committee followed Arts Plan principles such as defined priorities, agreed outcomes, excellence, accessibility, originality, a focus on cooperation and agreement for mentoring/outreach.
In all, Waterford City Council will fund 34 groups/artists and schemes over the period of the year. The grants range from aiding Red Kettle to present Hooked, a new play by Gillian Grattan to Wide Eye Film Unit’s Intergenerational film on the Bullpost and from artist Rosemary Dulson’s Tea Party to performances in a new community garden on an inner City vacant site. The grants also include aid to Acro studios to present exhibitions in Bailey’s New Street and a photographic mapping of the City by renowned photographer Terry Murphy.
- Red Kettle – Theatre production of Hooked a new play by Gillian Grattan – €10,000
- New St. Gardens Group: The New St. Gardens – Bringing greenery and life back into a vacant and disused inner City space through community arts, visual arts, music, dance, poetry, drama and sport.- €7,000
- Stagemad Theatre Company: Runners – A new play by Waterford native, Noel Kelly.- €4,700
- Waterford Youth Arts: Our Town by Thornton Wilder directed by Jim Nolan – €6,000
- De La Salle Scout Pipe Band: Programme of public performances in Waterford City – €1000.
- T F Meagher Fife& drum band: 1100 celebratory programme – €1000.
- City Of Waterford Brass: 2014 programme – €1000.
- Barrack Street Concert Band: 2014 Programme for 2014 – €5000.
- Waterford Music Club: Annual Programme – €2,500
- Symphony Club of Waterford: Concert Programme – €2,500
- Fadó Productions: Music at the Museum – €2,000
- Waterford Healing Arts Trust: Iontas arts and mental health programme – €5,000
Little Red Kettle Theatre Company: Primary schools interactive Touring Programme – €6,000 - Christine O’Brien Shanahan: Secondary Schools Arts Programme – Exploring Creativity– €5,000
- Red Kettle Sessions: Song-writing and Performance Workshops (Transition year) – €5,000
- Waterford Youth Arts: Make More Noise (Youth Social Inclusion Programme) – €3,700
- WYD EYE FILM UNIT c/o Waterford Youth Arts: BULLPOST social history film project. (intergenerational Inclusion Arts programme) €5,000
- In The Willows (Music recording): ‘Before Everybody Disappears’ – Debut Album – €1,000
- Terry Murphy: photographic mapping of Waterford City as it exists in 2014 – €1,000
- Jacquelyn Johnson: Butterfly Wall artworks – €1,000
- Martina Collender: Grant to allow for a sabbatical to develop theatre scripts – €1,000
- 20ten – artist collective: Nemus – group art exhibition – €1,000
Rosemary Dulson: Performance Art – Tea Party in public area – €1,000 - Brian Kennedy (author): ‘Paddy Get The Nets!’ – A history of Waterford Football (Senior & Pro) – €750
- Mary Tritschler: Exhibition of Paintings Heaven and Earth – €850
- Acro Studios: Exhibitions and Artist Talks – €1,000
- John O’ Connell: New artworks, 2014 – €1250
- Sandra Kelly: Splash Art – To develop a four part exhibition €1,000
- Michael Shanahan, Magdalena Lipinska (Sonic Arts Waterford) : to enable a Cultural exchange – €1,000
- O Emperor – a grant to support an international and national tour – €1,750
- Ted & Mary O’Regan – Bursary contribution – €1,000
- Tyrone Guthrie Bursary – Eimear Cheasty
- Publishing Purchase scheme Bursaries: Katakana (Liam Merriman, Eoin O’Meachair, Nick Bankes and Dave Prim) for their debut album and Noel Brennan for his memoir Dry Stone Wall.
Total: €90,000
ARTS VENUE GRANTS 2014
Waterford City Council has approved funding support for the following City Venues based on the criteria, as outlined in the City Council’s Arts Plan 2011 – 2016, including outreach to the community, encouragement of new audiences, shared resources and partnerships. The venues are:
- Theatre Royal – €65,000
- Garter Lane – €60,000
- Christchurch Cathedral – €10,000
- Central Hall = €10,000
Total: €145,000