City Council allocates almost 400 thousand euro to city arts groups
GBFM NewsGalway Bay FM News Desk
Galway Bay fm newsroom – Galway City Council has allocated almost 400 thousand euro in funding to arts groups across the city.
A detailed breakdown of the funding under the 2016 Arts Grants was revealed to Councillors at this week’s sitting of the local authority.
Funding of 385 thousand euro is being allocated to 93 different groups across the city – but while the funding has not changed from last year, the number of groups seeking a slice of that figure has risen significantly.
Arts Officer James Harrold told councillors that the increased demand means that extremely hard choices have to be made – and many groups will receive just several hundred euro, or in some cases, nothing at all.
However, he told the meeting that if Galway was successful in it’s Capital of Culture 2020 bid, it would mean the greatest transformation the city had seen since the 17th century.
The largest allocation went to Galway International Arts Festival, which received 46 thousand euro – on par with funding for last year.
The Druid Theatre received 28 thousand euro in funding, also unchanged from the figure awarded in 2015.
Galway Arts Centre applied for 19,000 euro in funding.
Macnas also retained it’s funding of 24 thousand euro from last year, as did Baboro Childrens’ Festival, which was once again allocated 15 and a half thousand euro.
Galway Film Fleadh received a total of 16 thousand euro.
Councillors voiced concerns over funding levels awarded to a large number of groups, but in the end, agreed to the recommendations within the 2016 Arts Grants without alteration.