€175,161 of funding allocated to Carlow for community-led creative projects
€175,161 in funding has been allocated to Carlow County Council as part of the 2022 Creative Ireland Programme Creative Communities initiative.
The Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin, and Minister for Housing, Darragh O’Brien, announced the funding today (January 19).
Over six and a half million euro in total has been allocated to Creative Ireland projects across 31 local authorities in 2022.
Speaking about the announcement, Minister Martin said:
"I am delighted to continue to support the excellent work undertaken by local authorities on behalf of the Creative Ireland Programme. Since the inception of Creative Ireland our partners in local government have been key to the delivery of creative projects that promote an improved sense of wellbeing, social connections and economic development within their communities."
Fianna Fáil TD for Carlow, Jennifer Murnane O’Connor has welcomed the funding.
Deputy Murnane O’Connor commented, “This funding will offer opportunities in Carlow for people of all ages to engage with creative projects in the local area.
“Local authorities have extensive expertise across heritage, arts, libraries as well as vital local relationships. I firmly believe that culture plays a key role in local government’s work in creating great places to live and work. Creative Communities takes this a step further. Culture and creativity can be part of responses to social isolation, to creating a sense of place and to integrating new communities.”
This funding includes planning for an enhanced Cruinniú na nÓg - Ireland’s national day celebrating young people’s creativity in June 2022. There will be projects around Creativity in Older Age with opportunities for older people to participate in creative activities.
Finally, Creative Climate Action projects in partnership with Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications will use the talents of artists and the wider creative industries to connect people with profound changes happening in our environment, society and economy arising from climate change.
The ambition of the Creative Ireland Programme is to mainstream creativity in the life of the nation. Participation in cultural and creative activity promotes individual, community and national wellbeing.
Creative Communities is a collaboration, between central and local government, between culture and industry, between artists, policy makers and communities.
The vision for County Carlow is to create a future with culture and creativity at the centre to drive and promote quality of life, happiness, health, wellbeing and economic prosperity through a people led programme that enables and entwines culture and creativity in everyday lives to the benefit of all.
County Carlow culture and creativity team have developed the following specific values as outlined in our three year Culture and Creativity strategy;
• Accessibility and Inclusivity to ensure optimum participation that impacts all communities across County Carlow.
• Leadership, to ensure County Carlow is a thriving innovative place for culture and creativity to flourish,
• Openness, to ensure that there is a genuine open authentic approach taken in order for communities to reach their fullest potential.
• Collaboration, to ensure that there is meaningful collaboration and partnership created and empowered, to enable the sharing of knowledge and skills for transformative outcomes.
• Recognition that culture and creativity are valued as vital resources and that the ambition of the strategic themes are shared, acknowledged and championed.