A number of initiatives in Derry and Tyrone have received from Arts and Culture Minister Catherine Martin under the Co-operation with Northern Ireland Scheme Grant Scheme.
Just over €187,000 has been announced to support cultural projects with significant cross-border elements.
Minister Martin says the grants are intended to support mall self-contained projects which seek to enhance, celebrate or commemorate the art, culture and heritage of the Island of Ireland on a North/South basis.
In Tyrone, just over €7,300 goes to Bardic Educational Arts and Media in Dungannon and Clogher Historic Society in Monaghan for a building bridges project, while €10,000 goes to the Dun Uladh Arts Centre in Omagh for five cross border performances under the Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann Summer Seisiun series.
In Derry, almost €15,000 goes to Echo Echo Dance Company for its cross border Tradition and Beyond Festival, while the Northern Lights Project receives €10,000 for the Electric Circus, a series of three concerts in Derry, Letterkenny, and Sligo, with music by Irish artists that combining Irish traditional music and contemporary classical music.
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Release in full –
Minister Martin approves funding of over €187k for
Co-operation with Northern Ireland Scheme 2023
The Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Catherine Martin has today announced a series of grants under the Co-operation with Northern Ireland Scheme. Minister Martin has approved allocations amounting to €187,015 to support cultural projects with significant cross-border elements.
Small self-contained projects funded under the scheme seek to enhance, celebrate or commemorate the artistic, cultural, musical, film or heritage of the Island of Ireland on a North/South basis.
Applications were invited for projects that helped to promote:
- Co-operation and joint initiatives between organisations and institutions on a North/South basis;
- Cultural tourism on a North/South basis;
- The provision of cultural outreach programmes on a North/South basis.
Sixteen projects were successful and will receive funding up to a maximum of €15,000. These projects range from festivals, dance performances and video projects and will involve bodies on both sides of the border co-operating in a cultural context and include Caoineadh Dúlra / Mourning Nature, a programme of artistic and outreach events by Cavan County Council, Peace Heroines Phase 2, an arts and educational programme by Herstory Education Trust and an Artists’ cross border development programme by Photo Museum Ireland.
Speaking today Minister Martin said:
“I am pleased to announce the allocations under the Co-operation with Northern Ireland Funding Scheme for 2023.
This Scheme brings an exchange of ideas and a joint experience that can only serve to further celebrate our culture as an island with a global reach.
We have a wonderful tapestry of art, music, film and heritage throughout the island of Ireland.
The Cooperation with Northern Ireland Scheme is an important opportunity to recognise that culture has no borders and to celebrate this across the whole island of Ireland.”
2023 Allocations Breakdown
| Applicant | County of Body funded | Project Description | Funding |
| ADAPT Centre, Dublin City University | Dublin | Project centred on the creation of Cultural Linguistics Materials. Aims to leverage the All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad to foster an understanding of the cultural impact on language and linguistics. Joint initiative with Methodist College Belfast. | €12,000 |
| Bardic Educational Arts and Media | Tyrone | Building Bridges. The project, in partnership with Clogher Historical Society, Monaghan, focuses on the design and production of postcards showcasing the artwork created by participants. Completed postcards will be distributed to community groups as part of cultural outreach. | €7,357 |
| Cavan County Council | Cavan | Caoineadh Dúlra / Mourning Nature. A programme of artistic and outreach events in Fermanagh and Cavan with a tailored climate action project that aims to nurture Irish musical tradition and enhance arts access. | €15,000 |
| Cinemagic | Antrim | Cinemagic Film Festival for Young People from both the North and South of Ireland. A film festival including movie screenings for schools, workshops, masterclasses, filmmaking competitions and a film academy. Provides skills-based opportunities that are transferrable in the classroom and opportunities for those wishing to learn more about the film and television industry. | €15,000 |
| Cruit Éireann | Harp Ireland | Dublin | Harps Alive | An Chruit Bheo | Harps Leevin. A musical programme that aims to deliver a diverse range of harp-connected outreach activities marking the 180th anniversary of the death of Edward Bunting and celebrating his work. Events will be held in Dublin and Belfast. There will be joint concerts, workshops and lectures, and a north-south ensemble performance. | €15,000 |
| Dún Uladh LTD | Tyrone | Summer Seisiún Series, part of the Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann Summer Seisiun series. A series of 5 musical performances at the Dún Uladh Cultural Heritage Centre with artists living and working on both sides of the border. | €10,000 |
| Echo Echo Dance Theatre Company | Derry | Tradition and Beyond Festival Second Edition. Traditional Irish dance programme of public performances, workshops, a film showing and round table discussion. Cross-border event that aims to celebrate and enhance access to traditional dance. | €14,670 |
| Herstory Education Trust | Westmeath | Peace Heroines: Phase 2. An arts education programme that explores the pivotal role women played in the NI Peace Process. The project aims to inspire school students with a digital exhibition and supporting lesson plans, along with a programme of cultural events, including the works of poets in residence from different communities in the North. | €9,900 |
| Irish Military Heritage Foundation | Kildare | Battlefield Ireland: Battle of the Boyne (Pilot) – Production of a video on the Battle of the Boyne, a collaboration with the Museum of Orange Heritage, the Minstrel Boys Living History Group, Laoch Living History and the Somme Museum. | €15,000 |
| National Famine Museum, Strokestown Park | Roscommon | ‘Sharing Ukraine’s and Ireland’s Cultural Heritage: North-South’. A video project where a Ukrainian artist Olena Kovalevych will outline her experiences of adaptation and integration through the cultivation of her artistic practices on both sides of the border. | €5,500 |
| Northern Lights Project | Derry | Electric Circus. A series of three concerts in Derry, Letterkenny, and Sligo, with music by Irish artists that combine instruments and playing styles associated with Irish traditional music with contemporary classical music. The uilleann pipes and the Donegal fiddle will be accompanied by electronic sound that aims to create an immersive 3D listening experience. | €10,000 |
| Photo Museum Ireland | Dublin | Artists’ Cross-Border Development Programme – Irish Photo Network Strand 2 – artists and art experts/professionals from Northern Ireland and R.O.I will be invited to participate in a programme that will share expertise, deliver upskilling and training, promote work by contemporary Irish artists, foster cross-border relationships and explore shared opportunities for the future | €15,000 |
| NYAH | Cavan | NYAH Dancing Feet Across the Border. A festival with storytellers, singers, masterclasses, workshops, dancers and musicians from both traditions. Aim is to foster peace and reconciliation in both Cavan and Fermanagh. | €15,000 |
| South Armagh Lace Collective | Armagh | Two places. A video project that aims to create multi-purpose video content and a documentary on the tradition of lace making in Carrickmacross and Limerick. These are the two oldest needle lace traditions on the island of Ireland. | €15,000 |
| St James Brass and Reed Band | Dublin | Cross Border Massed Bands Concert: A series of artistic, cultural and musical exchanges between Dublin and Derry that culminated in a brass band concert held in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin. | €3,246 |
| Sirius Arts Centre | Cork | Inbal Abergil: Belfast/Cobh. Sirius Arts Centre, with Golden Thread Gallery and Belfast Photo Festival propose to invite Inbal to do a residency in both Cobh and Belfast during July and August 2023. The aim is to research and produce a new body of work that picks up from her ten-year-old research in Belfast and links it to archival and contemporary imagery in Cobh and the United States. | €9,342 |
| Total | €187,015 |
