The Arts Council has announced €57.7m in Strategic Funding for 104 arts organisations. It has also announced €10m for 41 arts centres and €746k for 30 art studio spaces.

Twenty music, opera and traditional arts organisations received €15.6m as part of the Strategic Funding scheme. The recipients include Irish National Opera (€5.5m), Wexford Festival Opera (€1.95m), the Irish Chamber Orchestra (€1.3m), the Irish Traditional Music Archive (€1.07m), and Music Network (€700k).

Also funded were Chamber Choir Ireland (€690k), Na Píobairí Uilleann (€585k), West Cork Music (€511k), the Contemporary Music Centre (€448k), Sing Ireland (€402k) and the Irish Baroque Orchestra (€399k). The full list of recipients is below.

Among the arts centres receiving funding are the Project Arts Centre in Dublin (€980k), the Lime Tree/Belltable in Limerick (€507k) and The Everyman in Cork (€500k). The arts studios funded include Backwater Artists Group in Cork, Engage Art Studios in Galway and Richmond Road Studios in Dublin.

Arts demand
The Arts Council said that there is unprecedented demand for arts funding with the number of applications continuing to rise and now at 245% compared to 2019 levels.

The Council received a 4.5% funding increase in the most recent government budget, bringing its total to €140m for 2025. This is the largest funding amount received by the Arts Council, but it is short of its request of €160m.

Commenting on the latest funding decisions, Maura McGrath, Chair of the Arts Council said:

The Art Council’s budget for 2025 will be used to support, strengthen and help develop arts organisations across the country. This first round of funding decisions for 2025 will help allow artists, audiences and communities to come together through the unifying power of art. However, we recognise the difficulties and challenges that the current level of available funding brings. We commit to advocating for increased funding for our sector.

In 2025 there will be 33 grant schemes available, details of which are available here: www.artscouncil.ie/available-funding.

The Arts Council said that in 2024 it provided support to 1,880 individuals, 588 organisations, 318 schools, 201 projects, 140 festivals, 31 local authorities, and 19 Creative Places communities. 

For the full list of recipients from the latest round of decisions, see below. For more, visit www.artscouncil.ie.

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