Tipperary Town has been awarded € 371,000 from the Arts Council under the Creative Places Programme. The opportunity was open to places which had not benefited from sustained arts investment in the past.
The programme is a partnership between Youth Work Ireland Tipperary, Tipperary Town Revitalisation Task Force, Tipperary Excel, Tipperary County Council, Tipperary Co-Op and numerous other local community and voluntary groups. It will build upon existing cultural strengths in the town to create a new momentum which will ensure more people in the town can choose, take part in and benefit from brilliant arts experiences. Tipperary Town will be one of 12 places who are now part of the expanded national Creative Places programme, which includes small towns, urban areas, rural and island communities.
Director of the Arts Council, Maureen Kennelly said, “We are delighted to be awarding Creative Places Tipperary; it is a place where we have not been able to invest in sufficiently before and it is very important to us that public investment in the arts reaches and benefits more people in a sustained and meaningful way. We are very excited to see how the people of Tipperary Town will respond to what matters to them most, and we look forward to working further with the community and Youth Work Ireland Tipperary”.
Reacting to the announcement, Donal Kelly CEO of Youth Work Ireland Tipperary said “This represents a wonderful and much-needed opportunity for Tipperary Town that will connect people with artists, to explore, imagine and create different futures. Creative Places will bring opportunity and vibrancy to Tipperary Town and amazing arts experiences to the people.”
Tipperary Town Revitalisation Task Force Manager Michael Begley welcomed the funding, ‘This is a tremendous opportunity for Tipperary Town to build capacity in the arts and creative sectors over the next number of years and into the future. This is one of the key objectives in our Strategy and Action Plan for the town, and this funding and partnership with the Arts Council will underpin that objective by providing a platform for people in the town to engage with the arts. I want to thank all the partners who contributed to the proposal and the Arts Council for showing belief in our ambition for Tipperary Town.’
Over the summer the programme will be getting established, a coordinator will be appointed and conversations with the community will get underway. The programme will be managed by Youth Work Ireland Tipperary – to keep in touch with how the project develops please contact [email protected]
