Show latest news, more from November 2004.
Arts Council of Northern Ireland Reports on Lottery Funding
As part of its celebrations for ten years of lottery funding, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland has published a commemorative booklet detailing its capital projects. The council funded new arts buildings and refurbishments, aiming to put dedicated arts facilities within 20 miles of every person in Northern Ireland. Shortly, they will have succeeded. In ten years, more than twenty-seven million pounds has been invested in making this goal a reality, with the council committed to making an architectural contribution to the arts, as well as a systemic one. The booklet outlines where the funding went, with text, pictures and plan schematics. Projects ranging from a 400-seat theatre, visual arts centres, galleries, children’s spaces and resources for artistic mediums across the spectrum were built in ten years of funding. Nearly all the projects were award-winners, for both design and accessibility. Modernist influences have met with more avante-garde work from a wide variety of Irish firms. This commitment to architectural design has resulted in the centres and theatres that make an artistic contribution themselves, not merely facilitating one. The creation of so much new infrastructure has rejuvenated much of the arts industry in Northern Ireland. From their very foundations, these buildings have both generated art, and publicity for art. The capital projects have enabled community participation across all mediums and provided a host of new venues for existing groups. The Northern Ireland Arts Council’s booklet demonstrates how lottery funds were used to promote the arts on a multi-tiered level. The capital projects are an excellent example of bringing art into a community, by promoting the art that is already there. To download the booklet as a pdf document, CLICK HERE
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