The Arts and Heritage Fund for Derry-Londonderry (established by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Derry City Council) has announced a series of projects which have been funded to date and is inviting further submissions by 15 January.
The Arts Council of Northern Ireland writes:
The Legacy Fund for Derry opened for applications on 31st October, 2014. The fund, worth a total of £900,000, was set-up by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Derry City Council earlier this year and will bring three years of exciting arts and heritage projects to the city of Derry-Londonderry.
The first twenty-four projects supported through the initiative, announced earlier this year, covered a range of exciting high quality cultural offerings across, dance, visual arts, music and theatre genres.
A recent project supported through the fund, The City of Derry International Choral Festival, was held in October 2014, attracting 70 high quality choirs to the city for a number of music events over five days.
Another project is the WoW Festival (Women of the World Festival), taking place next month on 7-9 November, organised by the North West Women’s Collective, in association with the WoW at Southbank Centre, London. This will be the second time the festival has been organised in Derry with the first festival held during the UK City of Culture year.
Roísín McDonough, Chief Executive of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, said: ‘The projects funded through the Derry Legacy Fund encourage the citizens of Derry-Londonderry to participate in arts and culture. In particular, it encourages those from harder to reach communities to enjoy the benefits that the arts bring. The fund promotes community engagement, challenges social exclusion and attracts visitors to the city, and I look forward to welcoming the next series of projects in 2015.’
Mayor Cllr Brenda Stevenson said: ‘I am delighted that the first tranche of projects have now been assessed and there are twenty four projects which will contribute strongly to the exciting and vibrant arts and cultural sector in our city. This fund demonstrates excellent partnership working between the city and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and now also our delivery partners. We are all committed to achieving a lasting legacy for our people.’
Around £610,000 has already been awarded through the Derry Legacy Fund to support the first collection of successful projects. Applications will close on 15th January and details of the successful applicants will be announced in spring 2015.
