The Arts Council has announced funding of £433,000 for Ireland's first major international dance festival, to be held in Dublin in the spring. The festival and most of the council's funding decisions for the year were announced yesterday.
The artistic director of the new festival, Ms Catherine Nunes, said: "The council made a giant leap, and the repercussions will be unimaginable for Irish cultural life." Another innovation announced yesterday is an award of nearly £40,000 which will enable a qualified architect to study abroad towards developing a commission in Ireland which would be made by the Office of Public Works. The council's 50th year will also be marked by the creation of a 32-county arts listings website.
Among the institutions which had cause for celebration was Rough Magic Theatre Company.
Its first application for three-year funding was turned down, but on the basis of a new plan, it has secured over £750,000 until 2003. Ballet Ireland has secured funding of over £523,000 until 2003. Galway's Macnas Theatre Company and the Galway Arts Festival are, apparently, also close to agreeing three-year funding.
The provision of a £543,000 annual grant to the Project Arts Centre, a small increase on last year, will surprise the lobby which has expressed dismay at the centre's inactivity on the visual arts scene.
Apparently, negotiations are continuing with Ms Valerie Connor, whose contract as Visual Arts Director at the centre was not renewed. More interest will focus on next month's announcement of grants to the Gate Theatre, which had its funding slashed by two-thirds last year, and to the Abbey Theatre.