The Arts Council of Northern Ireland has announced funding of £3.11m (€3.85m) for music and traditional arts organisations.

Among the recipients are the Ulster Orchestra (£1.78m/€2.2m), the Walled City Music Trust (£115,000/€142,234), Moving on Music (£110,726/€136,971), Camerata Ireland (£99,425/€123,015) and Open Arts (€98,042/€121,292).

An Gaeláras, the Irish-language and culture organisation that runs Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin in Derry, also received £154,535/€191,311, which is a £15,000 increase on 2015, due to the setting up of a new traditional music school called Acadamh Ceoil Chaoimhín Uí Dhochartaigh. Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin also recently hosted the first Derry International Festival of Irish Music. 

Just five organisations, out of a total of 107, received an increase, including the Irish Traditional Music Archive, which received an additional £1,000 to bring its funding to £31,000/€38,391. The Contemporary Music Centre in Dublin received a standstill grant of £23,577/€29,199.

Bob Collins, Chairman of ACNI, commented:

The arts sector is again facing another financially challenging year. It is expected that the Arts Council of Northern Ireland will receive a further 5.7% cut to its exchequer funding once the new Executive takes office in May. We are left with just £8.77 million to core fund the valuable work our artists and arts organisations deliver for the benefit of all in Northern Ireland.  

As we make our transition into the new Department for Communities, it is with sincere concern for the future that I call on the new Minister and the new Northern Ireland Executive to begin to focus anew on the value of the arts, on their relationship to everyone in Northern Ireland and to begin a programme of reinvestment in the Arts. 

For full details on all music and traditional arts funding, see below. For funding across all art forms, visit http://goo.gl/6AgYnN

Music Organistions
Ulster Orchestra Society  £1,779,568
Walled City Music Trust  £115,000 
Moving on Music  £110,726
Camerata Ireland  £99,425
Dumbworld  £82,000
Ulster Youth Choir  £66,948
Oh Yeah Music Centre  £55,000
The Nerve Centre  £50,225
Belfast Music Society  £42,583
Glasgowbury  £38,204
Ulster Youth Orchestra  £35,780
Panarts  £33,555
Contemporary Music Centre  £23,557

Traditional Arts Organisations (including organisations with traditional-arts programming)
An Gaeláras  £154,535 
Open Arts  £98,042
Andersonstown Traditional & Contemporary Music School  £52,000
An Droichead  £47,637
The Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association  £35,835
Northern Ireland Piping and Drumming School  £38,890
Comhaltas Ceoltoirí Éireann (Derry City)   £34,000
Belfast Trad  £33,025
Irish Traditional Music Archive  £31,000
All Set Cross Cultural Project  £27,338
Dún Uladh  £26,550

For more, visit http://goo.gl/ZuVclp