Deis Traditional Arts Funding Increases by 22%

Siobhán Armstrong, founder of the Historical Harp Society of Ireland, one of the organisational recipients of Deis funding in 2015.

Deis Traditional Arts Funding Increases by 22%

Thirty-seven artists and groups awarded €233,575 under Arts Council scheme in 2015.

According to figures in the Arts Council’s latest annual report, funding for the Deis traditional arts scheme increased by 22% last year to €233,575, up from €191,947 in 2014.

Thirty-seven artists, groups and organisations were recipients of the award in 2015, including the Axis Arts Centre (€16,000), Thomas Johnston (€14,630), and the Historical Harp Society of Ireland (€13,720).

Although a substantial increase on 2014, the 2015 figure for the Deis scheme is significantly lower than the 2008 figure of €700,000 – the highest amount awarded in one year since the scheme was set up in 2005. The annual budgets for the Deis scheme since 2005 can be seen below:

2005 – €70,500 (pilot year)
2006 – €609,939
2007 – €604,370
2008 – €700,000
2009 – €418,110
2010 – €351,038
2011 – €408,004
2012 – €381,388
2013 – €260,235
2014 – €191,947
2015 – €233,575 

According to the Arts Council website, traditional arts also benefited from the following schemes in 2015: Regularly Funded Organisations (€943,250), Annual Funding (€133,130), Annual Programming (€68,800), Touring and Dissemination of Work (€60,851), Bursary Award (€34,377), and Traditional Arts Commissions Award (€18,000).

Other traditional music initiatives in 2015 included the second collaboration between the Arts Council and the National Concert Hall titled Tradition Now (€31,500), the appointment of Desi Wilkinson as Traditional Artist in Residence in UCC (€10,000) – following the tenures of Niall Vallely and Iarla Ó Lionáird in the previous two years, and publication of the 2014 Arts Council-commissioned Report on the Harping Tradition in Ireland (€12,000 in 2014).

The full list of 2015 Deis recipients can be seen below. To view the Arts Council’s 2015 annual report, visit https://goo.gl/Io8zZ6

DEIS RECIPIENTS (2015)

Axis Arts Centre, Ballymun 
€16,000

Thomas Johnston
€14,630

Historical Harp Society of Ireland 
€13,720

Coiste Scoil Cheoil na Botha 
€11,675

Freda Nic Giolla Chatháin 
€10,000

The Nest Collective
€9,875

Cormac Breatnach
€9,740 
 

Deirdre Granville
€9,650

The Memory Ensemble
€9,550

Paul O’Shaughnessy
€9,250

The Dock
€8,450

Deirdre Ní Chonghaile
€7,500

Aileen Lambert
€7,490

Damien McGeehan
€7,157

Michael Holohan
€7,000

Wexford Arts Centre 
€6,990

Patrick McCabe
€6,000

Oireachtas na Gaeilge 
€5,520

Coyne, Éamonn 
€4,500

Comhlacht Forbatha na nDeise 
€4,380

Bryan O’Leary and Colm Guilfoyle 
€4,000

Stephanie Geremia
€4,000

Róisín McGrory
€4,000

Liam Kelly
€4,000

Tunes in the Church 
€4,000

Jack Talty 
€4,000

Jesse Smith
€4,000

Séamus Ó Rócháin
€4,000

Paul De Grae
€3,500

Danny Diamond
€3,390

Bruach na Carraige 
€3,200 

Clann Mhic Ruairí
€3,200

Francesco Turrisi 
€3,000
 

Edwina Guckian
€2,373 

Emmett Gill
1,935

Inishbofin National School 
1,600

Carmen Cullen 
€300

For more, visit www.artscouncil.ie

Published on 16 October 2016

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