The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media has launched a new fund, the Night Time Economy Support Scheme (NTESS) 2022.

It is hoped that this Scheme will assist this sector in rebuilding an active, thriving, and sustainable Evening and Night-Time Economy. It will allow venue owners test different offerings, see what works for them, their locality and customer base and to potentially plan for a more sustained, long-term offering, adding to the vibrancy of town and city centres right throughout the week and not just at weekends. It will also provide opportunities for artists, including new and emerging artists at local level and encourage the use of these premises for a variety of artists throughout the year.

Applications are being invited under two separate Strands:

• Strand A: Licensed premises –pubs, restaurants and wine bars, nightclubs and other suitable licensed premises that operate in the Evening and Night-Time Economy, who want to trial a series of events/cultural activities (minimum of four events, but not limited to 4 events) during off peak times from Monday to Thursday (excluding weekends) from 6pm onwards.

• Strand B: Unlicensed premises – cafés, including cafés that may have their premises in a retail outlet, dry bars, local galleries and other suitable non-licensed premises, who want to trial a series of events/cultural activities (minimum of four events, but not limited to 4 events) in the later evening or night-time hours from 6pm, with a commitment to open until at least 9pm in the evening, from Monday to Sunday.

See link below for further details.