'Irish Music Month' and Black Gate Music Series Funded Under New €1.4m BAI Scheme

Soda Blonde performing as part of ‘Fanning at Whelans’ in December.

'Irish Music Month' and Black Gate Music Series Funded Under New €1.4m BAI Scheme

Live music funding stream for radio and television is first of its kind from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.

The results of a new funding scheme for live music by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) have been announced this week, allocating €1.4 million to eight music projects for radio and television. The Live Music Sector funding stream is the first of its kind by the BAI, aiming to increase live music programming on Irish radio and television. 

Hot Press and Independent Broadcasters Ireland have been allocated €298k for Irish Music Month – a nationwide musical talent competition, culminating in a live final to be broadcast on a number of independent commercial radio stations. Galway venue the Black Gate has been funded €200k to produce Séisiúin sa Black Gate, a twelve-part live music series to be broadcast on TG4 that will mix intimate performances with interviews, shot on location around Galway city and county. The series will feature a range of musicians from different backgrounds and at various stages of their careers, with each episode seeing a collaboration between two artists. 

Also funded as part of the new funding stream is film production company Dearg Films, who have been awarded €180k to produce Foster & Allen – Lost in Music, a new project exploring a collaboration between the longstanding partnership of folk duo Foster and Allen and emerging musicians from diverse musical and cultural backgrounds including hip hop, spoken word, pop, folk and traditional. The programme will be broadcast on RTÉ One.

A new eight-part series for Virgin Media One of Fanning at Whelans, featuring radio host Dave Fanning showcasing a range of Irish acts performing at the Dublin venue, has received funding of €285k. Production company Shinawil have been funded €355k for a once-off, two-hour show for RTÉ One titled Your Song: the People’s Playlist. 

Stiúideo Cuan in Galway have been awarded €62k for a new series on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, Dublin City FM have been awarded €19k for a series titled Glorious Noise, and John O’Shea has received funding of €8.6 for a new three-part series on RTÉ Lyric FM.

The new funding comes as part of the wider Sound and Vision scheme by the BAI, funded by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and worth €7.2 million. 

Commenting on the new funding announcement, Minister Catherine Martin said:

In December last year, I provided funding of €1.4m to BAI to support our live music sector, which the COVID-19 crisis has so greatly impacted. Musicians need to be able to perform and I am very pleased that the BAI has completed its first ever Live Music Sector funding round alongside this general round for the audiovisual sector… These projects will allow us to listen to a diverse range of artists perform, both established and new, with a wide variety of styles. I am also happy to note that so many female artists will be supported. 

For further information on the funded projects, visit www.bai.ie.

Published on 1 June 2021

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