Published: Friday, 27th March, 2009 9:00am

Relief as Arts Centre funding ringfenced for one more year

There was good news for Offaly arts lovers this week as 160 people attending a public meeting heard that funding for an Arts Centre in the town will not be lost this year.

Councillor Barry Cowen, Chairman of Offaly County Council, announced that the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism have confirmed that the €2 million ACCESS grant for an Arts Centre in the county town is ringfenced until 2010.

Cllr Cowen also said that he would personally facilitate progressing the issue with the local Arts Centre group members, SPC members and the Department. However no progress was made on where the new centre would be located within the town. Cllr Cowen was speaking at the public meeting in Hugh Lynch"s, which was organised by the various arts groups within the county who were calling for action before the funding was rescinded under the original terms of the grant.

Now a working group will address the project in the coming weeks, collating the needs of the various groups, and clarify any questions with the Department regarding criteria for funding.

Organisers said that the turnout sent a strong message to Offaly County Council that the people of Offaly want an arts centre for Tullamore.

'It was amazing to see the turnout,' said Des Doyle, one of the organisers of Wednesday night"s meeting. 'It was a very, very positive meeting and there were many individuals and people representing various arts groups from around Offaly there.'

The ringfencing means that plans for an arts centre will progress, but without the pressure of having to commit to a venue before the end of 2009. The original condition of the ACCESS grant, which was awarded in 2007, was that a centre must be in use before the end of this year.

A steering group will now be established to meet with the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism and also Offaly County Council. This group will continue on with plans for the location of the centre as well. There was no solution as to where the arts centre should be located although many options were explored at the public meeting.

In April 2007 €2 million funding was approved by the Government for an Arts Centre in Tullamore but until now there had been no movement by the local authority to implement a plan or draw down funding. Various community groups stepped up the campaign over the past few weeks, as they were afraid that the money would be lost forever due to the current state of the economy. Prompted by the urgency of the situation, a public meeting was called for Wednesday.