Kildare County Council secures funding for Phase II of Creative Places Athy

: Kildare County Council has secured €70,000 funding from the Arts Council for the further development of the Creative Places Athy (CPA) programme. Phase II (Nov 2024 – October 2025) will support the delivery of socially engaged arts projects in Athy centred on capacity building, collaboration & sustainability.

Creative Places Athy promotes and celebrates the lives and cultural experience of all who live in Athy.  Phase I (2021 – 2024) placed an emphasis on a ground-up approach to socially engaged arts projects in the town. Building on existing strengths, programmes were developed with artists, arts organisations, schools, communities and local services to create opportunities for people in Athy to take part in and benefit from arts and creative experiences. In addition to Arts Council investment, the programme has received significant support from Athy Municipal District via Local Property Tax funding.

Creative Places Athy II will support initiatives that ignite interest and promote access and inclusion, alongside capacity building for creatives and interventions to create a framework to further embed Creative Places in Athy, towards local ownership and legacy.

Responding to the announcement, Chief Executive of Kildare County Council, Sonya Kavanagh said “What has made Creative Places Athy work is the positive, cohesive and collaborative approach undertaken by the strategic partners in developing programmes with the people and communities of Athy.  I look forward to seeing how these partnerships develop through Phase II to build a framework for arts, culture and creativity in Athy and its environs.”

Recent CPA projects include ‘We Can Make a Difference’ a collaboration between artist Kasia Eliasz, and 6th class students from Scoil Naomh Padraig primary school, responding to the UNs Sustainable Development Goals and devising a new theatrical performance. Another highlight is the Solstice Gathering (21^st June), an outdoor spectacle celebrating locally sourced mythology and folklore told through performance, music, spectacle and spoken word.

A new Culture of Learning handbook will be researched and developed over the summer months to identify a model of sustainability for Creative Places Athy, the findings of which will be presented to stakeholders and funders at a Learning and Sharing event in September. Phase II of the CPA programme begins in November 2024. Opportunities to be involved will be published as they are confirmed.

More information:

Kildare Arts Service: T: 045 980872 | E: arts@kildarecoco.ie

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