Galway county council has doubled the amount of funding that it is providing to Galway 2020 with the commitment of an additional €2 million to the Capital of Culture project.
This brings to €4 million the total funding which the county council has committed to Galway 2020.
Patricia Philbin, CEO of Galway 2020 welcomed today’s announcement and thanked the county council for their support.
“Galway will be the cultural capital of Europe next year and it is our ambition to show Ireland, Europe and the World exactly what Galway has to offer.”
“We anticipate that this is just the first of many financial contributions to enable us to deliver this showcase,” she added.
“This ongoing support from Galway County Council is an expression of confidence that we hope will encourage others to come forward and ensure a lasting legacy that will benefit Galway for many years to come”.
During the bid process it was said that Galway 2020 was expecting to receive €6 million from the county council, the same figure as the city council.
But the county council said last year that at no point had it committed to providing that level of funding.
The Capital of Culture project has been dogged by consistent worries about finding sufficient funding for the artistic projects it has committed to, with particular concerns about the slow uptake of private sponsorship.
Galway city council has committed €6 million to the project, while the Department of Arts, Heritage, and the Gaeltacht is providing an additional €15 million.
Work to secure roughly €7 million from the private sector through sponsorship and other arrangements are continuing.
Current projections put the final budget for Galway 2020 in the region of €39 million, less than the figure of €47 million in the bid book.
Roughly half of the events planned for next year’s Capital of Culture will take place out in the county, and the company has said that this additional funding will be used to deliver new large scale events in addition to the cultural programme already being delivered.
