Tipperary County Council approves grants for 14 south Tipperary musical, choral and arts groups

Fourteen south Tipperary musical, choral and arts groups have secured a slice of the €57,900 worth of Arts Act Grants approved at Tipperary County Council’s April meeting.

A total of 36 musical and arts organisations throughout the county were approved Arts Act Grants ranging from €300 to €4,500 at the Council meeting.

The largest grants in south Tipperary were three allocations of €3,500 approved to Clonmel’s St Mary’s Choral Society, Tipperary Musical Society and Carrick-on-Suir Musical Society to support them with their annual music theatre shows.

Cahir Comhaltas is receiving a €2,000 grant to assist with the cost of its summer music series while the Clontempo Choir in Clonmel is getting a €1,200 grant to assist with the costs of a choral concert.

Two Clonmel choirs – the Uproar Rock Chorus Choir and Belle Voci Choir - have secured €1,000 grants to help meet the costs of choral events.

Meanwhile, Burncourt’s Mountain Lodge Restoration Group has been allocated €1,000 to support the costs of a forest poetry series.

South Tipperary Art Group Juniors is approved an €800 grant to assist with the costs of a visual arts project for young people while an €800 grant has also been awarded to Suircan Environmental Ltd in Clonmel for natural dying workshops in Fethard.

A €500 grant is going to New Inn Voices community choir to assist its choral expenses while Cashel Choral & Dramatic Society and Mullinahone's Fion MacCumhaill Players are each receiving the same sized grant to go towards the costs of theatre productions.

Cashel Day Care Centre for the Elderly is approved a €300 grant for musical performance costs.

Tipperary County Council Arts Officer Melanie Scott presented the list of 36 arts organisations recommended for grants at the Council’s monthly meeting in Nenagh.

She said the Council has experienced a 20% increase in application for these grants.

She praised the elected members for having the foresight last year to vote to increase the budget for this grants scheme that enabled the Council to respond to the increase in demand.

Thurles Cllr Seamus Hanafin proposed the approval of the list of recommended applicants for the grants and Cllr Sean Ryan from Littleton seconded the proposal.

Both praised the huge amount of work the Council’s Arts Office put into the grants scheme and the voluntary work being carried out by arts organisations across the county.

Cllr Máirín McGrath asked how many applications were not recommended for grants as she knew of one unsuccessful group and wished to discuss with the Arts Officer why its application wasn’t recommended for approval.

Ms Scott outlined that the Council received a total of 41 applications for Arts Act Grants of which two were deemed ineligible and three were not recommended for support.

Eight new applicants to the scheme were recommended for grants. She said she was happy to work with the three applicants not recommended for grants to advise and support them in relation to other funding opportunities.