The Contemporary Music Centre is awaiting the outcome of two grant applications to Northern Ireland for funding to support its cross-border activities.

CMC operates on an all-Ireland basis and some 17 per cent of all its work is in relation to, or on behalf of, the community in Northern Ireland. Of the composers represented by the Centre, 26 out of 108 who are currently active (or roughly a quarter) were born or are permanently domiciled in Northern Ireland.

The Contemporary Music Centre’s main funder is the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon in the Republic, which has awarded it 350,000 in revenue funding for 2005. Since 1992, annual revenue funding has also been received from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland in respect of services provided in the North.

Following a hiatus in 2004 [see Cross-border Funding for Music, October 2005] the Centre is hopeful that funding will be restored to support the important documentation and promotion services which no other agency in Northern Ireland provides and which feedback from clients has shown to be highly valued.

Two funding applications are now awaiting assessment. The first has been made under the Arts Council of Northern Ireland National Lottery Fund Multi-annual Programme. This offers grants of up to Stg£20,000 [28,372] per year for two to three years, and has been applied for ‘as a contribution towards the annual activities of the Contemporary Music Centre undertaken on behalf of the community in Northern Ireland.’

While the level of service provided by CMC would point to a higher level of grant-aid as being appropriate, it is recognized that cuts in funding currently being experienced by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland itself make this an unrealistic aspiration at present.

A second application, this time for project funding, has been submitted to the Awards for All scheme. This is a joint Lottery awards programme offering maximum grants of Stg£5,000 [7,093]. CMC’s submission requests funding towards the release of the fifth CD in the Centre’s promotional series, Contemporary Music from Ireland. This would provide funding to match a grant which has already been received for the project from the Arts Council in Dublin, and the CD would include works from composers north and south of the border.

The outcome of both applications is expected to be known by early March 2005 and pending this, the Contemporary Music Centre is maintaining all existing services in Northern Ireland.

Posted: 13 January 2005