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Further Funding for Individuals in Northern Ireland Announced

Department for Communities minister Carál Ní Chuilín has announced that a further £3m has been allocated to the Arts Council Northern Ireland (ACNI) for distribution to individuals in the arts and creative industries.

Published: 19 October 2020 | 12:00 AM Updated: 28 April 2021 | 4:31 PM
Photograph of a pair of white earphones resting on a mixing desk. There is a strange pinky-blue light shining over the earphones from the left-hand side.
All eligible applicants will now be able to receive funds of up to £5000. Photo credit: Shutterstock

The extra funding comes from the £29m funding which was approved by the NI Executive earlier this month. The £3m will be allocated to the Individuals Emergency Resilience fund, which was initially set up in August with an allocation of £1.1m and was hugely over subscribed when the fund closed.

All eligible applicants will now be able to receive funds of up to £5000, reaching 1,089 individuals in the arts and creative industries who applied to this fund in August.

Our National Organiser for Northern Ireland & Scotland, Caroline Sewell, responded to the news:

“This is very welcome news and will come as a relief for many musicians, artists and workers in the creative sector. We are pleased that the government have listened to the sector and have responded to the need for sector specific support which also recognises the urgency of the matter.

“We await further detail on the remaining £26m which has been allocated to the sector and look forward to continuing our discussions with the Department for Communities in the months ahead.”

Find out more about the fund on the NI Executive’s website.

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