Rebecca Loughry, Director of Services with Responsibility for Corporate and Community Affairs, Lord Mayor Cllr Fergal Dennehy and Arts Officer Michelle Carew at the Lord Mayor’s reception for recipients of arts and creativity awards and funding from Cork City Council Arts Office. Photos: Darragh Kane

More than €1 million awarded to support local artists

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Arts Officer Michelle Carew, Valerie Byrne, June Keohane, Louise Tangney, Marcela Whelan Kelly and Siobhan Clancy. Darragh Kane Photography

Liudmyla Bortok

Published: Wed 23 Jul 2025, 2:21 PM

Last updated: Wed 23 Jul 2025, 2:28 PM

More than €1 million in funding has been distributed by Cork City Council to support artists and arts organisations in the city.

In 2025, the council awarded €992,550 in grants to 90 professional and voluntary arts and cultural groups. An additional €169,000 was given directly to Cork-based artists through bursaries and project awards.

The announcement was made during a special reception hosted by the Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Fergal Dennehy, to honour the arts community and celebrate its contribution to city life.

He said: “Cork has long been a city that embraces the arts and creativity,” said the lord mayor. “This investment underpins Cork City Council’s commitment to supporting the conditions where art and artists can thrive. These grants support the creation of new and ambitious work and ensure that creativity is embedded in every corner of our community—putting arts and culture at the centre of a vibrant, just and progressive city.”

The event also marked the publication of an interim report on the City Council’s Arts and Culture Strategy 2022–2026. The report outlines the work carried out over the past year to meet the strategy’s five main goals: art for everyone, space for art, art in public spaces, a city for artists, and building influence and capacity.

Over the past year, Cork City Council supported a wide range of arts initiatives across the city including:

· The Creative Communities Roadshow brought workshops, networking events, and creative tasters to neighbourhoods including Ballincollig, Blarney, Douglas, Mahon, Togher, and The Glen

· 16 community-led projects received funding through the Creative Ireland Grant Scheme

· In November 2024, Cork’s first Christmas Parade drew a crowd of 40,000 as LUXE spectacle company led a winter procession through the city centre

· A pilot peer-learning programme for arts organisations, the I.D.E.A. Exchange, was launched in 2025, while October saw City Hall host the national Night-Time Culture Forum in partnership with the Arts Council and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport & Media

· To improve accessibility, the council also introduced a loan scheme for assisted listening devices, now in use by Cork Opera House, The Everyman, and Dance Cork Firkin Crane

Welcoming the report, Rebecca Loughry, Director of Services for Corporate, Community and Cultural Affairs, said: “This report provides a snapshot of the breadth of activity conducted in just one year. It is clear from the report how much relies on the strength of our brilliant arts community.”

This major investment reflects Cork’s support for the arts, helping creativity flourish at every level—from local community groups to professional artists and organisations.

This article was produced with the support of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme funded by Coimisiún na Meán.