RAISING SIX MILLION EURO
Our regular work does not generate enough surplus to raise large sums, we do not wish to borrow, and Irish Government arts funding policy does not currently support community arts centres of the kind we have designed. We are hopeful that we can persuade them to agree to once-off capital funding to develop our new city centre base. If we do not succeed, we have to raise the money privately.
It is not inevitable that we will have to raise the full six million Euro. We hold out some hope that a philanthropic family, individual or organisation will donate property to us in one or more lots. Two other possibilities are that we get a long lease at nominal rent, or that a property owner will sell us their building at below its current market value. We have come close to succeeding in each of these outcomes in recent years.
Our strategy now is to proceed as if we will have to find the right city centre property and assume we will have pay the full market rate for it. We are actively seeking support from local and international philanthropic organisations, families and individuals to provide the capital needed to buy and adapt the property. Meanwhile we are launching a smaller scale fundraising campaign aimed at our local support base to build up enough financial reserves to equip and fit out the new centre, and to pay the ongoing costs of maintaining the company in good standing.
Promotional brochure designed by artist Nan McSweeney Bailey