Major funding boost for two creative climate action projects in Louth

Two Louth projects have received a funding boost under Creative Climate Action Fund.

The first project ‘Shifting Tides and Sea Change: Creative Coastal Conversations’ has been awarded between  €50,000-  €250,000 and will be lead by the Wheel organisation and supported by iCommunity Hub and Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action (NICVA) will plan a creative arts programme that brings together the coastal communities around Carlingford Lough to engage with their marine environment.

The second project ‘Urban Food Sanctuary’ has been awarded between €20,000- €50,000 and will be lead by Louth County Council and supported by Farmer Tony McGuinness, Creative Spark, DKIT and Groundswell: Art, Participation, Environment and will aim to empower the people of North Louth with the skills to develop local food resilience. Working with local creatives, this project will promote and demonstrate the importance of micro geographic food security by embracing the changing diet of Louth through the arts.

The projects are part of  43 creative projects included in the €5.8 million Creative Climate Action Fund announcement made today by the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Ministers Catherine Martin and Eamon Ryan.

The Creative Ireland initiative supports creative, cultural and artistic projects that build awareness around climate change and empowers citizens to make meaningful behavioural changes.

Speaking today Taoiseach Leo Varadkar TD said:

“The inclusion of three significant cross-border projects in the Creative Climate Action Fund, under the Shared Island initiative, signifies the ongoing Government support for ambitious activities which benefit the whole island and bring people together around common concerns. In this instance the funding will help to develop awareness, through creativity, of climate change, the single greatest threat facing humanity today. 

“We must be the generation that turns the tide on climate change and biodiversity loss. The ongoing Shared Island dimension of the Creative Ireland Programme will harness the power of cultural creativity to bring communities together across the island.” 

 Commenting on the announcement Minister Martin said:

“The success of our inaugural Creative Climate Action initiative is hard to deny. The first 15 projects were in equal parts exciting, thoughtful and ambitious. The ambition of the artists and the communities involved were made manifest by dramatic light installations that demonstrated rising sea levels in Galway and Wexford, immersive agricultural programmes in Dingle and Tipperary, decarbonising projects in Limerick and Waterford, and the regeneration of repair and reuse culture in Westmeath. 

“However the real value of the initiative was the unrelenting desire for meaningful change amongst all those involved. I believe the projects that we are launching today will drive that momentum for change even further. I want to congratulate the breadth of imagination and considered thinking involved in each of these 43 initiatives. It is wonderful to witness and a real privilege to support.”

 Welcoming today’s announcement Minister Ryan said:

“Climate change can be such a huge issue that people can too often feel overawed, or that it’s something they can’t do anything really meaningful about. This change can be achieved through fully exploring avenues for innovative and creative ways to inspire people to take action. 

“Once again the Irish cultural sector and our enterprising communities have responded with initiatives that will challenge us all to make the changes needed to secure a better future for us all.  This is exciting and important work and I wish to commend everyone involved.”