Arts Council announces new Music Touring Programme

Arts Council of Northern Ireland,
11 October 2013, Northern Ireland

A new Northern Ireland Music Touring programme was announced today by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, encouraging musicians, promoters and venues to apply for funding worth £150,000.

The new funding programme has been developed in response to the Arts Council’s new 5-year Strategy for Music which aims to support a more ambitious, dynamic and cohesive approach to our music heritage and in particular, to genres such as jazz, world music, chamber music and contemporary music.

The Northern Ireland Music Touring Programme aims to help artists and producers work more closely with promoters and venues so that together, they are developing new audiences for year-round, high-quality music on tour.

Ciaran Scullion, Head of Music at the Arts Council said

‘The Arts Council’s new five-year Strategy for Music shows a firm commitment to helping people in Northern Ireland  access the best music, in any form, be it classical or jazz, traditional and folk or rock and pop, from world music to electronic and contemporary music. We firmly believe the new Northern Ireland Music Touring programme will help us achieve that.’
In addition, the Music Touring programme will facilitate partnerships and collaborations among artists within the music sector. By offering them opportunities to work more closely with promoters and venues, it is hoped that together, they will form a better understanding of music audiences and how to grow them.’

Applications will be invited for the Northern Ireland Music Touring programme in the November.  The full Music Strategy is available to view online and in a downloadable format here.

http://www.artscouncil-ni.org/news/arts-council-announces-new-music-touring-programme