From Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
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The Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD, today (Wednesday, 24 November 2021) launched a new support scheme to assist venues, producers and promotors who stage large-scale seasonal musical theatre and pantomime.
Under the Live Performance Support Scheme 2021 Strand II up to €2m in grants will be available to co-fund large-scale seasonal musical theatre and pantomime across Christmas 2021. Applicants must have a track record in staging such events.
Minister Martin said:
"The live events sector has been particularly badly hit by the pandemic. I have allocated over €25m to support the sector across 2021, with events up to end October funded under the LPSS. I am now making a second strand of that funding scheme available for seasonal musical theatre and pantomimes of scale, who could not avail of LPSS earlier in the year. I know that these pantomimes are critical to the annual financial viability of these venues."
The Live Performance Support Scheme was developed to assist the live performance sector to create employment opportunities in 2021 for artists, performers, technicians and support staff and to provide high quality Irish artistic output for Irish audiences everywhere. The scheme has generated much needed activity and employment opportunities in the sector at times when COVID-19 restrictions were in place.
The LPSS 2021 scheme provided for events to be staged up to end-October 2021, and as a result events being staged over the Christmas period were unable to avail of funding. The Minister has now decided to provide a dedicated stream of €2m under the LPSS Strand 2 scheme for large scale Seasonal Musical Theatre and Pantomime being staged during November and December 2021.
The scheme will be run by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. Grants of up to 50% of eligible production costs will be considered. Eligible costs include:
1. Venue costs per event to include crew / overhead / staff costs that are incurred as a result of and for the duration of production only)
2. Contracts for service for:
3. Services from creative industries (including services of set/costume designers)
4. Live streaming costs
5. Costs relating to costumes for theatrical productions
6. Costs relating to advertising, PR related to the specific event
7. Hire of specialist equipment specifically required for the event
8. Health and safety and security costs
The application form will be made available on the department’s website at 1pm on Monday, 29 November and applications will be accepted until 1pm on Monday, 13 December 2021.
Queries on the scheme can be emailed to LPSSstrand2@tcagsm.gov.ie