Department to pay pub performers
Eligible performances can include live music, comedy routines, literature or poetry readings, theatre and drama performances, even dance, craftwork, art and photography exhibitions.
Among those eligible for the grant are “producers, promoters and venues, including nightclubs with an established track record in producing live arts/culture performances and which are advertised as such”.
In what the Sunday Independent recently described as “an unprecedented attempt to revive arts across the board and the night-time economy” Arts and Culture Minister Catherine Martin explained that, “People want new offerings, to mix daytime activities into their free time at night, after the pandemic”.
According to the report in the Sunday Independent, “Taxpayer-paid entertainment will be aimed at off-peak times in pubs, clubs, galleries, cafés and other suitable venues ‘to support an alternative, diverse and inclusive night-time offering’.”
Eligible performances can include live music, comedy routines, literature or poetry readings, theatre and drama performances, even dance, craftwork, art and photography exhibitions.
“Look at cities like Berlin, where culture thrives at all hours, where a city’s heartbeat doesn’t end at night,” Minister Martin told the newspaper, “Or look at New York, Paris and Montreal. These cities don’t close. Their vibrancy continues well into the night. Those cities have built their reputations on this mix.”
The pub performances scheme aims to attract people into the centre of towns and cities later in the evening and over the course of the night into the early hours, according to the Sunday Independent report.
“We’ll be offering a range of cultural activities in a variety of venues, including those that don’t sell alcohol,” said the Minister, “It will also support businesses in trialling events during the earlier part of the week when it’s typically quieter. This is with a view to developing a more long-term sustainable offering in the night-time economy.”
