Today, the Creative Communities Economic Action Fund was launched by Creative Ireland. This new initiative provides local authorities with the resources to develop innovative projects which seek to leverage the potential of the creative industries in supporting local and regional economic development.

The initiatives will include support for animation clusters, immersive games development, design industry, tradition typography skills development and more.

The projects will build on the creative and economic expertise of local authorities, local enterprise offices and other partner organisations.

Commenting on the announcement, Catherine Martin TD, Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media said:

“The creative economy has no single definition. It is an evolving concept which builds on the interplay between human creativity and intellectual property, knowledge and technology. It is essential that new creative economic activities are nurtured and supported. The Creative Communities Economic Action Fund provides an impetus for partnerships and new creative opportunities throughout the country”.

The local authority projects include:

Cork County Council – the Munster Animation Forum aims to transform Munster into an internationally recognised powerhouse for animation, supporting the economic growth of the creative animation community across the province. The project is a partnership between the local authorities and local enterprise offices in Cork, Clare, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford.

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown – Towards a Creative Dún Laoghaire. In this multi-disciplinary initiative, the County Council will partner with the Public Design Lab at the Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT) to embed the third level institution firmly into the fabric and infrastructure of Dún Laoghaire.

Donegal County Council – Creative Coast will explore and identify an appropriate cluster model to position the creative sector in all future development in Donegal. Partners in this project also include Donegal Film Office, Donegal Local Enterprise Office and the Atlantic Technological University.

Galway City Council – Wild Galway Immersive Games Initiative. This project weaves the games and tourism sectors together to create an immersive games experience for locals and visitors where the city’s stories, myths and legends will be brought to life through games technology in a new interactive experience. Partners in the project include Galway Film Centre, Galway City Museum and Fáilte Ireland.

Leitrim County Council – Spark – Art & Business collaboration will work with the Hair and Beauty Industry Confederation of Ireland (HABIC) to explore how design technology and 3D printing can overcome commercial challenges in the regions.

Meath County Council – Kells – Harnessing Culture, Connecting the Dots. This project will enable the Kells Printing Works and Centre of Typography, the Courthouse Cultural Hub and other stakeholders to establish a learning centre based on letterpress printing for third-level students, the print industry and tourists.

Sligo County Council – The Impact of Design in Business and Industry – The multi-agency collaboration project with the Institute of Designers in Ireland aims to activate recommendations by the Design Practice in Ireland report 2021 which includes engagement, network and communication mechanisms to demonstrate the value of design in business and industry contexts. Alongside the local authorities and local enterprise offices in Sligo, Donegal, Mayo, Roscommon, Galway, Clare, Limerick, and Tipperary, this project also partners with a number of connected hubs, including: Ludgate, FutureCast, Innovate Limerick, An Chrio, and CREW.

Waterford City and County Council – Creative ecosystem development in the South-East. This proposal aims to develop the regional creative economy of the South East by utilising data gathered though a new online platform GovLab run by WIT. This digital resource will maintain, analyse and disseminate data emerging from a live inventory of local culture and creative industry activity and will assess the impact of the creative industries in the region.