Galway arts projects secure €60k in online funding

Creative arts projects in County Galway received almost €60,000 in pledged donations through ‘crowdfunding’ website, Fund It, in the last year.

Projects such as Landmark Productions’ play 'Mistermen', Conor Montague’s television pilot 'Who Needs Enemies?' and Reg Gordon’s book 'Tribe: A Portrait of Galway' all came to fruition thanks to public donations through the crowdfunding website.

Mistermen received €16,145, Who Needs Enemies received €6,666, while Tribe received €6,115. 

Other events that received funding were Shorelines Arts Festival and The Lost Circus, with Galway projects receiving a total of €59,450.

Crowdfunding describes a method of fundraising where strangers come together over the Internet to fund a worthy cause, whether it is charity, arts, or a new startup business. Projects set a deadlineand a target and must reach 100 per cent of their deadline or the pledges are invalid. 78 per cent of Fundit.ie projects reached their target over the past year.

Fundit.ie is Ireland’s first crowdfunding site and in its first year in operation, over 11,600 donations, amounting to over €632,000, were pledged by the public, €100,000 of which came from donations from outside Ireland.

Of the 143 projects funded last year through the site, 13 projects, amounting to nine per cent of the national total, were Galway-based.

Fund It is now calling for creative projects in County Galway to consider seeking funding for those ideas on the site from their fans and followers.

Visit www.fundit.ie for more information.