Blue Drum - The Arts Specialist Support Agency for the Community Development Sector

Here is our list of funders and sponsors of our work


		Liz O'Sullivan retired at the end of February and Olive Shanley is now our link person to the the Family Support Agency which funds our work with Family Resource Centres. It is a Government Agency that was established in 2003. It was set up to provide support to families and the Agency is grounded in a firm belief in the fundamental importance of families and family life for individuals, communities and society generally. In 2012 the allocation for the Family Support Agency is reduced from €33.5m to €31.7m, -5%. Blue Drum received c. €74,000 in 2012.

		Baudouin Sury is Vice-President of this small foundation of EU staff in Brussels working against poverty. It awarded €3,200 for Pedagogy of Cultural Rights in Cork - its first Irish grant!

		Noémie Fabregue is our link person to the EU Culture Programme, which has funded a two-year inquiry called City (Re)Searches: Experiences of Being Public. The project was allocated €60,000 from the EU and has to raise match funding of €40,000.

		Carol Kavanagh made contact with some of the companies in Dublin Airport to see if we could to re-cycle airline trolley's. Our friends at Gate Gourmet took the initiative and thanks to them we have the first Art Trolley for a Family Resource Centre. Who's next?

		Roseann Weiss and the Regional Arts Commission will continue funding of Projecct Bud in 2012. Roseann has also waived registration fee for our presenters at the Rustbelt to Art Belt Convening in April 2012. Juan William Chavez is our US exchange person in 2012. The Regional Arts Commission was founded in 1985 to promote, encourage, and foster the arts and cultural institutions in St. Louis City and County.

		As part of our 10th Anniversary Event, Gillian contacted local companies who in response generously supplied us with some of their products. We are particularly thankful to Northside companies: Superquinn, Kellogs and Kraft Foods (Cadbury's). Happy Parent Initiative - Brian, Gillian and Eleanor contacted egg producers and toilet paper manufacturers to donate paper products for the art workshops that will take place around the country in 2012.

		Without Thomand Park Stadium we could not have produced We Are Family in April. We are particularly thankful to the staff who helped and to the Community Sponsorship Fund.

		Northsiders's Museum depends on space provided by the Northside Shopping Centre for its activites. The Centre manager is a great supporter. In addition, Headland Holdings and Brian O'Farrell also require our note of thanks. Eleanor, lead artist and Neil O'Flanagan, volunteer with Northsider's Museum secured €500 of a grant to develop this project from Dublin City Council - Well done!

		Mark Finnegan who is the Sustainability Specialist at the Dublin store approached us about collaborating to promote waste as a resource. IKEA likes to support projects that use waste materials for reuse. Other ideas maybe an in-store display of 'waste art' during European Week for Waste Reduction in November. Ideally with materials from IKEA. We met and discussed some ideas and we are hoping to make a project in 2012.

		Deirdre Gallagher at our Dublin City North Volunteer Centre has connected us to a small core of volunteers who have worked on the Northsiders' Museum and Project Bud. Whilst some of the services of Volunteering Ireland are nationwide, our Volunteer Centre only deals directly with volunteering opportunities within Dublin City North & Centre area