Arthouse cinema backers chase US funds

Date Published: 13-Sep-2012

BY DARA BRADLEY

Backers of the city’s proposed arthouse cinema will travel to the United States later this month on a fundraising tour to finance the completion of the project by the new deadline of Autumn 2013.

Lelia Doolan, Chairperson of Solas, the project managers for the Picture Palace, told the Galway City Tribune that there were “plenty of reasons for optimism” in relation to the jinxed project as she prepares to embark on a fundraising tour of the US.

Ms Doolan said she would be visiting Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York as part of the cash-raising excursion, which, she says, is part of a fundraising drive which will be rolled out in a “phased programme”.

Earlier this Summer, Ms Doolan, in correspondence to Government seen by this newspaper, admitted that the project would be put in jeopardy by the Department of Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht’s reluctance to ‘release’ funding that had been earmarked for the Dock Street development.

In letters and emails to Minister for Arts, Jimmy Deenihan, Ms Doolan outlined a grim scenario regarding the ‘Catch 22’ situation Solas was in due to the funding crux.

Solas was told at the time that it could not draw down the €2.1 million still available to it unless and until it secured the full contract price of €4.1 million.

It is understood that in order to draw down the monies, it needs to find €1.1 million to match the Government funding.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.