84
RE-IMAGINING OUR REGION
q 26 continued
Promotion and Marketing cost include Social Media content and campaigns, the creation of an internet TV Channel and advertising at National and European level to a targeted audience in partnership with our regional tourism promotion programme. Wages, overhead and admin costs include the cost of the staff involved in the management of all aspects of the project including finance, administration and event management, accommodation, general administration and travel costs. table 11 Total Income to cover operating expenditure (excluding Melina Mercouri Prize of €1.5m and EU funding)
Total
From public sector
From private sector
€m
€m
%
€m
%
28.7
24.5
85%
4.3
15%
q 26: What is the breakdown of the income to be received from the public sector to cover operating expenditure? Please fill in the table below. Unlike many countries in Europe Ireland has a very centralised form of Government. There is no regional structure and the Local Government Sector is heavily dependent on national support to deliver services particularly for Local Authorities outside of the major cities. table 12 Income from the public sector to cover operating expendature
€m
%
Central Government
15.0
60%
Support from State Agencies
2.0
8%
City & Region
7.5
31%
Total
24.5
The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has indicated that national government will contribute €15m to towards the operating expenditure for the ECoC. We have conservatively included a provision of €2m for support from a range of State Agencies which will be secured post-selection. Agencies would include Failte Ireland and Tourism Ireland, The Arts Council, The Design & Craft Council of Ireland and The Heritage Council. Waterford and the Three Sisters Region is providing €7.5m of funding, which is an enormous commitment after six years of recession and budget cuts and given the limited level of discretionary expenditure available to the Local Authorities. It is assumed that the funding from Central Government will be provided on a phased basis from 2018 to 2020 and that sponsorship will mainly be collected in 2019 and 2020. The funding from the City and Region will be provided throughout the period and support will be available to meet any cashflow issues if other funding sources are delayed. Funding from State Agencies and the EU will be towards specific projects or initiatives.
q 27: Have the public finance authorities (City, Region, State) already voted on or made financial commitments to cover operating expenditure? If not, when will they do so? We could not be more committed. Our budget has been approved by the three Local Authorities of Waterford, Wexford and Kilkenny and agreed and signed-off by our Executive Board. Led by Waterford for the Three Sisters, the Local Authorities are absolutely committed to supporting the project by assigning key staff from their organisations, providing funding of €7.5m and working with key stakeholders at regional, national and international level to ensure the success of 2020 but also in ensuring the maximum benefit from the legacy for the region. The support from the politicians in the region has been unprecedented with unanimous support from all parties and independent Councillors in the three Local Authorities. We have also received a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and a letter of endorsement from the Mayor / Cathaoirleach of the three Local Authorities.
q 28: What is your fund raising strategy to seek financial support from Union programmes / funds to cover operating expenditure? For the Three Sisters 2020 to deliver the outcomes we desire for our region, for our collective future, and for a strong and dynamic cultural sector; we will develop three strands to our fund-raising strategy to leverage: (1) public sector investment within the region and nationally, (2) European Union investment and (3) Sponsorship and crowd-sourced investment. Implementation of our Fundraising Strategy will be coordinated by our Three Sisters Culture Company, with dedicated fund-raising resources commissioned to lead on each strand. We have a decent but not excellent track record in accessing EU investment but this is changing. It is our intention to leverage European Union investment for cultural and creative industries for the region, covering operating expenditure, via existing programmes including; EU Structural Funds; INTERREG Atlantic Programme – we have already submitted two applications for urban regeneration and innovation transfer, and Greenways and the promotion of heritage tourism; Creative Europe programme – application submitted for ‘Follow the Viking’s heritage programme with 14 international partners, Culture for Cities and Regions – successful applications for study visits and coaching completed, Erasmus+, COSME, European Cooperation projects, European Networks, Horizon 2020, European Platforms the European Talent Exchange Programmes, the Melina Mercuri Prize and DEVCO’s Global Public Goods and Challenges programme.