Leading Mayo arts centre facing uncertain future due to funding crisis
by Tom Gillespie
THE Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar is facing a funding crisis at a time when the historic town centre building requires urgent structural repairs.
Three of the heritage windows in the main gallery were broken in the recent storm, leaks and damp have appeared in the roof and patches of mould can be seen on walls and ceilings.
Director of operations at the centre, Fiona Neary, has issued a heartfelt plea to Mayo County Council to once again grant aid the running of the amenity.
She said: “The local funding from the council would have been secure in the past due to an arrangement called ‘off the top’. Under this system, we knew from year to year what we were getting and we could plan accordingly.
“That funding was then de-secured. It is no longer ring-fenced. So then it was up to each individual councillor to allocate whatever they saw fit from their funds. The effect of that was that we did not find out until December 2023 what our allocation was for 2023.
“In the end it was a cut of €12,000. We had lived with the anxiety for the whole year of having no idea what our funding was going to be for last year. We were trying to budget in uncertain times.
“This is the reality of our beautiful heritage building. It is such an important part of our urban landscape and our community.”
Maintenance of the building takes ongoing investment, as she explained: “Our funders have been tremendous up to a point but nobody wants to provide funding for the ongoing maintenance and the future proof of this building.
“Mayo County Council have been tremendous in years gone by in terms of preserving the heritage frontage of the building.
“The building is an important part of the town’s landscape but also the Linenhall is one of the few community spaces that’s publicly funded now. Anyone can come in here.”
Fiona stressed: “We have to know what our funding is from year to year and we want a return to the ‘off the top’ arrangement. How do you plan when you don’t know what your funding is?”
She continued: “We are funded by the Arts Council, but the Arts Council do not cover maintenance. There are grants that we can go after but that is not going to secure the future of the building.
“In the short term we will be raising funding to do a full conditional survey of the whole building to get a base line. That will require heritage architects, engineers, theatre technicians. This is a project that is going to take a number of years and there is no doubt this building has to have a large investment.
“The overall picture is that it has left us very fragile and you can’t continue with that level of anxiety and fragility in a building that is in such bad repair.”
She outlined the work required. They urgently have to get someone to fix the heritage windows - a speciality job. The flat roof in the corridor leading to the theatre has three leaks which require attention.
“We don’t know what damage is on the main roof.”
She continued: “In a separate project, we need to look to the future of this building and when we are long gone that this building will still be fit for purpose for the future generations of Castlebar. The last thing anyone wants is an empty, derelict building.
“We know from analysis of ticket sales that over 50 per cent of visitors to our building are from outside Castlebar. We bring an awful lot of business and money into the town. So that is also being put at risk.”