Arts Centres

Fingal County Council owns and operates two Arts and Cultural Centres in Fingal.

Dráiocht Arts Centre which is a multi-functional arts centre, based in Blanchardstown in west Fingal, and the Séamus Ennis Cultural Centre, a traditional arts and music centre, located in Naul, in north of the county. These two venues provide opportunities for children and adults from Fingal and outside to participate in a wide variety of art forms, performances and exhibitions within their own locality. These centres are a focal point for the local community, making a huge contribution to the life of the region and giving local stories a forum and local creators a stage.

“Arts centres play a central role in supporting artists and developing audiences for the arts at local level, and provide opportunities for public participation and education,” Mary Cloake, Director The Arts Council of Ireland. In 1994 Fingal County Council published a document entitled ‘Arts & Culture Discussion Document’, in a section entitled ‘Housing the Arts’ it stressed the need to begin the process of building an arts infrastructure within Fingal, through the development of key cultural facilities, within which the arts could flourish.

In more recent years Local Authorities throughout Ireland have been in the forefront of developing, funding and sustaining arts and culture venues within their own administrative areas. In Fingal this process was assisted through capital grants awarded under the Cultural Development Incentive Scheme (C.D.I.S.) 1994. The Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands administered the scheme, with part funding from the European Regional Development Fund.