Galway Art Trail to highlight the ‘Creative West’ |
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The Western Development Commission (WDC) has announced its sponsorship of the Creative West – Galway Art Trail which takes place in Galway during the Volvo Ocean Race Festival from 23rd May to 6th June. The WDC sponsorship is part of its work to highlight the 'Creative West' as Ireland’s hub for the creative industries. According to Joanne Grehan, "Our most recent research on what we call the ‘Creative West’, highlights what is now Ireland's hub for the creative industries here in the Western Region. When international comparisons are factored in the Western Region has the potential to create at least an extra 2,000 jobs in the creative sector." "We completed a study ‘Creative West: The Creative Sector in the Western Region’, the first study of its kind conducted in Ireland and it showed that there are 4,779 creative businesses operating in the Western Region, directly employing over 11,000 people or 3% of all employment in the region. This generates an annual turnover of €534m and directly contributes €270m to the Gross Value Added of the regional economy. It is therefore a major economic contributor to the region that we believe can be grown significantly, even in these difficult economic times," she added. The creative sector refers to those businesses which rely most on human creativity to generate economic value, ranging from TV production, music, theatre, architecture, graphic design to the running of art galleries. Ms. Grehan concluded, "The Western Region is perfectly positioned for further expansion within the sector as the region, by virtue of its natural beauty and quality of life, has inspired a culture of creativity. We believe the region can continue to attract creative people from all over the world who, from their home in the West, can feed the increasing world appetite for design, music, film, digital media and the arts."
For further information please contact: Joanne Grehan, Western Development Commission, 086 856 5802 or Angela Bane, Bane Mullarkey, 087 286 5217
The Galway Art Trail takes place in the following galleries in Galway: 126 Artist-Run Gallery Ard Bia at Nimmo's Art Essence Artisan Artspace Studios Bold Art Gallery Cava Spanish Restaurant & Tapas Bar |
