Crawford in Cork gets major funding allocation to purchase new art  

The Leeside gallery and IMMA in Dublin have been awarded €1.5m between to further boost the national collection  

 Mary McCarthy, director Crawford Art Gallery, with artists Tom Climent and Debbie Godsell, at a previous acquisition announcement. A new allocation will see the gallery purchase a number of other contemporary pieces. Picture: Michael Mac Sweeney/Provision

Two Irish art galleries are to be awarded a sum of €1.5m to purchase new art for their collections. The Crawford Art Gallery in Cork is to receive €650,000, while IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art) in Dublin will get €850,000 from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Art, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.

Both institutions will use the funds to build on a previous substantial acquisition grant which also helped them support Irish artists in the pandemic era. In 2020, Crawford used its allocation of €400,000 to purchase 225 artworks from a number of contemporary artists, while IMMA did similar with its €600,000.