2020 has been a difficult year for us all – especially those of us working in the Arts. The COVID-19 restrictions have made life very difficult for the last nine months, and we can only hope that the New Year brings some respite.
However, it’s not all bad news, and at the very end of the year, things are looking up for us at Masamba.
During the week, we had two piece of positive news, both of which will help us trade our way back to sustainability.
We have just been informed that the Arts Council, under the Arts Participation – Capacity Building Support Scheme – 2020 have awarded us €14,426.00. Though great news, it is a little less than we applied for, so we will need to decide carefully what we spend the money on. It will definitely upgrade our office capacities, and hopefully, stretch to getting a makeover for the Masamba website.
Also, we had applied to both strands of the RTE Does Comic Relief fund, namely the ‘Demand for Digital’ stream, for which we were awarded €2779.73, and the ‘Adapt and Respond’ scheme for which we have been awarded €2913.28.
The materials and projects we had applied for under all three schemes will dovetail together nicely, to support us to generate some online learning resources, and overhaul our website to make it more marketing orientated, which will hopefully generate more business.
Also, we should give a shout out to Dublin City Council, and the North East Inner City, who booked us for some performance work, between Hallowe’en and the ‘Concert on your Doorstep’ projects. Not only was the cash very welcome, but working for Dublin City Council also ensured that the events were well-run and followed the safety guidelines. It was also a tonic to get out and do some playing in the community, as it remained us of why we all got involved in samba in the first place.
So, 2020 was a tough year, but not all bad. Roll on 2021!
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