Cork City Council Launches City Centre Placemaking Fund 2023

15/05/2023

Cork City Council has launched the 2023 City Centre Placemaking Fund, inviting local community groups, and businesses/business associations located within the city centre to apply.

This fund provides support for projects which will enhance, improve, and enliven people’s experience of Cork city centre with a focus on public spaces, increasing footfall and supporting the local economy.

Potential projects range from greening, environmental improvement projects, atmospheric lighting, murals and/or cultural, artistic attractions and much more.

At the core of the fund is community participation, providing both communities and local businesses to help make Cork City a sustainable city for all, contributing to people’s overall health, happiness and wellbeing

Previous projects supported by the Placemaking fund have been:

• ‘La Cocina Pública/The Public Kitchen’ where a mobile kitchen housed in a shipping container offered dinner to up to 200 people using local recipes, aromas, practices and customs from the South Parish area residents and included performance, story-telling and music.
• The original city centre parklet on Douglas Street.
• Street Art on St. Paul’s Avenue.
• Pope’s Quay project where Myo Café working with street artists, art tutors, stonemasons, Cope Foundation and the Simon community have transformed a footpath to a place with outdoor chessboards, planter seats, murals and ceramic tiling with key input and involvement of the local community.

Cork City Council recognises the importance of placemaking and is committed to supporting projects that develop or enhance placemaking in the city centre.  

While the Council can support projects, placemaking itself is driven by the community and all the projects that have been delivered to date have had the key component of real community involvement and engagement. Through this fund, Cork City Council sees itself placed in a position of being able to assist groups and communities bring ideas to fruition.

We are particularly interested in projects that contribute to the greening of the streets and encourage urban biodiversity in the city centre which may include for example window boxes, hanging baskets, outdoor areas/rooftops with pollinator-friendly or edible plants, creating vertical green walls, food towers or installing bird/bat boxes or insect motels.

The application form can be downloaded by clicking here, or by contacting the following:

John Hayes,

Strategic and Economic Development Directorate,

Cork City Council,

City Hall,

Cork

For more information, phone 021 4924115 or email john_hayes@corkcity.ie.

The closing date for the receipt of applications is Friday 9th June 2023.