GUINNESS TO CHAMPION TALENT AND CREATIVITY TO BUILD A BRIGHTER FUTURE IN NORTHERN IRELAND

Arthur Guinness Projects To Invest €3 Million Over Three Years

GUINNESS® & Co. recently launched a major new cultural initiative, Arthur Guinness Projects®, designed to champion and celebrate people whose ideas, passion and spirit are enhancing and shaping our culture and identity.

Continuing the GUINNESS tradition of supporting talent and ingenuity in Ireland, the initiative sets out to invest in Ireland’s creators, visionaries and innovators across four areas of creativity and culture; Music, Sport, Arts and Food. Together with a mentoring and promotional support programme, Arthur Guinness Projects will invest €3 million in people and their projects across Ireland over the next three years, with up to 20 projects benefitting annually.

The Arthur Guinness Projects panel has been created to choose the overall winning projects, but also to provide mentoring and support to the overall winners. Comprised of 16 experts, four within each category, the panel will be spearheaded by world-renowned Irish band, The Script, who will also be performing at the Arthur’s Day 2013 celebrations on the 26th September, food guru, Dylan McGrath, Donegal inter-county manager and sports consultant, Jim McGuinness and celebrated Irish actor, Chris O’ Dowd.

Applications can be submitted online from today and up until the 9th August, 2013 via www.arthurguinnessprojects.com. The general public will vote online for the projects that they would most like to see come to life during the application period and up until the 23rd August, 2013. The top 10% of applications in each category, as voted by the public, will be reviewed by the Arthur Guinness Projects panel who will then choose the overall winning projects. Additionally, there will be a wild card element to the process. The Arthur Guinness Projects panel can choose from the pool of projects that did not make the top 10% in their respective categories, and award up to four wild card projects. 

In determining successful applicants, the expert panel will be looking for projects that will inspire everyone across the island of Ireland; those that deliver on innovation, creativity, achievability, as well as cultural and social good.

Speaking at the launch, Stephen O’Kelly, Marketing Director, GUINNESS said; “Arthur Guinness Projects has been inspired by our founder, Arthur Guinness. He was a true visionary, one of the original innovators who, along with many generations of the GUINNESS family, made many varied philanthropic gestures. We are continuing this tradition with the launch of Arthur Guinness Projects.  Ireland is a place where there is an abundance of character, talent and creativity and we wanted to play our part in invigorating our inherent culture by championing the wealth of amazing creative potential within the country.  For many people, their dreams or ideas are on hold and through Arthur Guinness Projects, we hope to help them unlock those dreams and set them alight.  We are really excited about bringing together people with real weight and experience, and pairing them with those who have inspiring ideas”.

The Arthur Guinness Projects winners 2013, a reflection of Ireland’s spirit, culture and modern identity, will be revealed on 23rd September. Also, some of the winners and applicants will be showcased as part of this year’s Arthur’s Day celebrations. Full details on the Arthur’s Day 2013 celebrations will be revealed later this summer.

The Script commented; “We are really excited about being involved with Arthur Guinness Projects. There are so many talented and innovative people in Ireland and we can’t wait to see some of the projects brought to life. Having the support of Arthur Guinness Projects will go a long way in helping someone get that important first step into the industry. We’re looking forward to being a part of that journey”.

Chris O’Dowd said, “Ireland has been waiting for an initiative like Arthur Guinness Projects. There are so many people with amazing ideas and coupled with an energy and passion that us Irish are renowned for, I have no doubt that this will help to unearth some incredible talent”.

Dylan McGrath commented; “When I first heard about Arthur Guinness Projects, I instantly knew that this was something I wanted to get involved in. It will create a brilliant platform for those within the food sector, in whatever aspect, to come forward and grab the opportunity to turn aspirations into ideas and ideas into reality. Ireland’s reputation in food is rapidly growing, but we constantly need to be innovating and raising the bar. I am very much looking forward to seeing the projects come through”.

Donegal’s Jim McGuinness said, “My initial thoughts were what a great idea, how exciting the project was and how much good could potentially come from it. I feel in the current economic climate this initiative will give great support to many people in the sport arena so I ‘m really looking forward to being involved”.

For more on the Arthur Guinness Projects cultural initiative, visit www.arthurguinnessprojects.com/ or watch www.youtube.com/watch