Major US Challenge for the Lyric
Our campaign received a massive boost from the United States today with the offer of an $850,000 (£500,000) challenge grant from the Kresge Foundation in Michigan. This is a huge coup for the Lyric as we are only the second organisation in Ireland, and one of just a handful in the UK, to have been supported by Kresge. The vast majority of its funding is distributed in the USA and Canada, but Kresge’s President, Rip Rapson, said they felt “compelled to support the Lyric for many reasons, including the significant impact the theatre has on its community and the crucial role it plays in creating a vibrant, healthy and tolerant society”. If the public and business community can help us raise $1,300,000 (£800,000) by a deadline of June 2010, we will secure the $850,000 challenge grant from Kresge and finally celebrate completion of its ambitious £18 million fundraising target.
Our Patron, Liam Neeson, who has been closely involved in the capital campaign, sent his personal congratulations from New York:
“This is brilliant news. Support from Kresge is highly sought after, and competition for funds is very tough, so I’m delighted that we have been awarded this prestigious challenge grant. It’s a terrific endorsement, at an international level, of the vital role that the Lyric plays in Northern Ireland and our vision for the future. That vision is to create a fantastic new theatre in Belfast, at the heart of the community, because sharing our stories through drama is an incredibly powerful way to entertain, to educate, to inspire, and to help heal the wounds of the past.”
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