By Dan Walsh
Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys TD, this week announced funding of €49,500 for St. Michael’s Theatre, New Ross, which is part of 53 projects nationwide, funded under the Project Development Measure (PDM) 3 of the Town Centre Suite of Supports 2024.
Minister Humphreys informed WexfordLocal.com that the “Project will develop plans for the replacement of the roof, upgrade of disability toilet facilities and enhancement of the front of historical St. Michaels’s Theatre. It will also include the design and specification of the energy savings measures, taking it through design and tender stage.”
Welcoming the announcement, Board Member and Cathaoirleach of New Ross Municipal District Council, Cllr Bridín Murphy thanked Minister Humphreys “who has invested a huge amount of money into our town.”
Cllr Murphy added; “Having been a board member on the theatre for the past five years I welcome this funding. I have always been committed to driving the Arts in our district and this will protect the priceless asset of our theatre.”
St. Michael’s Theatre on South Street has a long and distinguished history and was originally the Norman Church of St. Michael. The present building was built in 1806, eight years after the Insurrection of 1798, and served as the parish church until 1902 when the new parish church, St. Mary’s & Michael’s, was opened.
Today, St. Michael’s Theatre boasts a 298-seat theatre, a 50-seat studio venue, an art gallery, a cinema, a coffee shop and a bar. Now a fully-fledged arts centre, St. Michael’s has a staff of 12 who bring a year-round arts programme unrivalled in the South East to visitors and locals from New Ross town and district, and even further afield.
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