The Science Gallery has secured short-term funding to significantly curb deficits that have existed since the project opened on February 1 2008. The Trinity Foundation on behalf of ‘Science Gallery’ has agreed a sponsorship deal with Wellcome Trust that will generate €880,000 for the project. Science Gallery relies primarily on corporate donation, philanthropic funding and on government funding from the Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism. Further income is generated from corporate hire, the internal café and any paid events.
The Science Gallery has secured short-term funding to significantly curb deficits that have existed since the project opened on February 1 2008. The Trinity Foundation on behalf of ‘Science Gallery’ has agreed a sponsorship deal with Wellcome Trust that will generate €880,000 for the project. Science Gallery relies primarily on corporate donation, philanthropic funding and on government funding from the Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism. Further income is generated from corporate hire, the internal café and any paid events.
Initially, a deficit of €1.2million had been predicted for 2009, a cause for concern for the College Finance Committee. A final figure could not be confirmd at the time of going to print. However the financial injection from Wellcome Trust looks to have relieved the initially difficult financial start for the project.
Michael John Gorman, Director of Science Gallery, told Trinity News that the intention is to keep Science Gallery exhibitions free to the public and that the high numbers who have attended exhibitions thus far have justified this move. “After only seven months of being open to the public we have exceeded our projected first year visitor numbers. To date over 65,000 visitors have come to the gallery – including a staggering 6,000 visitors for the recent three day Artbots festival.”
The scale of the project and advertising campaign has drawn a lot of attention, and cutbacks will be necessary if more windfalls, such as this latest investment from Wellcome Trust, do not become available. “As predicted we will have a deficit for our first year, which is pretty normal with a start-up… if fundraising targets are not met, the Science Gallery programme will be scaled down accordingly” Mr Gorman said.
He also said that although it is easier to attract financial backing since Science Gallery has opened, “sponsorship budgets and government funds are becoming tighter” in the current economic climate. He emphasised that Science Gallery is not drawing funding from any student services.
The next exhibition to be held at Science Gallery is Lab in the Gallery: PAY ATTENTION! which will host an open laboratory providing participants from the public with the opportunity to take part in a series of neuroscience experiments.
