Background in Brief:
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Westport Town Hall has been at the cultural heart of Westport since first opening its doors to the public in the early 1900s. Located centrally on the Octagon (the town’s main civic space), it has been home to many of the towns active arts, community and voluntary organisations.
The hall was originally refurbished in 1973 and was, until its closure on Health and Safety grounds in 2008, a significant part of the Performing Arts product mix for Westport.
The absolute imperativeness of a core cultural base for a thriving community such as Westport was what united the people of the town in their quest to see Westport Town Hall open its doors and be restored to the people. This prompted a massive Community and Local Authority-led fundraising and development drive that took just over 6 years (2009 - 2015) to see the newly developed facility be restored to the town.
The venue, situated in the centre of the Town’s central civic space, namely The Octagon, was redeveloped from a 250 year old Community building into a €3.2 million state of the art facility. This development was a joint project of the Community of Westport, Mayo County Council, Fáilte Ireland, The South-West Mayo Development Company and the Department of the Arts, Culture and An Gaeltacht. Officially reopened in June 2015, This modern and well-equipped multi-purpose facility features: A 225-seater Auditorium with retractable seating, adjustable orchestra pit, light and PA system with extensive dressing rooms, Green Room and Backstage/Tech space. A fully licenced Theatre Bar which leads on to impressive balcony space/viewing area of Westport's Octagon - a notable feature that enhances the visitor experience during any event. There are 2 No additional separate meetings rooms for smaller meetings, training courses, workshops and presentations etc with dedicated PC and networking points as necessary. Westport Town Hall while not Local Authority-owned, has strong local authority support in resources and some annual funding.
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Our Mission:
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Westport Town Hall's mission is to inspire, create, support and showcase the best of our Arts Culture for all in our community. Westport Town Hall will openly and actively provide the necessary and best equipped space, resources and support to all with whom we engage with on our creative journey. Our ethos is to encourage trust, faith and consistency for all spheres of our artistic community and continue to cultivate and provide a fully inclusive, accessible and definitive platform in all our endeavours. We recognise that our artists, communities, stakeholders and audiences comprise the core of what we do and they help us ensure that we continue to expand as the artistic hub of our town and its surrounding hinterland by adopting best practice in collaboration, support and innovation.
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Policy on Paying Artists:
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Westport Town Hall is committed to promoting equitable and fair remuneration and contracting with all of its artists and arts workers, and is committed to supporting equality and diversity in the arts. Remuneration has been defined as fair when it equates to what is asked of an artist in terms of their time, input and expertise. It will account for the status of the artist or group of artists and reflect the value created by their engagement. (Remuneration is used here to encompass all potential forms of an artist’s earnings. It includes pay, salary, wages, fees, allowances, benefits and non cash incentives as appropriate and as agreed). Payment terms are agreed in writing between the artist/group and the Management of Westport Town Hall Theatre before any work commences and both the Theatre and the artist (or the Promoter/Company representing the artist/group) are happy with all terms agreed with therein.
Westport Town Hall is committed to ensuring that artists who work with us or who work in our venue are appropriately contracted and remunerated and that we provide an environment in which artists can make work of ambition and quality. The Company also applies this policy to those who support the performance
of professional Artists.
Westport Town Hall recognises and supports the artist’s role as being central to the artistic process and we wish to develop our support to artists at all stages of their careers through increased opportunities at the centre. Westport Town Hall complies with the Arts Council Policy on the fair and equitable remuneration and contracting of artists, see https://www.artscouncil.ie/about/artists-pay-policy/
