Other community initiatives across the Group

Community sponsorships by AIB recently included:

• The Social Science Foundation: This was set up in 2006, with seed funding of €25 million from the Irish banking sector, to provide funding at affordable interest rates to community-based projects and micro-enterprises. AIB has agreed to provide additional credit facilities to SFF to sustain and develop the provision of funding into the future.

• Cinemagic Film and Television Festival for Young People: A series of educational films and workshops for schools which takes place in May 2010. The AIB-sponsored series of films and workshops was one of the highlights of the festival, which is aimed at the four to twenty-four age group.

• AIB Street Performance World Championships: Over 80,000 people visit this annual free event of over 120 shows in Merrion Square, Dublin. This was much enjoyed by families, tourists and performance enthusiasts alike.

• AIB Art Prize: The AIB Prize is aimed at identifying emerging Irish visual artists of exceptional talent and helps them launch their career, through the staging of a showcase exhibition in a publicly funded venue. AIB also sponsors the Irish Arts Review, which is Irelands leading art and design publication. In addition, over the years AIB has lent over 250 artworks to over 70 public galleries for inclusion in temporary exhibitions, both in Ireland and abroad. In 2009, An Taoiseach, Mr. Brian Cowen, TD visited Fota House, Arboretum & Gardens in Cork to celebrate the completed restoration of the first floor and to acknowledge the substantial donation of Irish art and furniture by the McCarthy family and AIB. He acknowledged that ‘the efforts and commitment of the McCarthy family in partnership with AIB had prevented and important collection of art and furniture from leaving Ireland. The subsequent donation to the Irish Heritage Trust meant that these items could now be enjoyed by visitors to Fota House forever’.

• Business 2 Arts: AIB is a founding member of Business2Arts, an organisation established in 1998 to develop partnerships between business and the arts and to promote the sponsorship of the arts in Ireland. AIB was delighted to receive a highly commended CSR award and a Judges Special Recognition Award at the Business to Arts Awards 2008 in Ireland for its partnership with theatre company Rough Magic. This grassroots community programme supports emerging theatre artists in Ireland in reaching their potential.

• Philantropy Ireland: AIB supported Philanthropy Ireland in the launch of a publication called ‘Philanthropy – an opportunity to make your mark, a new guide to philanthropic giving’. This guide aims to provide an overview of Irish Philanthropy in an accessible format.

Pictured (above): a scene from the 2008 AIB World Street Performers Championship.

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