National Lottery windfall has transformed cultural landscape
2nd November, 2024
Thirty years on from the first National Lottery draw in November 1994, there is now an arts building within 20 miles of everyone living in Northern Ireland.

The Arts Council of Northern Ireland, one of four distributors of National Lottery funding in Northern Ireland, attributes that to money raised for good causes through National Lottery ticket sales. Iconic arts buildings like the Grand Opera House in Belfast, Marketplace Theatre in Armagh, Alley Arts Centre in Strabane, Flowerfield Arts Centre in Portstewart and The Braid Arts Centre in Ballymena, have all benefited from National Lottery investment. Money raised for good causes has provided vital funding for capital projects, acting as an important catalyst for leveraging additional investment in the cultural sector.
National Lottery players raise £30 million every week for good causes across the UK, which is allocated across the fields of sport, heritage, community and arts. For Northern Ireland, three decades of investment of National Lottery funding has been a real game changer, helping people across the country connect with the arts, funding thousands of projects in urban and rural locations and provided thousands of ways to access and participate in the arts.
National Lottery funding has helped shape the cultural landscape in NI
Since it launched in 1994, more than £217 million of National Lottery money has been invested in 9,680 Northern Ireland based arts projects by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
Community groups, theatre companies, schools, musicians, poets and painters have all benefitted from the good causes funding generated through the National Lottery, helping to develop and support arts activities in our towns and cities, as well providing funding for landmark public artworks, including John Kindness’ much-loved Big Fish on Belfast’s Donegall Quay, Niall O’Neill’s bronze Fishing Boat on Portstewart Promanade and Maurice Harron’s large scale stylised dancers and fiddle player of ‘Let the Dance Begin’ in Strabane.
Roisin McDonough, Chief Executive of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, says National Lottery funding has had a huge impact on arts provision here:
“When we go to a theatre, read a book by a local author, or see a great work of art, often it’s National Lottery funding which has helped to take a creative idea and turn it into a reality.
“Every person living in Northern Ireland now has access to a dedicated arts facility within a 20 mile radius of their home. Working in partnership with local councils, across government departments and with private trusts and foundations, these places now lie at the heart of our communities, enriching all our lives.”
CASE STUDIES
The Lyric Theatre, Belfast
The Lyric Theatre is creative hub for theatre-making. Since its modest beginnings, originally set up in 1951 in the home of its founders Mary and Pearce O’Malley, it has been a springboard for internationally acclaimed playwrights, poets and actors.
In 2011, the theatre was rebuilt and with the help of an investment of £2.075 million from National Lottery funding, reopened its doors to the public as a beautiful modern theatre space, with a stunning production of Arthur Miller’s The Cruicible. Since then, it has hosted 748 shows, welcomed visitors to 5,393 performances and sold 1,033, 772 seats. In the 13 years since it reopened, the theatre has won numerous prestigious awards for its architecture and theatre productions.
The Playhouse Theatre, Derry-Londonderry
Over 100,000 people pass through the red doors of The Playhouse every year. Located in Artillery Street, in the heart of the city centre, it is one of the most vibrant and loved arts centres in Northern Ireland. Established by Pauline Ross in 1992, on the site of an abandoned old school, The Playhouse has been a corner stone of Northwest arts, with a focus on nurturing and developing continuing generations of artists, writers, technicians and performers.
In 2009, a new look Playhouse was unveiled after a major renovation and restoration project, which included an investment of £1.14million of National Lottery funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. Since then it has continued to grow in strength and ambition, with the backing of patrons including Roma Downey, Frank McGuinness, Bronagh Gallagher, Eva Birthwhistle, Gabriel Byrne and more. Recent highlights include landmark productions HUME- Beyond Belief, The White Hankerchief and the theatres passion for supporting emerging talent through its new Open Arts Pathway. In 2022 it became the first theatre on the Island of Ireland to appoint a Climate Action Officer. This unique appointment enabled it to develop Artitude, a one-of-a-kind project that would use storytelling to break down the jargon around climate change and engage communities in positive action.
The Playhouse engages with over 80,000 people (live and digitally) and works with approximately 300 facilitators and artists every year.