A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT the Easter Rising, a programme about an Irish-speaking teddy and a documentary series on forgotten Irish women composers are amongst seven new projects funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI).

The production funding for the producers to make TV or Radio programmes came through the BAI’s Broadcasting Funding Scheme, Sound & Vision II.

This scheme was established “to provide funding in support of high quality programmes on Irish culture, heritage and experience, and programmes to improve adult literacy”, the BAI said. In the last three years, it also extended the scheme to offer funding towards programmes dealing with the themes of media literacy and global affairs and increased the percentage level of funding for the scheme via the television licence fee to 7%.

The seven projects cover a number of contemporary and historical subjects.

• Dublin-based Tile Films Limited has received funding of €250,000 towards the production of ‘72 Uair Cinniúnach’ (‘72 Hours that Changed the Rising’). Set in 1916, this feature length documentary drama focuses on the battle for Dublin’s Mount Street bridge and King Street during the Easter Rising. The project, written and directed by Keith Farrell, is based on firsthand accounts from both sides of the battles. Stephen Rooke is the Executive Producer, while Dave Farrell is Producer of this 90 minute feature, which will be broadcast on TG4 around Easter of next year.

• West Dublin Access Radio received funding of €6,500 to make ‘Ballyfermot Rocks’. The programme will feature a live concert from the West Dublin Community Family Festival in August, featuring local, unsigned bands.

• New Decade TV & Film Limited from Dublin was awarded €60,000 funding for their six-part series, ‘The Science Squad’. The series will see New Decade’s Ciaran O’Connor and Nuala Cunningham visit universities and corporations around the country where there is a focus on interesting science projects. It will be broadcast on RTÉ.

• ‘Once Upon a Time in a Kingdom’ is a 21-part radio series to be broadcast on Radio Kerry, looking back over the station’s 21 years on air. The series is presented by Audrey Galvin and Radio Kerry received €19,700 from the BAI.

• The local radio station for Carlow and Kilkenny, KCLR, received funding of €17,000 to produce a 10 part series entitled ‘Full Circle – The Irish Songwriter’. Hosted by Philip Donnelly, the series will focus on the lives and work of a number of Irish singers and songwriters.

• Rockfinch Limited received funding of €20,000 towards the production of a six part documentary series entitled ‘Women of Note’. The series throws the spotlight on forgotten and neglected Irish women composers from the 19^th and 20^th centuries. A range of music genres will be covered, from trad to classical. The series will be broadcast on Lyric FM from September 2012.

• Igloo Productions Limited received funding of €180,000 for the animated series, ‘BB agus Bella’. This 10 x 5min series of programmes for TG4 is based on the first ever Irish speaking teddy Babogbaby and is aimed at introducing pre-schoolers to Irish through numbers, colours and shapes. Adrian Devane is the Executive Producer on the project, and it is directed by Kealan O’Rourke.

Further funding, as part of the Sound & Vision II will be rolled out throughout the year.

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