When it comes to self-help in the arts few towns in Ireland can compare with Moate, Co Westmeath, with a population of under 2,000. Work there is nearly finished on a theatre, craft and resource centre which has grown, phoenix-like, from a near ruin on the town's Main Street.
Massive input from the townspeople and their neighbours went into raising £200,000 locally for the £500,000 project.
Ms Maura Farrell, secretary of the Moate Community Development Association, says the project grew out of a need by local artistic groups to have a place to develop.
"We have a local community centre and it is a wonderful asset to the community. But it tends to be sport-orientated and groups like the amateur dramatic society and choral groups needed somewhere to practise," she says.
A committee was set up in 1993 which identified the old St Patrick's Hall, which had been a church and later a school. That site was cleared in 1994 but the facade of the old building had been retained.
"All the work has been carried out by FAS and this development could not have happened without it. It's always dangerous to single out individuals but the FAS foreman, Donal Heffernan, has to be the exception," says Maura.
At that stage the committee had "hit every group in sight" for financial support. The Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands has committed £51,000.
Aid has come too from the local Westmeath LEADER 11 group, Westmeath County Enterprise Board, Westmeath County Council, the Arts Council and the National Lottery.
"The fact remains, though, that it is the boast of the town and the surrounding countryside that £200,000 has been raised locally without any borrowings at all."
By next spring St Patrick's Hall will have a 180-seat theatre, an art gallery with craftspeople working in the building, a resource centre for local people, a tourism information centre and a cafe.
"We have a target to create five jobs, which will rise to 12 over the years as the centre develops. We will then have a centre we can be really proud of."
They do not know yet how many craftspeople will be working in the building.
"But we have the units available for them. We will also display the work of other local artists in the gallery."
Last week the project was named the regional winner of the FAS Community Initiative Award, which will put it in line for a national award to be decided later in the year.
In keeping with the manner in which the project has been run, there will be no high-profile opening. Instead the doors will first be opened to local people.
