OLD ABBEY DANCE STUDIOS John & Tracey Murtagh, Drogheda
Grant committed: €100,000

The Louth area (and most of Ireland, in fact) lacks proper facilities for dance.  In all the arts centres and buildings developed over the years, not one dance studio has been incorporated. Determined to change all that, John and Tracey Murtagh purchased premises of historical significance in Old Abbey Lane, Drogheda, and are in the process of building fully purpose-built dance studios to rent to teachers, schools, clubs etc. on an hourly basis. Our building will include three large studios with changing facilities and a coffee/sandwich bar.  It will provide students of dance with a unique opportunity to receive first-class training locally. Facilities will include Harlequin Sprung flooring and fully equipped studios. Our aim is that this area will start to feel like a ‘cultural quarter’.

The grant from Louth Leader has been an essential element of the project, as the Murtaghs describe: "We  began with an initial investment of our own, but the cost of sympathetically renovating a building, part of which was built in AD1206, spiralled rapidly and the project was under threat. Receiving the Louth LEADER grant allowed us to increase the standard of the dance facilities, gained us more credibility with the lending institutions and strengthened our resolve to complete the project to the highest standard."