Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 March 2013
125. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the extent to which he hopes to support local and or national arts groups with particular reference to promising funding for production groups; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13366/13]
View answer126. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if he has had discussions with local arts groups with a view to incentivisation of job creation activities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13367/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 125 and 126 together.
Government policy on the arts is set out in the Programme for Government. As Minister responsible for the arts and culture sectors, I am committed to securing the best possible funding provision for them during my term of office.
Government policy is to promote and strengthen the arts in all its forms, increase access to and participation in the arts, to make the arts an integral and valued part of our national life, and maximise the potential for cultural tourism. Primary responsibility for the promotion of the arts at all levels throughout the country is devolved to the Arts Council, which, under the Arts Acts, is independent in its funding decisions. In 2013, the Arts Council will receive an allocation from my Department of some €60.7 million in current, capital and EU Presidency funding.
The Government appreciates the importance of the arts, culture and the creative industries to both our society and to our economy. I am fully aware of the challenges for those involved in the arts and culture sectors and of the tremendous work they are doing. I am committed to supporting the essential elements of the arts and culture sectors, within the available financial resources and in the light of the evolving budgetary and Estimates processes.
The Programme for Government includes a commitment to "work with stakeholders in the Arts community to develop new proposals aimed at building private support of the Arts in Ireland exploring philanthropic, sponsorship or endowment fund opportunities". To further this objective, in May 2012 I announced the introduction of a new philanthropic initiative on a pilot basis for arts and culture organisations. The initiative - the Philanthropic Leverage Initiative - was designed to encourage philanthropic sponsorship and endowment of the arts from private sources. The initiative, established with funding of €230,000 for 2012, has provided an incentive to arts organisations to proactively seek new funding relationships with sponsors which deliver private sector financial support, thereby increasing overall funding available to the arts. The initiative was available across projects of varying scale, geography and art forms to not-for-profit organisations for arts programming projects. The organisations approved for funding under the initiative were required to procure matching philanthropic funds and complete their drawdown from my Department in 2012. Matched funding could come from public funds or from any public sector organisation. At the outset, it was anticipated that a multiple of 3.5 on the pilot initiative funds of €230,000 would result in philanthropic funding of some €800,000 being raised for the arts. The scheme proved very successful with a multiplier of 4.26 eventually being leveraged in philanthropic donations. I recently launched a similar initiative for 2013 and full details are available on my Department's website.
The Philanthropic Leverage Initiative was run in parallel with a second initiative - the Arts Council's RAISE: Building Fundraising Capacity pilot initiative. That initiative will provide one-to-one professional support to eight selected organisations for two years through planning and implementing a tailored fundraising programme. This will help those art organisations build and resource their capacity to attract philanthropic giving. In developing this complementary programme, the Arts Council has identified that it is vital for art groups to develop, agree and implement an effective fundraising strategy and to properly resource that fundraising function.
My Department has also provided support to the Business to Arts organisation for a number of years and, in each of the last three years, this has been allocated to delivery of the New Stream Programme, which builds fundraising skills in the cultural sector in Ireland. The Bank of America Merrill Lynch investment in this project is €400k over three years. In 2010, my Department also awarded a €20,000 grant to Business to Arts for ‘Fund it’ in 2010 under the Cultural Technology Grants Scheme. Business to Arts initially matched this figure with private funding and since then has attracted additional foundation funds to this project.
The State appreciates and values the contribution the arts sector makes to the internationally renowned artistic reputation of this country. As Minister with responsibility for the arts, I believe that, within the current economic constraints, investment in the arts, culture and creative sectors is more important than ever, having regard to the employment intensity and potential of the sector. The arts are a significant contributor and employer in their own right and they are also important building blocks for those economic policies the Government has identified as crucial for our economic recovery.
