Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 June 2016
112. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the targets and key performance indicators included within the Arts Council funding process to ensure that funds are distributed among all socio-economic sectors; and if targets are met and the results of these. [15115/16]
View answerUnder the Arts Act 2003, primary responsibility for the promotion of the arts at all levels throughout the country is devolved to the Arts Council.
Last September, my Department completed and published a comprehensive review of the Arts Council’s activities and operation over the period 2009 to 2012. It was undertaken by my Department’s Evaluation Unit under the guidance of an expert Steering Committee chaired by Dr. John O’Hagan, Professor of Economics at Trinity College. The Value for Money Policy Review recommended the establishment of a set of 11 performance indicators, linked to the objectives of the Arts Council, to assess the results of the Arts Council’s annual programme. A subset of these include the number of arts projects that involve groups identified in the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion and the number of participants as a percentage of all Art Council funded programme participants, as well as the percentage of the Arts Council’s annual programme funding allocated to social inclusion projects.
The recommendations of the VFM report are reflected in the Arts Council’s ten-year strategy Making Great Art Work (2016-2025) which set outs how it will lead the development of all aspects of the arts in Ireland over the next decade. The five high level values of the Strategy include a comment to excellence as well as respect for diversity of artistic practice, of public engagement, and of social and cultural traditions.
