I propose to take Questions Nos. 72 and 75 together.
I am eager to get artists, musicians, performers and all their behind-the-scenes technical support people back to earning a living and doing what they do so well. I recently met with the National Campaign for the Arts and separately with the Events Industry Alliance, and heard first hand their concerns.
I recently announced the establishment of a new Taskforce for the recovery of the Arts and Culture sector under the Chair of Clare Duignan. The Taskforce, which met for the first time yesterday, will prepare a report including a set of recommendations on how best the arts and culture sector can adapt and recover from the unprecedented damage arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The sector includes culture, the arts, the audio-visual industry and the live entertainment industry with the Events Industry Alliance having two representatives on the taskforce. The Taskforce will:-
- adopt a solution-focused approach;
- seek sector-specific expert input and consult with stakeholders;
- invite additional individuals or expertise to attend meetings on an ad hoc basis, as it deems necessary;
- focus on providing intelligence and recommendations for an expected on-going and varying impact of COVID-19 restrictions;
- identify immediate and medium term goals for recovery and sustainability in the sector;
- identify possible policy initiatives or impediments to a robust sustainable recovery in the sector;
- recommend whole of Government policy initiatives and actions to support the sector;
- prepare a report by the 31 October 2020 in order to provide the Government with an action-plan for the sector.
Membership of Arts and Culture Recovery Task Force includes:
- Clare Duignan (Chair)
- Arts Council
- Business to Arts
- Council of the National Cultural Institutions
- County and City Management Association (CCMA)
- Department of Health
- Department of Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht
- Department of Social Protection
- Ealaín na Gaeltachta
- Events Industry Alliance
- Irish Congress of Trade Unions
- National Campaign for the Arts
- Irish Music Rights Organisation
- Irish Theatre Institute
- Screen Ireland
- Screen Producers Ireland
- Denise Chaila
- Martin Hayes
I am also very conscious of the unprecedented nature of the challenge facing live performance promoters and producers, not least from a financial point of view. I was pleased to have recently announced a new fund that will assist established commercial venues and promoters to employ performers, artists, technicians, creative and performance support staff up to the end of 2020 in anticipation of the return of audiences to live performance.
An allocation of €5 million is being made available under the “Live Performance Support Scheme” under my Department which aims to assist commercial venues, producers and promoters of live performances and provide employment to workers in the creative industries. The scheme will help to de-risk the costs of preparing for new productions which may subsequently have to be postponed, cancelled or curtailed due to restrictions to safeguard public health. The main objective of the scheme is to provide employment opportunities in the ticketed performance sector and allow commercial organisers of live performances to commence preparations immediately and productions to go ahead in the near future while also complying with public health protection measures. This scheme has been developed following consultation with the sector and will be managed directly by my Department. This scheme is open to applications until 1pm on the 25th September and I hope to announce the recipients of this funding in the coming weeks.
A further support package, the Music Stimulus Package, involves three funding schemes designed to help sustain the popular and commercial music sector across all music genres, including rock, pop, hip hop, indie, jazz, country and western and traditional and folk. Under this package, a fund of €1,000,000 is being put in place to stimulate areas of work which artists would usually fund with income from own sources including live event fees.
The music support schemes are targeted at professional musicians and their teams and will support song writing camps, recording and album releases. The aim is to ensure that Irish musicians, engineers, PR, media, agents, labels and publishers can continue to develop and share their work in the context of COVID restrictions. The Music Stimulus Package schemes will be managed on behalf of the Department by First Music Contact and will be subject to peer panel assessment.
