Aengus Ó Snodaigh
Question:62. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media if her Department has strategies in relation to areas (details supplied). [12314/21]
View answerThursday, 4 March 2021
Questions (62, 63, 64)
Aengus Ó Snodaigh
Question:63. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the responsibility the Arts Council has in relation to dance; and the proportion of Arts Council funding that has been given to dance each year over the past ten years. [12315/21]
View answerAengus Ó Snodaigh
Question:64. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the responsibility the Arts Council has in relation to Irish dancing; and the proportion of Arts Council funding that has been given to Irish dancing each year over the past ten years. [12316/21]
View answerWritten answers
I propose to take Questions Nos. 62, 63 and 64 together.
My Department published Ireland’s first ever national cultural policy framework, Culture 2025 – A National Cultural Policy Framework to 2025 in January of last year. A key objective of this policy is to increase access to and participation in the arts. Primary responsibility for promoting practice of the arts, including dance, rests with the Arts Council under the Arts Act 2003.
The strategic context for the Arts Council’s support of dance and all other artforms and areas of arts practice is set out in Making Great Art Work: Arts Council Strategy (2016 –2025). It describes how the Arts Council will lead the development of the arts in Ireland. The strategy has five priority areas: the artist; public engagement; investment strategy; spatial and demographic planning; and developing capacity. The Arts Council's current dance policy, Dance Policy and Strategy 2018, is aligned to the key objectives and desired outcomes of Making Great Art Work .
Dance is a widely practised artform in Ireland and covers activities which range from highly trained professional dancers who earn their income from their art to people of all ages engaging in various forms of dance as a hobby.
The Arts Council supports dance across a number of genres through grant programmes and awards, and invests in future developments through special initiatives devised in partnership with others. The Arts Council have in place a number of schemes and initiatives for the particular support of dance and a list of dance organisations funded by the Arts Council can be viewed on the website at the following links http://www.artscouncil.ie/Arts-in-Ireland/Dance/Links/ . The Arts Council’s current dance policy is published on its website at this link http://www.artscouncil.ie/uploadedFiles/Dance_Policy_2018(1).pdf
My Department, in the context of its overall mission to promote, nurture and develop Ireland's culture and arts, delivers further supports for dance including through Creative Ireland initiatives. While the focus of the Programme is on creativity as a strategy, dance has featured in that regard. Under Pillar II Enabling Creativity in Every Community (or Creative Communities), the Creative Ireland Programme partnered with each of the 31 local authorities to deploy creativity as a strategy for wellbeing, social cohesion and economic development. In doing so, Creative Communities has enabled local authorities to support a significant number of dance-related projects across a wide range of dance forms.
In addition, my Department provides funding to Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (CCÉ), which is the largest organisation involved in the preservation and promotion of Irish traditional music and dance. CCÉ has hundreds of branches in every Irish county including in small towns and villages. My Department provides annual funding to CCÉ for its work in the protection and promotion of Irish dance, Irish traditional music and culture.
Culture Ireland creates and supports opportunities for Irish artists and companies to present and promote their work, including dance, at strategic international festivals and venues, and develops platforms to present outstanding Irish work to international audiences, through showcases at key global arts events, including the Edinburgh Festivals.
My Department does not have responsibility for oversight of the commercial provision of dancing in the State.
Question No. 65 answered with Question No. 59.