Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 November 2021
260. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the degree to which her Department has assisted with cultural activities in the past year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55444/21]
View answerI was very cognisant of the challenges the restrictions caused for the arts/culture and live entertainment industry in 2021. I allocated over €60m to support the sector and drive employment opportunities through the introduction of the following schemes:
- €25m Live Performance Support Scheme (LPSS)
- €16.5m Events Sector Covid Support Scheme (ESCSS)
- €10m Local Live Performance Support Scheme (LLPSS)
- €4m Music and Entertainment Support Scheme (MEBAS)
- €5m Commercial Entertainment Capital Grant Scheme (CECGS) and
- €1m St. Patricks Festival.
I have allocated €25m for the live entertainment sector as part of Budget 2022 and I am examining the supports in place for the sector to ensure that available resources are best deployed to meet the needs of the sector to ensure a full recovery is possible.
As part of Budget 2022, I have maintained the Arts Council allocation at the record-level of €130m. This allocation will allow the Arts Council to continue to protect jobs and livelihoods of artists, and assist arts organisations through financial difficulties.
Other priorities for Budget 2022 was to secure €25m in funding for a pilot Basic Income Guarantee Scheme for artists and arts workers. I plan to launch this pilot scheme early in 2022.
Culture Ireland, which operates under the aegis of my Department, promotes Irish arts worldwide. While traditionally funding was being offered towards travel and travel related costs only, owing to COVID-19, since early 2020 support is also offered towards presentation by Irish artists online. In response to the quickly changing situation over the past 19 months, Culture Ireland has increased the frequency of its grant rounds from 3 to 6 per year.
The global pandemic also gave rise to Culture Ireland’s Ireland Performs initiative which was an early direct response allowing Irish artists to connect from their locality with global audiences online. It was followed by SEODA online festival celebrating St Patrick's Day which was curated and delivered on Culture Ireland’s YouTube channel.
In late 2020, Music Industry Stimulus Package with a fund of €1.7m was put in place to stimulate areas of work usually funded with income from artists' own sources, including live event fees. The music stimulus schemes was targeted at professional musicians and their teams and supported song writing camps, recording and album releases.
To date almost €1.9m was spent by Culture Ireland on support for individual artists, art organisations and annually funded initiatives in 2021.
