Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 December 2023
96. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media what plans, if any are being established to mandate local councils to invest in the arts, considering they are primary stakeholders in local arts centres, yet are not explicitly required to allocate funding to the arts; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53476/23]
View answerThe Creative Ireland Programme, first established by my Department in 2017, is an all-of-government, culture-based, wellbeing initiative, grounded in the principle that every person has creative capacities, the development of which contributes to the well-being of all in our society. Local authorities are central to the work of Creative Ireland, particularly under its Creative Communities Pillar. Over €5.7 million has been provided to local authorities by my Department in 2023, which has seen the delivery of over 1800 projects and events, with an additional €1.1 million provided to local authorities for this year’s Cruinniú na nÓg. This brings the total funding for local authorities under the Creative Ireland Programme to €29.3 million since 2018. I have seen first-hand how this investment in creativity is directly supporting wellbeing, social cohesion and economic development to make a real difference in all our communities.
Critical to the ongoing success of Creative Communities Pillar has been the appointment by each local authority of a Creative Ireland Coordinator from among their senior staff. To build on the success of this approach, and to help drive the continued implementation of their Culture and Creativity Strategies 2023-2027, each local authority has now also appointed a Creative Communities Engagement Officer – posts that are co-funded by my Department. This will ensure even greater collaboration across the Culture and Creativity teams in each local authority to deliver projects and events that engage and inspire local communities. This delivery infrastructure represents a very significant, and long term, commitment to facilitating access to, and participation in, cultural and creative activity in every local authority.
‘A Framework for Collaboration’, published in 2016, is a 10-year agreement between the Arts Council and the County and City Management Association to further the development of the arts in every county in Ireland. It enabled a more streamlined and consistent approach to funding the arts based on key principles of arts development, public engagement and spatial planning. Recent decades have seen the development of a nationwide infrastructure of venues and arts centres, many of which were initiated and funded by local authorities. The Arts Council currently provides programming and revenue supports to almost fifty arts centres throughout the country.
My Department also focuses on providing capital grant funding for arts and cultural facilities. The primary focus of these schemes at present is towards securing and enhancement of existing arts and culture facilities rather than the development of major new centres.
