Michael Creed
Ceist:13 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht the way in which he proposes to increase participation in, and access to the arts, especially in the regions; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Regional Arts Participation.
The Programme for a Partnership Government 1993-97 provides that An Chomhairle Ealaíon will be asked to operate on a coordinated three-year plan for funding of the arts. Such a procedure of long term planning will enable greater co-ordination between capital and current expenditure and also between local and national initiatives and priorities. Following my direction, An Chomhairle is at present preparing a three-year plan, the central thrust of which will be towards regional development. I have asked An Chomhairle to report back to me later this year.
The Deputy will be aware that the current policy of An Chomhairle Ealaíon with regard to access and participation in the arts in the regions operates on two levels.
An Chomhairle supports, encourages and otherwise advocates the involvement of local authorities in provision for the arts at local level. An Chomhairle provides direct financial support towards the employment of specialist arts officers with 19 local authorities throughout the country and 50 per cent of the salary of these officers is paid for by an Chomhairle. In addition to the salary subvention An Chomhairle may also provide grant-aid towards projects identified by the local authorities as worthy of support.
An Chomhairle also supports a range of interventions at local level in the form of touring events relating to music, visual arts and drama. Such events are directed towards arts centres which have been established jointly with local authorities. There are currently 14 of these centres. An Chomhairle also provides grant-aid for the employment of artists in schools and communities and other residencies. These schemes I believe have been highly successful. Such artists work closely with their host organisations or communities, to encourage active participation in art expression and creativity.
The Deputy will be aware that in reply to a parliamentary question on 4 November 1993, I indicated that I support the policies of An Chomhairle Ealaíon in relation to youth arts and arts in the community. I particularly welcomed the joint report of An Chomhairle and the National Youth Council entitled "Making Youth Arts Work" and also the earlier ACE report "Art and the Ordinary". The positive and generous principles and sentiments contained in reports such as these will inform my thinking and prompt my initiatives over the coming months and years.
The Deputy will also be aware that in a reply to a parliamentary question on 23 February 1994, I indicated that the Structural Funds at my disposal under the National Development Plan 1994-99 will enable me to undertake a major investment in the national cultural institutions and to support new arts and cultural infrastructure activities. I am already on record as saying that I intend to ensure a balance of investment between the capital city and the regions. However, until discussions with the European Commission on the National Development Plan have been completed. I am not in a position to say to what extent such initiatives can be funded from Structural Funds.
While the thrust of my question is about participation in and access to the arts in the regions, I accept that it is somewhat broader than that. Would the Minister comment specifically on the disbursement of funding by the Arts Council which at present allocates approximately 70 per cent of its budget to the Dublin region, particularly since the Programme for Government enunciated an aspiration that each local authority appoint an arts officer? The Minister has indicated that to date only 19 local authorities have embarked on that course of action. Would he accept that the imbalance of Arts Council funding along with local authorities' reluctance to appoint arts officers — because of the failure of the Minister's Department or that of the Department of the Environment to make specific additional funds available for that purpose — means that these factors cumulatively conspire to deny access to the arts to a large section of the population, particularly in the regions? Can the Minister comment on the fact that the Green Paper on Education made absolutely no reference to the role of the arts in the education system? Does he not agree that the education system offers an essential avenue that has to be exploited if we are to have increased participation and access to the arts?
I would like to take the serious questions the Deputy has put by way of supplementaries and I will be as brief as I can. In relation to provision for the arts there can be no doubt by any fair minded person that provision has been significantly increased in the current year. When I became Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, An Chomhairle Ealaíon — the Arts Council — was in receipt of £10 million. A few months later that figure was increased to £11.5 million. Before the end of that year it was increased to £12.25 million and in the budget an additional £1 million was provided for, bringing the total to £13.25 million. In that 16 month period then there was an increase in funding to the Arts Council of over 32 per cent. Many people will see that as a very significant increase.
The points raised by the Deputy are reasonable. I am sure he will agree that if I were to interfere in the Arts Council's decision making process I would be accused, and correctly so, of breaking the necessary distance between the Minister and the statutory bodies for which he has responsibility. The Arts Council, like RTE, operates at a statutory distance from me.
That is the way the Minister will keep it.
I welcome the fact that the Arts Council take decisions for themselves. That is a principle which I have called — when I have had an opportunity to do so — autonomy with responsibility. We should use the additional Structural Funding that will be available to us to redress a number of areas such as where there is little arts activity and in which there is a disproportionate expenditure on infrastructure. I have assured the Deputy that in addressing the issue of expenditure of Structural Funds, I will have regard to the matter of regional balance. I want to assure him, too, that in the movement from a Green Paper on Education to a White Paper on Education I have taken the opportunity to communicate my ideas to my colleague, the Minister for Education and to emphasise the importance of creativity in the arts. Nineteen arts officers have been appointed by local authorities and co-funded by the Arts Council. It is in the interest of local authorities who are serious about filling the gaps in the area of the arts to proceed with the appointment of arts officers. Surely if an arts officer is appointed — and the Government has suggested this — and if an arts development plan is in place one is in the best possible position to take advantage of any additional funding that may be made available and to use it for the benefit of the entire community.
On the question of the appointment of arts officers and the co-funding available from the Arts Council is it the Minister's intention or the intention of his Cabinet colleague, the Minister for the Environment, to make specific allocations available to local authorities? An unfortunate hallmark of Governments is that they tend to impose additional duties on local authorities without providing any additional finance. To labour the budget of the Arts Council with the cost of providing an arts officer would, in many respects, be unfair to them. Because this is a specific Government initiative as outlined in the Programme for Government finance should be specifically provided for such personnel. I am sure the Government and the Minister recognise that since money invested in the arts gives a handsome return this would be money well spent. Will the Minister request his Cabinet colleague, the Minister for the Environment, to make those funds available to local authorities where there is a dearth of artistic activity on access to the arts?
I envisage that there will be areas of worthwhile co-operation between my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, and myself in relation to making provision for the arts in different local authority areas. The experience of local authorities differs widely since it became possible for them in the first half of the seventies, about 1974, to make provision for the arts. Local authorities vary widely in the way they use their own capacity to fund the arts. Many have been forward looking and have taken initiatives which in turn have been matched with finance from the Arts Council. The demand from the public for cultural activity and for participation in the arts has often outstripped that of many local authorities, some of which do not include, as normal and central provision for cultural activities and the arts. The best preparations for the spending of Structural Fund moneys are those made at home. This is an opportunity for local authorities to be well prepared to take advantage of additional funding.
And follow the lead given by Cork city.