Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 November 2019
237. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the degree to which she continues to support the arts through musical or dramatic societies nationally in 2019 with specific reference to County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45790/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraSupport for the arts is a key focus of the supports provided by my Department and its agencies. I will outline some key initiatives of relevance to 2019 in this reply.
The Creative Ireland Programme is a culture-based programme led by my Department designed to promote individual, community and national wellbeing. Its core proposition is that participation in cultural activity drives personal and collective creativity, with significant implications for individual and societal wellbeing and achievement.
Under Pillar 2 - 'Enabling Creativity in Every Community' of the Programme, in 2019, my Department allocated a sum of €2m and the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government allocated a sum of €1m to all 31 local authorities including Kildare County Council (€96,000 each approximately) to enable them support an extensive programme of activities, events and initiatives in each county.
The types of projects advanced by individual Local Authority Culture and Creativity Teams and supported by the Programme include arts projects, grant schemes, concerts, conferences, exhibitions, festivals, outreach projects, publications, research programmes, and workshops among other activities. They cover topics such as dance, film, music, poetry, storytelling, theatre and the visual arts. Further information is available on https://www.creativeireland.gov.ie/en/creative-communities.
As well as this core support for local Creative Ireland programmes, each local authority is also provided with additional funding to support activities on Cruinniú na nÓg – the national day of creativity for children and young people which takes place in June. This year each local authority including Kildare County Council was provided with €15,000 (and in the case of each of the four Dublin local authorities, a sum of €75,000 reflecting their larger populations) to activate Cruinniú na nÓg in their respective administrative areas.
Cumulatively, the above funding streams supported over 1,200 projects nationally in 2018 and it is expected they will fund a similar amount of projects in 2019. However since processing of 2019 events is ongoing, such information will not be fully available to my Department until the end of 2019 whereupon it will be made publicly available on https://www.creativeireland.gov.ie/en/creative-communities.
Also under the Creative Ireland Programme, the 2017 Creative Youth Plan commits to specific actions to increase and enhance access to a range of creative and cultural activities and practices for young people, including drama and music. As part of this commitment, my colleague the Minister for Education and Skills has in 2019 increased funding to Music Generation aimed at a national roll-out of the programme. Earlier this year, Kerry, Tipperary, Kildare, Meath and Longford were announced as the next five counties to join the Music Generation programme. Each of these counties will receive funding to create access to affordable performance music education for children and young people in their communities.
In addition, Action 8 of the Creative Youth Plan commits to “measures will be developed to expand participation in drama/theatre outside of school, primarily by expansion of youth theatre”, and recognises the importance of youth theatre in supporting and developing young people’s mental wellbeing, critical and active citizenship, imaginations, and creative thinking. Youth Theatre Ireland (YTI) is the national development organisation for youth theatre, supporting a network of youth theatres who deliver year-round programmes of drama workshops and performance opportunities to young people aged 12-21. Indeed, I note that YTI currently list five such theatres in County Kildare.
The YTI project, supported by the Creative Ireland Programme, seeks to achieve the following:
- Establish a range of new local partnerships and build key relationships to expand YTI in new areas. The YTI Development Officer will identify potential leaders and participants.
- Provide a structured training programme (including accredited training in youth drama facilitation practice) to support the development of quality youth theatre practice.
- Provide seed-funding to new youth theatre groups as well as ‘taster’ workshops for young people in local youth service and other appropriate settings.
- The pilot project seeks to support the establishment of 3 new youth theatre groups (in target counties where no YTI-affiliated group currently exists).
Also under Action 9 of the 2017 Creative Youth Plan there is a commitment to “a strategy to develop and extend choral singing will be developed. The Creative Ireland Programme will work with key partners to develop a programme aimed at encouraging creative and sustainable engagement with singing and choral music for young people”. The Creative Ireland Programme has partnered with Sing Ireland whose mission is to develop and support all forms of group singing in Ireland, by providing quality experiences through activities and by supporting the work of their members and the wider choral sector to progress this action. I note that Sign Ireland has ten membership organisations listed within County Kildare.
Phase 1 of the project was undertaken in 2018, which sought to consult and build the case for YouthSing Ireland – this included commissioning of a piece of research now available in the library section of www.creativeireland.gov.ie. YouthSing Ireland, supported by the Creative Ireland Programme, seeks to achieve the following:
- Deliver enhanced Continuous Professional Development (CPD) offering to Primary and early secondary school education;
- The development of new resource material in Irish or of traditional Irish origin and an on-line resource for teachers (this element will be progressed in tandem with the Gaeltacht division of the Department of Culture, Heritage & Gaeltacht); and
- Develop a Sing Space which will bring young people and children, teachers and musicians together from the formal and non-formal settings to work collaboratively in a creative space locally.
The Arts Council which is funded by my Department also has a number of schemes and initiatives around the support of music and drama. Details of these can be accessed on its website at the following link: www.artscouncil.ie. Funding for the Arts Council has increased in recent years and now stands at €75 million in 2019, an increase of €6.8m or 10% over 2018. Much of this is invested by the Council through its Strategic Funding programme which includes grants to key arts organisations across the country. Additional funding is invested in projects and programmes, including Arts Grant Funding, Project Awards, Open Call, and grants for hundreds of productions, touring and festivals nationwide and details can be viewed on the Arts Council's website on its funding webpages.
I also announced in the context of Budget 2020 that funding of €250,000 for the amateur theatre sector across Ireland will be made available next year. Details of this funding arrangement will be announced shortly.
