Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 12 December 2019
387. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the extent of the philanthropic support received by the arts in the past 12 months to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52458/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraPrivate support for the arts is an important funding source and the Government continues to support this through tax incentives and other initiatives. The Programme for a Partnership Government contains a commitment to encourage strong, mutually beneficial links between the business community and the arts community to assist arts organisations to capitalise on sponsorship opportunities and to develop business partnerships and fundraising skills.
The Arts Council, which is funded by my Department, operates a programme, which seeks to enhance fund-raising skills in arts organisations with a view to diversifying the sector's sources of funding. The programme is called RAISE and is designed to assist the sector in securing philanthropic contributions to the arts in Ireland.
In terms of other capital investment, I recently announced a new €4.7m Capital investment scheme for arts and culture centres. This new scheme will run from 2019-2022. Its objective is to enhance the existing stock of arts and culture centres throughout the country with a clearly defined arts and culture focus such as theatre spaces. The funding, which is being made available as part of the Capital Investment Framework 2016-2021, is dependent on matching funding being secured by project promoters and therefore provides an opportunity for philanthropic support.
In addition, Project Ireland 2040 provides for investment of €460m in a significant number of capital projects in our National Cultural Institutions over the next 10 years and states that individual cultural institutions will be raising their own contributions (typically around 10%-15% of project costs) through philanthropic effort.
My Department does not have a breakdown of the total flows of philanthropic funding to the sector.
