While the core funding of local authorities is a matter for my Cabinet colleague the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the principal mechanism through which my Department directly supports arts and culture at local authority level is the Creative Ireland Programme. Creative Ireland is a culture-based programme led by my Department and 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 of the Programme – 'Enabling Creativity in Every Community ' – each local authority has published a 5-year Culture and Creativity Strategy, as well as establishing a Culture Team led by a Creative Ireland Coordinator to oversee its implementation. My Department, together with the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government have, over the course of 2018 and 2019, allocated total funding of €6.549 million to all 31 local authorities to enable them to implement their individual strategies through extensive programmes of activities, events and initiatives. The same level of core funding which was provided last year (€3 million) is also being made available to local authorities in 2020 to enable them to continue the implementation of their strategies.
Furthermore, since 2018 each local authority has also been provided with additional funding by my Department to support the delivery of Cruinniú na nÓg – the national day of free creative activities for children and young people under 18 years of age. The funding provided over the course of 2018 and 2019 to support Cruinniú na nÓg activities amounted to a total of €1.406 million, while for 2020, a sum of €15,000 has been allocated to each local authority with the four Dublin local authorities awarded €75,000 each. As the Deputy will be aware, in response to the public health restrictions in place, on June 13 last Cruinniú na nÓg 2020 was delivered online, and each local authority contributed to making it a huge success.
The matter of funding measures under the Creative Ireland Programme for 2021 and 2022 will be agreed in the context of Programme priorities for those years and, as the Deputy will appreciate, are subject to annual budgetary and estimates processes. However, in the recently agreed Programme for Government – Our Shared Future – the Government parties have committed to fostering further collaboration between local authorities and local arts organisations through the Creative Communities Pillar of the Creative Ireland Programme.
In recognition of their key role in supporting and funding the arts at local level, local authorities have long been key strategic partners of the Arts Council – evidenced by the publication of “A Framework for Collaboration”, a 10-year strategy between the Arts Council and the County and City Management Association (CCMA), which reflects on the value of the partnership to date and sets out a vision and broad goals to be progressed for the period 2016 to 2025. The Arts Council also provides funding to local authorities, supporting the programmes of Arts Offices in each local authority, as well funding a range of other initiatives, events and festivals which are carried out in partnership with local authorities and artists in every local authority area.
The question of funding provided by the Arts Council to support local authority arts programmes will be the subject of the annual budgetary process, as well as the Council’s own internal procedures for the allocation of its annual budget.
Finally, recent decades have seen the development of a nationwide infrastructure of arts centres, many of which were initiated and funded by local authorities and supported through capital schemes largely operated by my Department. Support provided to these arts centres by local authorities is critical to ensuring that a stable and vibrant network can be maintained. Capital funding schemes operated by my Department continue to be focused on enhancing this existing stock of arts and culture centres throughout the country. Recent capital schemes are being informed by the strategic Review of Arts Centres and Venues commissioned by the Arts Council and CCMA, as well as the Arts Council's published Arts Centre Policy and Strategy 2019 which sets out its funding criteria for arts centres from 2020 onwards.
