Money For God’s Sake

at

This afternoon.

Further to Budget 2020.

The Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht allocated ‘an additional €5 million’ (from €75m to €80m) to the Arts Council, who administer direct funding to Artists and Arts organisations…

 

“Given the very difficult budgetary environment in the context of Brexit, the Arts Council is pleased with the announcement of €80m in funding for 2020.

This investment will allow the Arts Council to continue its work in supporting artists to develop their practice, enabling organisations to create work of excellence and allowing people across the country have access to high quality arts experiences.

We look forward, once the Brexit uncertainty has been resolved, to continuing discussions with Minister Madigan on increased funding for the arts”.

Chair of the Arts Council, Prof Kevin Rafter (above)

However…

“A €5 million increase to the Arts Council is a diversion – €3.75 million of that is a reallocation of funding already accounted for, the real additional funding figure is €1.25 million.

How much of that is likely to make its way directly to Artists, Musicians, Writers, Dancers, Poets, Theatre Makers, Arts Workers and the Arts community in general?

They create employment, they contribute to our society, they pay their taxes. Many are working two, three part time jobs just to try and keep their heads above water.

All to make Art for our fellow citizens to enjoy, for our Government to amplify what a great place Ireland is to invest in and visit. And this paltry increase is how we recognise their value? It’s a slap in the face.”

Chair of the National Council For The Arts (NCFA) Angela Dorgan (above)

Mixed reaction to Budget 2020 from the arts sector (Irish Times)

Thanks Aillen Galvin

Sponsored Link

12 thoughts on “Money For God’s Sake

  1. eoin

    The Abbey Theatre alone got €6.7m from the Arts Council in 2017. Stop that dead and let them away with their property development notions and you’ll have the guts of €7m to give to more deserving stuff.

    Also, the fuppin sense of entitlement. Bottom line, Arts Council funding has increased by 7% in 2020 to €80m. It’s never enough and if it was €1bn, they’d still be pleading poverty.

  2. Dr.Fart

    as we know by now, any organisation in ireland is rife with corruption and I doubt the arts council is any different.

  3. Gabby

    In the Arts sectors there are chiefs and there are warriors. The warriors are for the most part struggling artists, performers and literary folk who toil away in lonely ateliers and rented homes and produce works of art. Some of these, a minority of lucky ones, hit the big time and are ‘acclaimed’. Many others eke out a precarious existence, financing themselves from day jobs or from the assured earnings of loyal partners, and they don’t end up being acclaimed, just occasionally noted perfunctorily. The chiefs are the administrators of grants on guaranteed incomes.

    1. Gabby

      @Harmony. You express impressions that some members of the wider public have had, but some interesting site specific public sculptures have been placed, often with funds from local authorities, in strategic places beside roads around the country. Some public monuments have not made the grade and Dubliners love giving rhyming nicknames to The Tart with the Cart (Molly Malone) and the late unlamented Floozey in the Jacuzzi that used to gather unsolicited detritus in O’Connell Street. The Arts can enhance society and sometimes inspire. They can sometimes turn a lot of people off. Arts providers can continually try to engage with a wider public not connected with ‘the trade’.

  4. Ian-O

    I support the arts. Just not in Ireland.

    Some people even think the hobbit in the park is some sort of poet….

  5. Shane Duffy

    In theatre the first to get paid will be the admins; the people who run the DTF, The Ark, Fringe Festival, Project, the latter two survive by having artists work for free, particularly the Fringe Festival.

Comments are closed.

Sponsored Link
Broadsheet.ie