David Maybury | Blog

This week saw the Arts Council of Ireland post their budget decisions for 2010. It was the week that organisations, artists, actors, musicians, writers, theatres, performance groups, workshops, festivals, administrators – and everyone employed in Irish arts held their breath.

It was no secret that the budget was €9 million less than 2009. (The Irish Times told us so last Saturday) But since then – there has been very little said. No specifics have been made public – outside of the council’s overall breakdown:

In its overall approach, the Council sought to ensure that organisations can continue to bring the best of the arts to audiences across Ireland. Emphasis was given to achieving a regional balance, on enabling the arts to reach more people, and on supporting artists to make work. – Arts Council of Ireland

Of what has been made known: Theatre was hit hard – eleven companies were given no funding – while some established organisations/festivals have been cut from 10% to nearly 50%.

The Abbey saw a drop of more than €1m and the Project Theatre were dealt a 16% reduction. (Irish Theatre Magazine has more)

The literature response has been quiet. Publishers and organisations have managed to come out relatively well (could explain the low-key response) – cuts for literature organisations and publishers range from no cut to 15%.

Though some cases have been larger – including a drop of 24% for Irish Literature Exchange and others – the overall reduction in literature funding seems to average below 12%.

The lower-than-expected cut to the Arts Council budget can be accredited, in part, to National Campaign for the Arts – as well as presentations to the Joint Committee on Arts, Sport, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs.

Literature featured prominently in all of the lobbying – Colum McCann and Sebastian Barry included – and the importance of funding for authors, writing, publishing and books was heavily stressed.

2010 was always going to be a year of difficult news and hard budgets. Now is the time for exploring options, markets and methods with more energy – to make the most of what is available and create.

We need a change to the way the Arts Council does its business. It needs to be light, transparent, open, prompt and it needs to do as well as say. This has to have been for something. There has to be a reason. There’s joint culpability for both the recipients of the money and the people who have structured it. You have to honour the pain you’ve caused people by actually delivering something that is different and useful. – Willie White

Update:

Full list of Arts Council of Ireland funding decisions – PDF Link

The Irish Writers’ Centre has and the board of IWC have released a statement on receiving no grant from the Arts Council.

The Irish Writers’ Centre is extremely disappointed that the Arts Council has rejected its application for a grant for 2010.

Irish Times coverage of the response from arts organisations, groups and others. (Theatre Forum meeting on Wednesday 10 February). Deirdre Falvey’s Artscape column examining the artists tax exemption approval process.

Irish Publishing News has a complete list of awards for literature sector – including amounts lost/gained and percentage change on 2009.

Arts and literature in Ireland has had a fraught year – with the looming budget darkening the skies since the advent of the McCarthy report in July. Rumours have spread of 50% cuts to arts funding and furrowed brows have darkened corridors; considering plans to dig nuclear trenches for the cold winters ahead.

The creation of the National Campaign for the Arts and the considered cases put forward by Colum McCann, Sebastian Barry, Brendan Gleeson and others to the Oireachtas Joint Committee in October seem to have made some difference.

From the office of Arts, Sports and Tourism:

Funding to the Arts Council, the state agency for the arts is €69.15m, a 6% reduction on the 2009 figure of €73.35m. Arts Council current funding is between 2006 and 2007 levels.

The Irish Film Board and Culture Ireland will continue to develop and support their sectors. Their budgets have been maintained at 2007 levels with the Irish Film Board allocated €19.31m and Culture Ireland, €4.083m. The important tax relief scheme, Section 481, for investment in film and TV production is maintained until at least 2012, underpinning the Government’s commitment to the importance of our indigenous Irish film and audiovisual sector.

The artist tax exemption has been maintained with some adjustment only in respect of very high earners to reflect a more equitable apportionment of the tax burden.

- Full statement from the Department of Art, Sports and Tourism is available here.

Overall (taking into consideration the Arts Council’s cut in the supplementary budget in March and other spending this year) the funding cut for 2010 equates to above 10%.

While some of the other budget figures are incogitable – I am drawing a sigh of relief that arts funding in Ireland has survived better than expected!

The budget cuts announced yesterday make for interesting times in nearly every sector – including the arts, which is heavily subsidised by the state. Deirdre Falvey breaks down the changes in today’s Irish Times – effectively it is a 10% cut for the Arts Council (Down from €85m to €76m). Culture Ireland, the organisation in place to support and promote Irish Arts abroad, will maintain its funding of €4.7m.

The National Library of Ireland, the National Archives and the Manuscripts Commission will become one organisation; as will the National Gallery of Ireland, the Irish Museum of Modern Art and the Crawford Gallery. All of the organisations will keep their own identities but the management, HR, board and other aspects will all be amalgamated.

What is most interesting was the quote from Maurice Foley, deputy chairman of the Arts Council

Significant grant cuts are unavoidable, conditional commitments will have to be reviewed and some organisations will need funds from other sources if they are to survive.

Foley’s comment resonates with my own beliefs about arts funding and it will be interesting to see how different organisations/performance groups/festivals and individual artists innovate and use their work to create new opportunities to support themselves. The Arts Council funding announcements in November and December might the beginning of new ideas and discussions. The Arts Management blog has even more on what is to come.

In non-arts related topics – what is the story with taking away medical cards for people over 70? Sigh.