Enhancing the status of artists

£488,000 invested directly in our artists & their careers

up by £300,000 on last year

The Arts Council today released details of radical new funding schemes to channel more support directly to individual artists. Announcing funding aimed at boosting the status of the artist, ROISÍN McDONOUGH, Chief Executive, described the schemes as "restoring the practising artist to the centre of public funding policy".

supporting the individual artist in northern ireland

MICHAEL McGIMPSEY MLA, Minister for Culture, Arts & Leisure, speaking at the launch, reinforced the Executive’s commitment to developing the potential of individual artists. The announcement took place at the Belfast Community Circus School in Belfast, where the Minister and Ms McDonough were joined by artists from Northern Ireland who have achieved international renown in various fields of artistic practice: playwright MARIE JONES, musician BARRY DOUGLAS and actor/director IAN McELHINNEY.

"This is a recognition by the Arts Council that without the artist there are no arts", said Barry Douglas. "I am pleased to be able this morning to lend my backing to the cocktail of award schemes which we are all here to launch."

Marie Jones and Ian McElhinney, fresh from their triumphant opening of Stones In His Pockets at the Golden Theater on Broadway, lent their support to the initiatives. "A major award of £10,000 allows an artist to make that final leap forward, to experiment," said Marie. "An artist needs the resources to have a go at making the work that will be the bridge between what they have to do to live in the world of the arts and what they want to do personally as an artist."

Ian McElhinney singled out the opportunities for international experience in the new Travel and International Awards. "Experiencing other cultures, other artistic practice, other languages, other environments, other people who are also engaged in creative expression and interpretation, is a huge opportunity for development of an artist’s vision."

"We want next year to return to these initiatives with still more financial support," Ms McDonough continued. "We will be making a serious case to Government that expressive and interpretative artists, like Marie, Barry and Ian, need to be at the absolute centre of the remaking of Northern Ireland for they are both the international face and the creative heart of our people."