Vision of the Arts Council The Arts Council of Northern Ireland believes that the arts lie at the heart of endeavours to construct a new Northern Ireland, the central elements of which are:
In addressing the issues of public benefit we expect all applicants to abide by the principles and legislation of equality of opportunity for all sections of the community as expressed through legislation on Fair Employment, Equal Opportunities, Racial Equality, Disability Discrimination, Child Protection and other codes of practice. This report is available upon request in Irish, Ulster-Scots, Braille, Large Print, Computer Disk and Audio Tape. The Executive Summary is available upon request in Cantonese. The closing date for your response is 30th September 2003 An Impact Assessment on Equality of Opportunity On the Capital Programmes – Equipment Policy Executive Summary In the Arts Council Equality Scheme, approved by the Equality Commission in June 2001, a commitment was given to conduct an impact assessment on the Capital Programmes – Equipment Policy. This Equality Impact Assessment is evidence of the Arts Council’s undertaking to fully comply with its equality duties under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act, 1998.
Equipment and Musical Instruments (Non-Bands) & Musical Instruments for Bands Religious Status Some religious organisations object to National Lottery funding on religious and or moral grounds, therefore these organisations will not apply for funding. Mitigation The Arts Council would advise that organisations that have for example, moral or religious objections can apply through existing non-lottery mainstream programmes for funding. Racial Status Black and Ethnic Minority groups particularly (although some other Section 75 Groups could experience the same issue) may experience some difficulty in accessing the scheme due to language difficulties. Mitigation Under the recent internal re-organisation of the Arts Council new positions have been created to enhance the support given to all organisations. The new position of Business Support Officer, based in the Strategic Development Department, will provide advice on a comprehensive range of services as well as strengthening the capacity of the sector by providing technical assistance to clients on business related functions. Under the recent internal re-organisation the new Arts Development Department has a dedicated officer to deal with Disability and Health issues in the Arts. More recently the Arts Council has jointly funded an external consultant (Mr Joe Blake) to develop a strategy on Cultural Diversity and this will take account of Black and Ethnic Minorities throughout Northern Ireland. In addition in the Arts Development Department two Officers deal with the development of community arts. One of these positions has been newly created and has an emphasis on promoting the social inclusion of disadvantaged groups with an emphasis on rural communities. The Arts Council believes that no adverse impact exists under Political Opinion, Age, Marital Status, Sexual Orientation, Gender or Dependants Status grounds. In relation to Disability Status, the Arts Council has not found any adverse impact under this policy. Whilst this is the case the Arts Council would welcome the views of people with disabilities as to any potential impact they believe may exist. There is no financial restriction on funding specialist equipment for people with disabilities. In relation to having "regard to the desirability of promoting good relations between persons of different religious belief, political opinion or racial group" the Arts Council has introduced the following mitigation. Mitigation With immediate effect all organisations applying for funding will be required to complete an ‘Equality of Opportunity Commitment’ undertaking. The Arts Council welcomes opinions from all sections of Northern Ireland society on how the Council might effectively promote ‘good relations’ by way of this funding programme.
The Arts Council will also meet with the Citizen’s Forum on the Arts and meet with any organisation or individual that wishes to express their view on this assessment. All consultees mentioned in the Arts Council’s Equality Scheme will receive a copy of this document. All funded band organisations, since the re-introduction of this programme will receive a copy of the Executive Summary of this document.
Mr Dominic McCanny Telephone 028 9038 5200 E-mail d.mccanny@artscouncil-ni.org |
