Down Community Arts Survey: 'a vital resource'

The Arts Council has described an innovative audit of community arts practice in Down District as 'a vital resource for the arts in the District and a model of progressive planning in a growing local creative environment'.

Roisín McDonough, Chief Executive of the Council, was speaking at the Annual General Meeting of Down Community Arts, held on Tuesday 23 September at the Market House in Ballynahinch.

Ms McDonough said: "Arts practice itself is rarely now regarded as the preserve of a privileged few. While it is true that that there are still barriers to attending arts events, obstacles to participating as an audience at what we might call 'conventional' arts events - some of them economic, some social, some to do with perceptions - it is equally true that personal engagement with creativity itself is now more widespread than ever."

"Professional artists have increasingly found their audience and even their medium among and within communities. The arts so-called 'ordinary' people make have come to be recognized and valued as never before, as real art, as significant and expressive and articulate. They have, to paraphrase Wordsworth, created the taste by which they are enjoyed."

Outlining the Council's commitment to community arts in the area, Ms McDonough spoke of how £35,000 from Lottery funds, awarded to Down Community Arts in September 2002, had helped implement no fewer than 21 art projects throughout Down District and had funded a full-time member of staff.

She added: "I would like to congratulate everyone connected with the Audit. The Arts Council looks forward to a continued relationship with Down Community Arts as the benefits of the findings make themselves felt throughout the District."

Roisín McDonough was welcomed to the Market House by Spencer Cusack, Chair of Down Community Arts, and Isabel Kelly, Project Co-ordinator.