Letter to Ian Pearson MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office and Minister responsible for the Department of Finance and Personnel for Northern Ireland.
It is with grave concern for the future of the arts in Northern Ireland that I write to request that you fully consider the wider impact of the budgetary cuts to the sector proposed in the Draft Priorities and Budget 2005-08. The arts are one of the principal areas that can and do promote the health, wealth, and education of the region, and which make a real and lasting difference to the peace and reconciliation process. The arts sustain community morale and increase cross-community participation, through the development of diverse initiatives designed to target social need and address, for example, the needs of young people and minority groups. Research shows that culturally-led regeneration results in such benefits as enhanced social cohesion, developing self-confidence, improvement of local image and a reduction in offending behaviour. This is a society in transition; which desperately needs all those elements. I’d like you to come with me to see work in arts and culture going on in Northern Ireland on a daily basis, which supports and encourages communities to make changes in their own environment and life style for themselves. There are artists working in residencies to encourage the participation of school children and young people, local arts groups conducting invaluable work in interface areas to promote dialogue between our divided communities, and artworks in children’s hospitals. Parallel with community arts is the nurture of, and investment in, the popular theatre, in the fledgling film industry, in dance and in our rich orchestral life – the creative economy touches all aspects of our lives and has the potential to build and to sustain prosperity. These are not just assertions. They are supported by the fact that three quarters of the population of Northern Ireland has attended or participated in arts and cultural events within the last year and feel that the exposure has enriched the quality of their lives. Furthermore, they believe that the arts are open to everyone in Northern Ireland, regardless of religion, ethnic origin or social class (General Population Survey, 2004, conducted by the Central Survey Unit on behalf of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland). A recent study of the creative economy in Northern Ireland shows that the sector supports 29,000 jobs in Northern Ireland and contributes an annual turnover of £900 million to the economy. Furthermore, public spending on the arts achieves high leverage value. Research produced by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland demonstrates that every £1 of Arts Council subsidy for the Ulster Orchestra generates a direct and indirect spend of £2.41; and for the Grand Opera House £5.23. The arts continue to be under-funded in Northern Ireland when compared with other regions of the United Kingdom. Latest financial projections for 2005/6 demonstrate that central government support for the Arts Council of Northern Ireland lags far behind the other Home Nations. As a result of the proposals contained in the Draft Priorities and Budget 2005 - 2008, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland will receive £6.33 per capita which contrasts sharply with England (£8.28), Wales (£7.95) and Scotland (£7.95). These figures tell a bleak story and describe a level of historical neglect which is, frankly, disheartening. A ny reduction to our resources will profoundly impinge upon our ability to deliver an adequate level of support for our arts practitioners and organisations, even with efficiency savings absorbed at Council level. In both the short and the long term, even a moderate reduction of Treasury funds will affect front line services. It will threaten the survival of many small, yet significant, arts organisations that have been operating on tight margins. It will impact upon the quality and quantity of locally-produced writing, theatre, dance, music and visual arts production. It will cause job losses for those organisations already on the edge of survival. It will impede the development of under-resourced areas of the arts, such as dance. Without realistic support for the arts in Northern Ireland, it will be hard to sustain a climate that is conducive to the development of tourism and inward investment and which fosters the conditions of confidence needed for our artists to continue to live and work here. Governments across the world recognise that arts play an important role in the creation of a civilised society. A thriving arts sector here in Northern Ireland also demonstrates to the world that we are substantial contributors to creative and intellectual life nationally and internationally. The impact that the arts and artists from Northern Ireland have made on the world stage far exceeds what might be expected from a small region. In the past, Northern Ireland has been a cradle of creativity, boasting some of the finest writers, actors, artists and musicians in the world – Seamus Heaney, Frank McGuinness, Marie Jones, Robert McLiam Wilson, Liam Neeson, Kenneth Branagh, Basil Blackshaw, Willie Doherty, Barry Douglas and James Galway, to name a few – and our home grown theatre companies and orchestra have achieved international success, helping to draw the attention of the world to the creative resources of Northern Ireland and our unique sense of culture and identity. It is imperative that we continue to nurture such talent and opportunities. Sustaining a climate of optimism is crucial, particularly as Northern Ireland has the youngest population in the UK. There has never been a more exciting time to be young, innovative, energetic and creative and it is heartening to note that with a long history of conflict now behind us, the young people of Northern Ireland have been turning to the arts in greater numbers than ever. According to a research report in 2003, ‘Bare Necessities – Poverty and Social Exclusion in Northern Ireland’ produced by P Hillyard et al, poverty rates in Northern Ireland remain higher now than they were in Great Britain in 1999. More than one third of children are being brought up in poverty, and considerable sections of the population have been excluded from participation in what could be considered a normal life during the past 30 years of ‘The Troubles’. The arts provide a unique opportunity to tackle these embedded problems in innovative and targeted ways. Substantial evidence drawn from throughout the United Kingdom demonstrates that participation in arts and cultural activities can enhance quality of life, promote social cohesion and improve personal and local image. With specific reference to tackling child poverty and anti-social behaviour, the participation of young people within arts activity has been proven to reduce truancy at school, reduce the propensity to offend and lead to better educational and employment prospects. Sufficient levels of funding are required to allow community and voluntary arts organisations to continue their invaluable work with deprived communities in both urban and rural contexts. Northern Ireland ’s hard-pressed artists and companies are particularly dependent on Treasury funds allocated through the Arts Council. They try to supplement their incomes through other sources such as box office, but a less well-off population and the scarcity of major corporate headquarters from which large commercial sponsorship comes, militate against the interests of the arts. Nor do our artists benefit from tax exemptions of the type which has successfully attracted creative artists to the Republic of Ireland and created for it an international reputation as a prosperous society which places a high premium on the value of the arts not only in their own right but also as an economic generator, as witnessed, for example, by the phenomenal success of the Irish film industry; or from the level of prestige awarded artists through Aosdána, the affiliation of creative artists in Ireland which honours those artists whose work has made an outstanding contribution to the arts in Ireland and which offers financial encouragement to assist them in devoting their energies fully to their art. The extraordinary commitment demonstrated by the arts community to maintaining the cultural, social and economic well-being of the region during the past thirty years is inestimable; now, as Northern Ireland emerges from this difficult era, the contribution of the arts to the development of the region’s prosperity is essential. Yet the proposed cuts will have a devastating effect upon an already fragile arts infrastructure (a key factor in the failed bid to make Belfast the City of Culture 2008), at a time when the arts communities right across Northern Ireland are facing persistent hardship and the legacy of chronic long-term under-funding. We face the incoming year’s predictions with serious apprehension and urge you to reconsider the reduction in grant allocation to the arts in Northern Ireland, and to restore funding in line with the rest of the United Kingdom. Moreover, I would invite you to take up my invitation to look more closely at this sector and what it delivers to Northern Ireland and more importantly to discuss its potential. With kind regards Yours sincerely Rosemary Kelly |
