Arts Council Statement regarding Anna Lo’s motion for the arts

5/10/2007

The Arts Council of Northern Ireland welcomes the announcement that South Belfast Alliance MLA Anna Lo is proposing a motion in the Assembly on Tuesday 9th October calling for more funding for the arts.

Roisín McDonough, Chief Executive at the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, said, “This is make or break time for many of our artists and arts organizations. A relatively modest slice of the overall public funding cake will make a dramatic difference to the arts. I welcome Anna Lo’s motion and believe that it is time that art is placed at the heart of our social, economic and creative lives.”

Anna Lo said that the Assembly should take this opportunity to send out a clear signal that funding must improve, “The Arts sector is extremely important for local tourism and for the economy.

“The very least that the arts in Northern Ireland deserve is to be funded to the same level as this sector gets is in other parts of the UK. I hope that the debate on Tuesday will put enough pressure on the Minister to secure a commitment extra funding.”

The arts funding motion to be debated in the Assembly on Tuesday 9 October at 11.30am is:

That this Assembly recognises the critical role that the arts can play in promoting a positive international image of Northern Ireland, attracting visitors, and growing the local economy, and the contribution that community arts make to social cohesion; expresses its alarm that the arts are relatively underfunded per capita in Northern Ireland, compared to all other regions in the United Kingdom; and calls upon the Executive to raise the level of arts funding to at least the United Kingdom average within the forthcoming Comprehensive Spending Review.