The departure of Eugene Downes as CEO of Culture Ireland coincides with the critical review by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on the future structure and independence of Culture Ireland, as well as imminent decisions on the proposed amalgamation of IMMA, The National Gallery of Ireland and Crawford Gallery.  NCFA is extremely concerned that the national cultural infrastructure is being undermined and weakened. We call on the Minister to introduce a public consultation procedure so that the public and the arts sector can openly discuss the best way to manage our unique cultural resources. The arts are central to our lives, and have an important part to play in the future wellbeing of our society. Our institutions will be vital to that, and we'll pay a high price later if we undermine them now. 

NCFA applauds the signal achievements of Eugene Downes in advancing Ireland's cultural reputation in the international arena. During his five-year tenure as CEO of Culture Ireland, he has transformed the mechanisms through which art from Ireland projects itself internationally, and carved out an enhanced Irish presence in the dynamic, competitive arena of cultural export. 

There was some confusion over the level of cut to the Arts Council as Minister Deenihan mentioned a cut of 2% rather than 3% in his speech in the Dail. The 2% cut refers to the Arts Council current budget only which is going from €64,317,000 in 2011 to €63,100,000 in 2012. The Arts Council's capital budget on the other hand  is dropping by 83% from €850,000 in 2011 to €141,000 in 2012. The above table shows current and capital combined and the result is that the overall cut to the Arts Council is 3%. The Arts Council reaction is here.

Similarly, he spoke of a 4% increase for the Irish Film Board. This increase refers to the Film Board's current budget which is going from €2,431,000 in 2011 to €2,540,000 in 2012. Crucially, though the Film Board's capital budget is decreasing by 18% going from €16,000,000 in 2011 to €13,150,000 in 2012. The above table shows current and capital combined and the result is that the overall cut to the Film Board is 15%. You can read their reaction here. 

You can have a look at full figures on the Department site. 

Finally thank you so much to all of you who have written to us since Wednesday evening. We are always happy to hear from you all and it's only through working together that we can continue to make a coherent case for the Arts. We will be back in touch in January with news on our plans and strategy for 2012. In the meantime, hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and new year and thanks again for all the support in 2011 - it means a lot. 

Best wishes,
NCFA team 

On Tuesday 29 November we held two meetings in the National Concert Hall. The first was for all the national umbrella and recourse organisations for the different arts forms (music, visual arts, theatre, dance, literature, film etc) and the National Cultural Institutions. Here 's a summary of the meeting.

We discussed how the new structure in 2012 will make the campaign more democratic and accountable. 

NCFA teamed up with Temple Bar Cultural Trust to hold Presidential hustings with four of the five declared candidates on Culture night, Friday September 23^rd.  Gay Mitchell, Mary Davis, Michael D Higgings and Sean Gallagher took part and the hustings were chaired by journalist Olivia O’Leary and took place in the IFI.  If you were not able to make it you can listen to it here…

NCFA Presidential hustings audio by NCFA

Graduates of Trinity College elect three candidates as do graduates of National University of Ireland*. If you already registered then a ballot paper is being posted to you. They must be returned by post by the 27 April.

The candidates in alphabetical order are

University of Dublin 
 

Ivana Bacik

Rosaleen McDonagh

Iggy McGovern

Fiona O’ Malley

*National University Of Ireland - including graduates of UCC, UCD, Galway, Maynooth etc

Donncha O’Connell

Peter Mooney

James Doorley

Anne Clarke of Landmark Productions is going to run the Women’s Mini Marathon (6 June) in aid of NCFA. 

We are looking for 19 people to join her and to pledge to raise €200 each - if you are interested leave a comment on our Facebook page or email us on info@ncfa.ie before Thursday (24 March) and we will contact you with the details.

Please share this message with all your friends.

(Image from film Run Lola Run) 

Click here to link to NCFA Flickr account and see pics of the various meetings.  A podcast of the Dublin meeting will be available shortly!
 

The Project Arts Centre, Dublin

Attendees:  

Mary Hanafin, (FF) 
Jimmy Deenihan, (FG)
Aengus O Snodaigh, (SF)
Sen. Alex White, (L)
Paul Gogarty, (GP)

200 Audience Members

Radisson Blu Hotel, Galway

Attendees:

Eamon O'Cuiv (FF)
Niall O Brolchain (GP)
Paul Connaughton (FG)
Catherine Connolly (Ind)
Derek Nolan (L)
Fidelma Healy Eames(FG)
Eamon Walsh(ind)
Colm Keavney (L)
Tom Welby(Ind)
Noel Grealish (Ind)

200 Audience Members

Crawford Art Gallery, Cork

Attendees:

Kathleen Lynch (L)
Deirdre Clune (FG)
Dan Boyle (GP)
Chris O'Leary (SF)
John Adams (Ind)
David McCarthy (Ind)
Ted Tynan (Workers)
Mick Barry (Socialist)
Fergus O'Rourke (Ind)
Diarmaid Ó Cadhla (Ind)
John Gilroy (L)

80 Audience Members

Belltable Arts Centre, Limerick

Attendees:

Peter Power (FF)
Jan O'Sullivan (L)
Kieran O'Donnell (FG)
Maurice Quinlivan (SF)
Cian Prendiville (Socialist)

70 Audience Members

• If you are 18 on or before February 15th you can vote in the upcoming General Election.
• You can check if you are registered on www.checktheregister.ie by keying in your name and address.
• If you are registered you can also see the location of your local polling station.
• All residents of the Republic of Ireland, regardless of nationality or citizenship who are aged 18 or will be 18 by February 15th can register to Vote
• Registration forms are available from your local post office, library, garda station and local county council offices.
• It is still possible to register on the Supplementary Register up to 15 working days before polling day.
• Supplementary Registration form (RFA2) (Green in Colour) is used. This needs to be witnessed by a Garda.
• The Closing Date for receipt of Applications for the Supplement to the Register of Electorsis 15 working days before the Election and is published in local and National Newspapers in the run up to any Election and/or Referendum.
• Supplementary Change of Address (RFA3) (Pink in Colour) is used – A person who is on the Live Register in one County but who is now resident in another County may apply to be entered in the new county.
• Also, a person who has moved within the County between Local Electoral Areas may apply to be entered in the Supplement to the Register of Electors for the Local Electoral Area in which they are now resident. This RFA 3 form also needs to be witnessed at Garda Station.
• The form can be posted free of charge to your local County Council Office, i.e. Dublin City Council in the case of Dublin South Central voters.

Thanks to Peter Daly for putting this note together. 

(We understand the Labour Party is finalising its new policy but it may not be adopted by the parliamentary party in time to be the official  party policy during the election campaign.
 

The FG document is here. 
 

Some of the commitments include:  

• The arts and cullture “will have a seat at the cabinet table” in any future FG government

• Commitment to a flagship Literature Centre in a landmark building in Dublin, given the UNESCO City of literature designation and possibly a new arts and film channel.

• A much greater commitment to the arts in the school curricula & the cultural rights of children as well as core funding for organisations providing arts programming for children 

• As part of 2016 commemoration, a range of new commissions beginning immediately 

• National Endowment Fund for the Arts to be set up  

• Arts Council vacancies in future will be advertised

All those registered on www.ncfa.ie were invited and 36 people attended. 
 

You can download minutes from the meeting here.
 

It was agreed that we needed a new set of objectives for 2011 which everyone in the NCFA could endorse. 

Willie White agreed to make a first draft of this and you can access this draft here.  

All comments are welcome but must be submitted by Wednesday 5th January to willie(at)projectartscentre.ie.
 

You can also download a copy of our most up-to-date Press Report here.  

An unprecedented effort was made to meet as many local and national politicians face to face to explain why the arts are vital and why public funding is needed. More than 85 TDs were met. Presentations were made to Oireachtas Committees, local councillors, as well as a variety of conferences, seminars and university groups. Members of the public and many of us who work in the arts sent nearly 12,000 emails to their TDs.

Thanks to those of you who helped make this happen. You have helped the arts in Ireland. 
Funding will be down in 2011. The impact on individual artists and organisations won't be known until next year. However we made the case. We were listened to. The cuts at national level are nothing like as bad as many had feared.  (We won't know how much local funding is cut by until later next year). 

Here's the initial news we have about the Budget and the arts:

• The Arts Council -5%
• Culture Ireland +71%
• Irish Film Board -4%
• IMMA, Chester Beatty Library, National Concert Hall, Crawford Gallery -8%
• National Gallery -3%
• National Library of Ireland -14%
• National Museum of Ireland -6%
• Cultural Projects
• (Dublin Contemporary, Hunt Museum, Foynes Flying Boat Museum, Science Gallery, James Joyce Centre, March’s Library) -3%
• Cultural Development
• (ACCESS Arts Capital funding & the Cultural Technology Grants) -50%
• National Archives -12%

The artists tax exemption has been retained but with an annual cap of €40,000. According to the Department, this will cover more than 80% of artists who avail of the scheme currently . (10 other tax reliefs have been completely abolished).

Cuts of the budget of the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sports

Savings of €76 million need to be made by 2014.

These are being frontloaded in 2011 with a cut of €26 million. Final figures will be announced on Budget Day.€50 million will be saved over the remaining 3 years.

Only €5 million of this €26 million will come from a reduction in allocations to cultural institutions and cultural projects. See below:

• Reduced allocations to cultural institutions and cultural projects €5 million 

• Reduced funding for sporting bodies and agencies including Irish Sports Council and National Sports Campus €3 million

• Reduction in tourism expenditure through operational efficiencies, prioritisation of activities and more focused tourism marketing investment €5 million 

We checked with the Department today and we understand that the €5 million cut to culture covers Budget Lines D1-D10 in the annual  budget . In other words €5 million has to be saved from across the following budget lines. How much eachwill be reduced by will be announced on Budget Day on Dec 7^th.

D1&2 National  Archives

D3 IMMA, the Chester Beatty Library, National Concert Hall and the Crawford Gallery

D4 Cultural projects

D5 Cultural Infrastructure

D6 Culture Ireland

D7 The Arts Council

D8 National Museum

D9 National Library

D10 The Irish Film Board (However, the bulk of the Film Board’s money comes from the capital budget. The Minister re-stated her support for the Film Boardin her statement today

The capital budget for the Department announced today remains healthy: €96 million in 2011 and €100 million in 2012. While this is spread between Tourism, Culture and Sport, the belief is, there is adequate funding for the Film Board in the capital budget.

Sport appears to have been cut less than the Culture and Tourism budgets.

Given that we were expecting worse, a €5 million cut is not as bad as expected. However it is worth noting that an additional €50 million in cuts, across the whole Department, over the following 3 years is needed. Worryingly, the Arts Council is specifically mentioned in terms of a reduction in allocation.

The cumulative impact of these cuts over 4 years is of course unknown.