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Ireland at bottom of EU class on arts spending, McManus tells Cork meeting

Issued : Friday 9 December, 2005

It is a great pleasure to be here today in “The People’s Republic of Cork”!
It’s certainly appropriate that we are in European’s City of Culture to discuss the Arts and in particular to discuss Labour’s Arts Policy document, “art4all”.

Cork’s successful cultural year has seen more than three quarters of a million people enjoy the summer events alone. The city has been host to world-class street theatre, exhibitions, fireworks, opera, theatre, architecture, music, sport, visual arts, film, dance and literature.

Last January, the celebrations began in impressive style when your local hurling hero Seán Óg Ó hAilpín struck a flaming sliotar into the Lee. It seems that this was only a sign of things to come. In September we witnessed similar strikes of the sliotar fired over the bar in Croke Park resulting in Cork winning the All-Ireland and the Liam McCarthy cup coming Leeside.

It’s been a good year for Cork. Some believe it’s a good year for funding of the arts in Cork also. Cork 2005 recently celebrated the contribution of over €7 million from the private sector to the city. Many believe, rightly, that there should have been greater public funding. Certainly we need to see a coordinated, long term strategy from government, as outlined in our art4all document.

As this cultural year ends we need to look to the future and the lasting impact that the arts should hold for our communities. Art is not simply about performances, it is fundamentally about the participation from people and their communities. The Labour Party wants to build on the successes of the past year, but to look towards the future to ensure that the arts become an integral part of the lives of all people- from the ground up. It is our belief that the cultural life of communities is key to its sustainability. It is our belief that the arts have the power to transform lives and communities.

Like art itself, we in Labour like to think of our arts policy document as a work in progress – and it is hoped that forums like these encourage and facilitate conversations between artists and people interested in the arts.

We hope that these conversations will lend insight into how life and art interrelate. We want to encourage all artists to come together from around the country to engage with each other to share experiences and ideas

The former Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, and Labour TD, Michael D. Higgins described the merit and value of the arts to all our lives when he said:

“The life of the imagination must be fostered and facilitated with the same emphasis and commitment as our physical needs are. It is important to promote the appreciation, participation and practice of the arts for their own inherent value”

The Labour Party believes in the intrinsic value of the cultural artistic life. We want to create a situation where our participation in the cultural life of our communities is second nature – a normal part of everyday life. We want our arts policy to be of relevance and value to everyone – not just those who already have an interest in the arts.

Creativity needs to be nurtured across society and to enable this, it requires education and it must be accessible. Up to the present time, responsibility for developing arts education and local facilities has been left almost exclusively to the Arts Council. Labour’s art4all policy represents a commitment that the next Labour government would ensure that the development of arts and culture nationally would also be cross-departmental. It would involve areas of responsibility under the Department of Education, the Department of Science and Environment and Local Government.

While there has been an increase in activity in the arts in recent years, this has not been matched by a proportionate increase in the number of people availing of arts and cultural services. Again, we don’t want to simply preach to the converted.

We need to challenge the image of the “typical” arts person (i.e. white, middle/upper class, over 35) and include more people – young people, our new and existing ethnic communities, and people from varied socio-economic backgrounds. We need to make arts relevant to those that say that the art is not for them. A key responsibility for the Department of Arts has to be encourage cultural participation across society.

Indeed, a recent Eurobarometer survey showed that 34.5% of Irish people did not participate in any form of artistic activity, suggesting that there is a significant proportion of the population that is “culturally disadvantaged”.

Labour believes it is the job of Government to ensure cultural rights can be turned into a reality wherever and whoever you are, and the only way that can be done is by a comprehensive and properly resourced cultural strategy.

Art4all is Labour’s proposal for a baseline provision of arts and culture, from which a cultural strategy could be developed. It has 4 strategic priorities - art4 communities, art4youth, art4artists and art4governments. Martin Murphy, Chair of Labour Artists will elaborate further upon these.

The figures from the European Commission on total spending on arts and culture in member states strongly suggest that Ireland is bottom of the class when it comes to spending in Europe. (Ireland’s per capita spending on the arts and culture in 2003 was only €23.15.)

In summary, art4all states that participation in cultures should be a right not a privilege, and that a realistic goal should be a level of cultural provision comparable with our European neighbours. There should at least be comprehensive opportunities for participation.

The Labour Party believes it is time for an end to cynicism in the development to the arts and culture in Ireland. It is time for a strategy to return culture to its place at the heart of Government.