Chief Executive's response to Draft Budget proposals re arts funding
Issue Date: 28th November 2007
- Melanie McGinnis
- Economic Policy Unit, OFMDFM
- Room E5.22, Castle Buildings
- Stormont
- BELFAST BT4 3SR
Dear Ms McGinnis,
I am writing in response to the published details about the Executive’s Draft Budget 2008-2011. However tight a spending round this may be, I appeal to the Executive to find additional revenue funding for the arts sector which is in desperate need of stabilisation and developmental funding.
The recent Assembly debate (9 October) seemed to show a real understanding across all parties for the added values which the arts bring to all societies. Here, more than anywhere, we need to invest in the arts for what they can bring to our fractured communities. Due recognition was paid to the many ways in which a vibrant arts scene contributes to health, education, employment and the economy. These are not in dispute.
The Ulster Orchestra Society fully supports the current campaign for increased investment in the arts to meet urgent needs and to achieve parity of arts funding for Northern Ireland when compared to the rest of the UK and Ireland. The Arts Council of Northern Ireland has had four successive years of standstill funding and it is now crucial to secure a proper and positive investment in the arts to avoid what could so easily be a “death by a thousand cuts” policy.
Northern Ireland’s international reputation is hugely enhanced by the work of its writers, musicians and artists. So much has been achieved over the past years and the creative industries sector is one of the UK’s major growth areas. Now Northern Ireland looks set to lose out in all of that and take several steps backwards through the loss of arts activity – not to mention jobs.
Why are we investing in new arts centres and venues across the country when we cannot adequately support the creativity those places are crying out for? Where is the desire to encourage open-mindedness and exposure to new, vibrant ideas? Where is the provision of access for everyone to experience the innovative creations of previous generations? Where is the belief and support for developing the creative aspirations of today’s young people?
The Ulster Orchestra Society’s case in recent years is probably symptomatic of so many in the arts sector.
For the Orchestra there has been a return to viability and stability coupled with increased attendances, an ever-increasing public profile, a huge development in its education and outreach work (24,500 enriched by the Orchestra’s diverse, innovative education and outreach activity last year alone) and its sustained artistic growth (some 78,000 people experienced live Ulster Orchestra concerts last year). The Orchestra has also considerably lifted its level of support from business (through sponsorship) and from individual donors’ philanthropic support.
However, the level of support from the public purse has declined in recent years – unlike that for orchestras in GB. The shortfall now negates the significant increases the Orchestra has earned from other sources. It seems that success is neither encouraged nor rewarded.
The UOS needs further and proper investment to sustain its operation (80 full-time jobs) and deliver the potential which can be realised with the move to the Ulster Hall next season. And there is so much at stake here. The Orchestra brings major international stars to Northern Ireland; it provides work for musicians who are resident in Northern Ireland and who contribute so much to the education of young people; its weekly concerts are a major offering to Northern Ireland’s cultural tourism; its use of venues in Belfast and other centres is a major contribution to urban regeneration; it offers affordable – and even free – access to anyone who would like to come to a concert; it provides a platform for young performers and composers; it gives Northern Ireland an international calling card through its over 70 CDs and its broadcasts which are often streamed worldwide, and, above all for the economy, every £1 of public money invested brings at the very least a threefold return – and often much, much more. These are things to celebrate.
The Orchestra’s major contributions to Northern Ireland’s arts portfolio can be multiplied many times across the whole arts sector. But those contributions are in jeopardy because of the shortfall in funding – a shortfall which is but a very small fraction of 1% of the total budgets for either education or health.
Let’s not throw away all the good things that have been achieved here during the long years of recent community strife and before that. On behalf of the Ulster Orchestra Society, I call upon the Executive to invest now in the future of the arts – an investment in those things that are surely of prime importance in the development of a well-rounded, healthy and civilised society. It will make financial sense because the returns are enormous. Please reconsider the Draft Budget and properly invest in the arts to build the new dynamic, competitive and creative Northern Ireland.
Sincerely,
David Byers,
Chief Executive, Ulster Orchestra Society Ltd.