Arts Council targets cuts to protect front line services

The Arts Council of Northern Ireland (ACNI) will be passing on its 11.2% budget cuts by removing some organisations from its Annual Funding Programme and reducing funding for umbrella bodies and a number of arts venues, on the basis that “they have the capacity to generate additional income through programming and ticketing”. The decisions have been made in a way ACNI believes “are necessary to stabilise the arts as a whole”. It has adopted “a strategic perspective designed to protect the future, rather than simply applying the reduction in the same way to each arts organisation”.

ACNI’s Annual Funding Programme is based on a competitive application process. This round saw 115 organisations apply, of which six were declined funding. 81 organisations will receive standstill funding or uplifts; 27 face reduced funding; and one, the East Belfast Partnership Board, has been admitted to the programme. Among those losing significant sums are the sponsorship agency Arts & Business and the audience development agency Audiences NI, both facing 20% cuts, worth £93k and £48k respectively. Belfast’s Grand Opera House and Ulster Orchestra will each lose £100k; Kabosh Theatre will lose 44% of its £107k grant; and Tinderbox Theatre Company is facing a 45% cut worth £95k. Of those losing their funding completely, the cut will fall most heavily on Blackstaff Press Limited, a leading publisher of quality Irish books, which received £92k this year. ACNI will also make savings for the second year running, with £244k to be slashed from its own staffing and overheads. Among very few winners in this funding round are The Void Art Centre, with a £60k uplift, and Northern Ireland Opera, gaining £40k.

ACNI’s annual budget from the Government is set to fall by £1.38m, after its ‘13p for the arts campaign’ failed to persuade politicians of the damage that would be caused by significant cuts to “an already overstretched arts budget”. Chairman Bob Collins commented that the reality of passing on such a cut means Northern Ireland will be left “with a smaller arts sector, with fewer performances, exhibitions, staff and opportunities for people to engage with the arts. The arts make a valuable contribution to all areas of society but regrettably this latest round of cuts will be felt not only directly in arts provision but across tourism, health, community regeneration, social cohesion and the very Government initiatives that are designed to promote equality and tackle poverty and social exclusion.”

Arts Council Chief Executive, Roisin McDonough, said: “This is not the end of the story; we know the cuts to public spending may bite deeper in the future but we hope that in taking difficult decisions this year we have protected the core elements of each art form, so that in better times they will be able to grow again.”