The National Campaign for the Arts was established in 2009 in order to have a body representative of the arts in Ireland to ensure the arts remain viewed as an integral part of contemporary Ireland. The NCFA has expressed deep disappointment in the allocation of funding to the arts for the upcoming year, despite rhetoric from the government. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar had pledged to double investment in the arts sector, despite this there have been very disappointing figures from the Budget 2018. The arts council budget moved up just 5% compared to an increase in 8% last year. In contrast to this ,the Prime Minister of Canada promised to double the arts budget, a promise on which he delivered through the application of a year increase plan.
Jo Mangan , chair of the National Campaign for the Arts stated ‘ Today’s announcements have proved underwhelming for our beleaguered sector where even the announcement of an increase in the minimum wage will have no impact as the majority of those working in the arts earn less than €10,000 per annum. We are a long way from restoring the €30 million stripped from the Arts Council funding since 2008. As we continue to sit at the bottom of the EU league for investment in the arts, the NCFA calls on the Government to apply their own strategy to double arts funding to the EU average as a matter of urgency.”.The NCFA has an aim to work with the government in establishing the importance of arts and culture in Ireland, and despite talk, a functional level of investment is not being reached for the year 2018.
Holly Lloyd – Arts & Events Editor
