Arts Council unveils plan for a creative future

THE Arts Council yesterday published its five-point plan to secure the future of a vibrant creative community in Ireland.

Partnership for the Arts aims to promote the value of the arts, assist artists in realising their ambitions, extend access to the arts, strengthen arts organisations and ensure the Arts Council works well.

The document, which outlines the Arts Council’s goals for 2006-2010, emerged from a year of discussions within the arts community and is accompanied by action plans in 20 policy areas.

The Arts Council plans to implement a programme to highlight the value of the arts to public policy makers and to undertake a major study of the living and working conditions of artists in Ireland.

It is also planning to test the feasibility of a countrywide education initiative, starting with music, and to negotiate funding from local authorities and agencies to secure long-term stability for arts organisations.

The council will publish annual action plans to set out its priorities for each year of the strategy.

Arts Minister John O’Donoghue welcomed the plan and said the Government has proved it is a willing partner in the arts.

“I am deeply committed to making the case for the arts at Government level. I have allocated €72.3 million to the Arts Council, an increase of 18.5% - in addition to recent supplementary funding of €5.23 million - to carry out your work in 2006,” he said.

Arts Council chair Olive Braiden said the objective of the strategy is to raise Arts Council funding to €100m per annum by 2008.

“Partnership for the Arts sets out a framework of values, principles and goals that will guide the Arts Council in its work.”

“It draws on our professional expertise and reflection but most importantly from what we have learned from our discussions with members of the arts community and others about the key challenges facing the arts.”

Arts Council director Mary Cloake said the discussions that gave birth to these documents will not end just because the document is published.

“It is our hope that the dialogue will be constant and as major projects and programmes come on stream, we will be inviting and encouraging people to come and talk to us about how their and our goals will be achieved,” she added.