Irish Examiner view: Investment in arts brings rich returns

16th Culture Night should be celebrated as a 'national moment'

Culture and Arts Minister Catherine Martin launches Culture Night assisted by child actors from the Gaiety School of Acting, Anu Paul GK, George Hannigan, and William O’Reilly at the Peacock Theatre, Dublin. Picture: Maxwells

As we gear up to celebrate Culture Night this evening, let us recall the poets of ancient Ireland whose words were so potent they could inflict serious physical harm. 

The annals refer to three sudden deaths caused by a poet’s ‘miracle’ during the 15th century, while the mythical satirist of the Ulster Cycle of sagas penned verses so powerful they left three blotches on a woman’s cheek: Shame, blemish, and disgrace.

At times, the 55,000 people who work in the arts sector must have wished they wielded the same influence on the powers that be as restrictions and lockdowns, necessary though they were, brought an industry to its knees. 

Despite welcome Government supports, an estimated 48% of professional artists considered abandoning their career over the last year, according to the Arts Council.

Ironically, though, the pandemic brought with it a new appreciation and understanding of our rich and diverse culture as the public turned in exceptional numbers to books, poetry, music, and drama to bolster flagging spirits during the last difficult 18 months.

As the National Campaign for the Arts so eloquently describes it: “When the streets emptied and our homes became our entire world, artists got on with doing their jobs. Their products, their output — their art — quelled our fear, absorbed our grief, gave us joy and respite, and reminded us again and again that despite being apart, we were not alone.”

It is not an exaggeration, then, to say that tonight’s 16th Culture Night is a “national moment” — as organisers the Arts Council put it. It heralds not only the slow reopening of society but a renewed appreciation of how culture, creativity, and the arts enrich our lives.

Tonight is a much-needed all-island celebration, but it is also a time for reflection. While the Government provided welcome financial assistance to the arts sector, investment in culture in Ireland is still among the lowest in Europe.

Artists and arts workers might be valued and appreciated, but that does not translate into financial recompense. The sector continues to earn significantly less than the national average wage.

Is that because we continue to unconsciously favour an economic order that equates value with tangible products? The benefits of the arts in terms of mental wellbeing, health, inclusion, and diversity, to mention just a few, are well documented, although they are not valued nearly enough.

We should also remember that the Government approved some 185 pilot sporting events this summer, compared to just 22 arts events. The difference between rules on indoor and outdoor venues might partly explain that decision. 

Yet it still seems unfair that some 40,000 people were cheering in Croke Park earlier this month, while just 50 people got to see Walls and Windows by Rosaleen McDonagh, the first play written by a Traveller for our national stage at the Abbey in Dublin.

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that investment in the arts brings rich returns.