The Stage

Irish arts community protests against cuts

Published Monday 20 September 2010 at 14:56 by Anthony Garvey

The Irish arts community have staged a two-day campaign to highlight the impact of funding cuts on members’ incomes and to lobby against further spending reductions in the next budget.

Last Thursday, Irish Equity secretary Des Courtney led a group of more than 150 artists, actors and musicians in a protest outside the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport in Dublin. The combination of the recession and budget cuts was making it “nearly impossible” for many artists to earn a living, he said.

On Friday, a National Day of Action was organised across the Republic, with a series of cultural events in several counties, plus intensive lobbying of local politicians on the role the arts can play in economic recovery if given adequate state support. Meetings were planned with Taoiseach Brian Cowen in his midlands costituency and with arts minister Mary Hanafin.

The ‘day of action’ was organised by the National Campaign for the Arts, an umbrella group spanning several representative bodies, that was established last year and played an important role in termpering what had been expected to be swingeing cuts in finance minister Brian Lenihan’s December budget.

It is now calling for current levels of funding to be maintained for the Arts Council, the Film Board and Culture Ireland, as well as for related agencies, and for local authority arts funding to be protected. However, this year its lobbying task will be much more difficult as the minister has already signalled he will be seeking public spending cuts of more than €3 billion, and the arts budget is certain to be in the firing line.

Back at the Dublin protest, Irish Equity’s Rynagh O’Grady said artists’ incomes had been badly hit by funding cuts and a drop in advertising spend, and they were increasingly being asked to work for lower fees or for free. David Kavanagh of the Irish Playwrights’ and Screenwriters’ Guild said some 60,000 people worked in the arts in Ireland and “everyone is hurting”.