Looking back on a year like no other, The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon today commended artists and all those working within the arts for their imagination, commitment and generosity over the past 12 months.
The challenges experienced by those working in the arts community in 2021 have been immense and it is a tribute to them that so much inspiring work was created and presented over that time. The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon has been privileged to work with and support thousands of fine artists and arts workers over that time.
Director of the Arts Council, Maureen Kennelly, said:
‘The arts profession continues to demonstrate an extraordinary capacity to adapt and innovate in an especially difficult environment. Throughout the last 20 months, cultural activity has enabled individuals and communities to express solidarity and to maintain a sense of collective wellbeing, despite the alienating effects of social distancing’.
Arts Council Chair, Professor Kevin Rafter said:
‘Like never before, it is now acknowledged that artistic expression is urgent and vital and that our artists have the potential to make a major contribution to Ireland’s recovery and renewal. Implementation of the Council’s Paying the Artist and Equality, Human Rights and Diversity policies, along with our Spatial policy which will be introduced in early 2022, will result in an excellent, inclusive and progressive arts landscape’.
Over the last 12 months a core goal for the Council was to secure the arts landscape in Ireland by ensuring that arts organisations had access to emergency funding to avoid collapse and by making funding available to a much wider range of artists. The team were keen to reassure audiences of the safety of the arts experience in Ireland while continuing to celebrate and promote the work of arts organisations and artists.
2021 saw the highest ever budget to date allocated to the Arts Council when €130 million was awarded by Catherine Martin, Minister of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media. This year, The Arts Council had over 8,000 applications and an encouraging 17% of successful applicants were entirely new to the agency.
It was a year of great challenges and also extraordinary arts moments across the country. These included Brightening Air, a ten day, nationwide season of arts experiences enabled by the Arts Council in June 2021, which reached every county. Culture Night also funded 1,767 artists and creative producers across 1,200 events, reaching an audience of 280,000 people, with a three-fold increase in those attending events in person. 33% of audiences for Culture night attended a venue or cultural space for the very first time.
Recognising the key role that creativity plays in all aspects of life, the Creative Schools initiative continued to expand and grow in the last 12 months. Supporting schools and youth centres to put the arts and creativity at the heart of children’s and young people’s lives, Creative Associates work with them throughout the year. 2021 saw 187 new schools join the programme.
The Arts Council has taken a number of actions to better embed the priorities of equality, diversity and inclusion in its core work. These include piloting a plain English description and improved accessibility for the newly introduced Agility Award, diversifying the Peer Panel list to be more representative, and publishing the first annual report to analyse diversity in Arts Council awards. The Arts Council also seeks to actively work with representative organisations and is developing a new partnership with Pavee Point.
A number of awards met the particular challenges occasioned by Covid-19. They include:
● The Agility Award worth over €8 million distributed as an additional funding source for artists at any stage of their career. Over 1,800 artists were funded, 50% of whom were emerging or early career stage artists, with 40% first time applicants.
● The creation of an Emergency Stabilisation Fund for arts organisations to avert closures stemming from Covid-19 restrictions and reduced audience numbers. €1.7 million was awarded under this fund.
● Capacity Building Support Scheme (CBSS) was another new fund launched in 2021 in response to the challenges raised by Covid-19, to support arts organisations to gain support, skills and expertise to review and adapt their artistic and/or business models and support their strategic development in the medium to long term. It supports activities that will assist in building capacity, in developing inclusivity, and/or in growing peer support and collaborations
In a bid to make funding available to more artists, the agency significantly expanded the bursary scheme across all art forms. Bursaries were significantly expanded in both number and value in 2021. The number awarded increased from 170 in 2019 to 577 in 2021 (+239%) and the value of the awards increased from €1.8 million in 2019 to €9.3 million in 2021 (+412%). Particularly notable within this overall trend was an increase in funding for Literature from €366,084 to €1.8 million, Music from €127,775 to €1.4 million, and Traditional Arts from €30,410 to €531,158.
The challenges of Covid-19 are ongoing and the sector remains in crisis. The Arts Council is committed to addressing the needs of the community and ensuring that it emerges ready to play a central role in our national recovery.
←Return to the news