 |
|
|
|||
|
News
|
|||
|
News
|
Dateline: 3rd January, 2011
ACNI Faces £4.2m Cuts The Northern Ireland Executive's draft budget for the next four years will see the Arts Council of Northern Ireland facing massive cuts over the period. Its current grant from the Executive is £13.6m and that will reduce to £12m by 2015, an effective cut of £4.2m. At the same time, the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure will see its budget cut by 9% (£14.5m). Roisin McDonough, ACNI's chief executive, said that the proposed cuts would "cause significant and potentially irreversible harm to the arts" even though they would "make next to no difference to Northern Ireland’s financial deficit." She said, She said: "This is a bad day for arts and culture in Northern Ireland. All we ask for is a fair deal for the arts, but the arts sector is instead being asked to shoulder a disproportionate share of the public sector cuts. Spending on the arts is tiny in relation to other departments, so any savings made by cutting the arts budget will make next to no difference to Northern Ireland’s financial deficit. Yet these cuts will cause significant and potentially irreversible harm to the arts, putting jobs and front line services at risk." An eight-week consultation period over the draft budget began on 22nd December. "The Arts Council will continue over the eight-week consultation period to put forward the case on behalf of the arts sector," McDonough added. "We would urge everyone who has ever valued the arts - from seeing a great festival production to experiencing the benefits of a re-imaging project in their community - to make their views known to the Executive. Vocal support from the arts community and the wider public will also help to strengthen Minister McCausland’s hand as he defends his arts budget. "There is still time to influence the Assembly, so public support for the arts, and acknowledgement of its significant contribution to our society and economy, has never been more important than it is now."
Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
|
||
|
|
