More bad news I’m afraid this week for the arts. The Arts Council of Northern Ireland have indicated to a range of revenue-funded organisations that they must plan for in-year cuts. For most, it will mean considering cuts once again. For many, it may mean upping ticket prices or cutting programmes. For some; redundancies, with no hope of attractive packages to cushion the blow. And perhaps for others; considerations of more drastic measures, like closure.
But for all the arts, it illustrates just
how difficult the outlook is.
Cutting one grant by 10% in month 5 of the financial
year, is a very difficult proposition. It effectively means taking almost 20%
out of 6 months contribution from that one funding award. That creates
uncertainty and can have immediate knock-on effects to an organisation's ability to operate.
But the knock-on effect continues, affecting
artists, crew, shows, participation, audiences, revenue for the organisations and for
the town/city/country. For potential participants in community programmes, it
could well signal projects being pulled or greatly reduced. But planning to cut by 10% is not the same as making cuts so there may be some small consolation that whatever cuts eventuate may amount to less, albeit by only a percentage point or three.
I was at Corrymeela at the weekend, at the
excellent 50th anniversary celebrations Aperture Festival, talking
about how the arts matter and are central to all our lives. I encouraged and
exhorted the audience there to become advocates for the arts, now, because very
soon, the arts infrastructure in Northern Ireland will be further weakened. And,
contrary to what the unctuous self-appointed, neo-liberal poster-boys that crow on radio shows might believe, it is right that the arts are publicly funded
and it’s not the Arts Council’s fault when the money they receive for that
purpose is cut.
While these market-driven, neo-liberal ideologues
carp about public money and quangos and pensions and entitlement, what they are
actually proposing is a rolling back of the state and the diminishing of all things that support
the public good. Instead these marketeers only focus on the private good, personal
gain and profiting from others and after all that, well, the devil take the hindmost.
But this cruel, callous, utterly political
project called Austerity, only reduces us as a society; it makes us all clients in a political
economy that sees no value beyond private wealth. It damns the poor to remain
in absolute poverty, it undermines education and participation, it immediately reduces
any opportunity for those whose circumstances and ability to pay and take part might already be difficult.
Austerity makes less of us all. Commonwealth, social capital, society, community, call it what you will - the notion of that shared sense of place and common purpose, is under attack. And the arts, due to the relatively tiny budget that they command, are in a very precarious position.
But it has gone beyond any sustainable bottom
line for the arts here in little Northern Ireland. If this downward trajectory
is allowed to continue by our Assembly, then the prospects for cultural
excellence, access, participation and any pretence at competing as an
attractive, welcoming, vibrant place, capable of competing globally will be
gone. And by 2026, 10 years' time, when the borders of the world will further dissolved by new digital
frontiers as well, we will only slip further and further behind; creatively, educationally and socially.
As I have said before, if it’s a race
to the bottom that we are after, then we’re winning! Even now, N Ireland languishes
at the very bottom of the European league table of voted-for arts funding (ie
money from government), along with Moldova, with no disrespect to that nation at all. The arts represent the smallest
budget line here, but the reason that it is so crucial and makes news is because
that funding connects into our lives in such a tangible way. It’s what we read, the
design of where we live, what we listen to, what we watch, we wear, we imagine,
we celebrate, we create. It is who we are and more crucially, it is the ambition we hold
for our children and their futures.
A colleague of mine pointed out to me earlier,
if you equate the budget for the whole of N Ireland to the average household budget,
the cuts are quite shocking. You're right Adam T, they are and its a handy comparison. In 2013, net household income in N Ireland was £404
per week, just over £21,000 pa. So, of all that income which now represents all government spend, then just £21 is set aside for
the arts, for the whole year. And that has just been reduced to less than £19.What do you spend just £19 on in a year - think, what? Even toilet paper costs a fiver for a dozen rolls!!
Bear in mind too, according to the same recent Poverty Report on Northern Ireland, published in June of this year; the findings are
stubbornly stark, and getting worse:
- In general, poverty levels have increased between 2012/13 and 2013/14. This was more marked for some population groups than for others.
- 21% of individuals were in poverty in 2013/14, approximately 376,000 individuals. This is an increase from 19% the previous year
- 23% of children were in poverty in 2013/14, 101,000 children. This is an increase from 20% the previous year.
- 20% of working-age adults were in poverty in 2013/14, approximately 213,000 working-age adults. This is an increase from 18% the previous year
- 21% of pensioners were in poverty in 2013/14, approximately 63,000 pensioners. This is an increase from 20% the previous year
So, 32 minus 10 equates to so much less,
not just for the arts, but for all of us.
#ArtsMatterNI .
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