winners and losers

There has been celebration for Community Arts Partnership this week.  On Sunday and Monday we saw the impact our work in communities of interest and place both young and old, right across Northern Ireland.  In offering of the Seamus Heaney Awards for New Writing and Achievement, Community Arts Partnership was given a tremendous opportunity to recognize not only the inspiration our late and much lamented Nobel laureate offers us but also the tremendous interest in making poetry that exists here. On Sunday and Monday we heard the impact of the work as we listened to the performances of poets from right across Northern Ireland. CAP gives an opportunity, for many, perhaps for the very first time, to see their work published and celebrated. Stephanie Conn’s poem Lavender Fields, was selected for the inaugural Seamus Heaney Award for New Writing.  Then on Monday in a packed Ulster Hall 30 schools from every corner of Northern Ireland from primary, post primary, secondary and grammar, not only applauded the performances of their peers but came together with the sole purpose of celebrating poetry, celebrating creativity, celebrating the making of something new.  Almost 1,000 young people joined together to support each other in recognizing the achievement creating something from thin air, something that resonates with their identity, their speech, their ambitions, perhaps even their fears. The award was given to Grange Primary School from Kilkeel in County Down.  They wrote with incredible insight, creating haikus and verse, offering an insight into the sheer exuberance of creativity that our young people have and their ability to make simple yet powerfully evocative statements about what they value in their lives, in their homes and in their imaginations.

What we saw at the Duncairn Cultural Centre on Sunday and in the Ulster Hall on Monday was how powerfully the arts connect with people. These two events signify how deeply the arts matter to the public in Northern Ireland.

It is so difficult to look at the cuts that have had to be meted out across the sector.  There have been winners, there have been losers; among them my friend and colleague Martin Lynch, a member of Community Arts Partnership board, and celebrated trail-blazer for the development of community arts locally. He has seen his own organisation cut by 100 percent.  There are other organizations that have not been offered any further revenue funding too. There are some that have seen some rises and indeed, some receiving funding for the very first time.

Many recognise that the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s role in this has been a difficult one, hamstrung by swingeing cuts that has seen the revenue budget for the arts shrink to levels not seen for decades. There will be funding alternatives available to some I'm sure. But for others, it will mean very hard decisions.

But as I have said repeatedly in this blog, we need to have the cause for the arts understood by our politicians. They must start to recognise that the arts affect so many aspects of our lives, of the lives of normal people.

For those 1,000 children in the Ulster Hall who performed and cheered and had their poetry published on Monday in the “Way With Words” anthology, the transforming effect of the arts was clear to see. For the winners of the Seamus Heaney Awards, to feel such recognition will undoubtedly be a springboard to greater things. For so many of us, the smallest act of alchemy, making something new that didn’t exist before, is a moment that lives long in our consciousness. It changes our understanding and gives us the confidence to make our mark.

Those opportunities become more scarce with every percentage cut from the arts budget and that reduces the potential of this place for each and every one of us.

When the historian searches for clues about a place, a society, a time, they look for cultural artefacts. The poems, books, plays and paintings that reflect so much of who we are and how we live. To reduce this resource now, is to reduce the futures understanding of us all as well. We all lose, in this generation and for generations to come.

Ask the folks that canvass your doorstep in the coming weeks what the arts mean to them. And tell them what they mean to you

The arts matter.

#artsmatterni

What's in a name?

In 1999, a series of new government departments was created under the auspices of the Good Friday Agreement (The Belfast Agreement). On 2nd December 1999, a new minister was appointed to a department called DCAL, Dept of Culture Arts and Leisure, Michael McGimpsey, and thus began a new arrangement to support the arts in Northern Ireland. Of course, we had various suspensions along the way and direct rule ministers and short-term policies and longer term strategies but always there was a department that stood, full-square, in support of the arts.

It was no coincidence that on 22nd of that December, New Belfast Community Arts Initiative (CAP's parent organisation) was constituted by a group of visionary community arts folk who knew implicitly, that encouraging more communities to engage in creative dialogue could only strengthen the potential for a truly shared future in Belfast. 

After this Easter however, the process to see the Department of Cultural Arts and Leisure subsumed into the Department for Communities will begin.

But should that matter?

Should we not take the First Minister's word into account when he says that no functions were being done away with, and "no policies terminated" as a result of the changes. Might the arts, as the smallest budget area by far, instead of being reduced to a mere detail in a longer list of budgetary and policy areas, be rightfully recognised as giving reflection and expression to the contested cultural momentum that is Northern Ireland??

Or does it feel like a diminution of the role of the arts not to have a dedicated minister?

Is it a lessening of the role of the arts in society not to have a department dedicated to their encouragement?

Should we be concerned that only Northern Ireland has government departments where arts or creativity are not mentioned in the title? The Republic, England, Scotland...well, come to your own decision.

As a recent appointee to the Ministerial Arts Advisory Forum, I will continue to petition that the arts need to be recognised and supported. Even if there was always going to be financial challenge, the retention of the word 'art' in the title of the department has at least some connotation of its importance. Don't get me wrong, I am happy that 'Community' as a word has been embraced and perhaps it would be far too progressive a move for all involved to have announced a Department for Community Arts and Social Development? The semantics of naming and the reality of championing the arts are very different things. But at the moment, while budgets dwindle and words disappear from titles, are we all correct to assume that the arts have never been under such threat?

Yet Mr Robinson seems to have considered, momentarily, naming it, the Department for Community Arts but then unfortunately, he reconsiders: let's refer to what he said on Tuesday morning in response to a question in the Assembly:

However, if one were to look at the Department for Communities and add "arts" to the title, is the Member saying that that is more important than housing; urban regeneration; the Social Security Agency; child maintenance services; the voluntary and community sector; museums; libraries; creativity and architecture; language; cultural diversity; sport; the Public Record Office; employment services; local government; the social investment fund; and racial equality? I could go on and on. If the argument is that arts is more important than all those issues, the Member can ask the question, but I do not believe that it is more important than many of those issues. That is why a generic title serves the Department much better.
  
I think perhaps that this statement sums up what the First Minister and by implication, others, think about the arts: that they [the arts] are not so important; certainly no more important than a whole raft of the specific functions of a government or a civil service. Perhaps this is the very point. The Arts (and perhaos sport for that matter) are not functions of government - they are not part of a social contract for services anticipated to be delivered by the state. Rather, the arts are the oldest forms of human expression, so integral to being alive as to be a completely vital aspect of living. To be so reduced as to become a mere transaction, is to fail to have any understanding of the value of the arts and the role that the arts play in society. 

While locally, our policy makers may view the arts as lacking significance, in our neighbouring states, cultural champions are challenging policy-makers and those who would reduce funding, to think more connectedly about the arts, examining the value that the arts can bring, harnessing the power that the arts hold, and realising the impact that creativity offers an economy.

In GB, the Warwick Commission's final report, Enriching Britain:Culture, Creativity and Growth, was launched last month.  As Vikki Heywood CBE, Chairman of the Warwick Commission on the Future of Cultural Value put it:
The key message …is that the government and the cultural and creative industries need to take a united and coherent approach that guarantees equal access for everyone to a rich cultural education and the opportunity to live a creative life. There are barriers and inequalities in Britain today that prevent this from being a universal human right. This is bad for business and bad for society

The Arts Matter in Northern Ireland, just as they matter across the developed and developing world. They are our  human right, under Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights As a guide to the 'health' of any place, the arts act as a pulse.

Our pulse is weakening...

Some more equal than others

Here in Norn Iron, we are all too familiar with the constant tensions and clamour of whataboutery and us’n’s and them’n’s to-ing and fro-ing. I suppose it is the nature of all interaction, it is the constant dialogue of our lives as people with our variety of ambitions and allegiances, our impulses and desires.  But of course, here, we wear our allegiances proudly, pointedly and even aggressively. Why wouldn’t we? Everything here has had to be contested but at least now, the battle is of words and ideas, sometimes emotional and pain-filled but not because of arms or fists! We are used to the abrasive nature of politics here. With language that sails so close to the moral or ethical wind, that it is remarkable that so many don’t capsize. And over recent weeks, we have seen the various sectors of Northern Ireland pitted against themselves in battle over resources.  And we have seen who the biggest losers are too – The Arts. Where the government spend on the arts was 13p, per head, per week, it’s now 11p – and due to fall further.

So, as the dust settles on this turmoil its worth perhaps analysing just what has happened and give a thought to new consequences.

For a start, after all the plámás about the role of the arts in supporting inclusion and targeting equality, turns out instead the arts are to receive an unequal cut – a cut greater than the level of cut to the governing department.  Bear in mind the arts have shifted their focus over the years to proactively supporting all PETPSE (promoting equality and tackling poverty and social exclusion) initiatives. We have probably seen the high water mark of funding to assist the most marginalised in general, and more particularly in the arts. 

Next year, and for the foreseeable future, that support will dwindle. There will be a cut of over £1,300,000 to core arts funding. That will immediately impact on that proportion of support available to the most marginalised, the most disenfranchised, the poor, ill and vulnerable, the most in need. There is no other way to look at it. And, while we hear of reprieves, to an orchestra and a film industry, we don’t automatically equate both these areas of work with promoting equality of opportunity or targeting social need, do we? Perhaps we should?

So too, as Welfare Reform starts to bite, what will the support for the most marginalised look like then? A hardship fund may alleviate some of the worst impacts, but it is limited, in time and in funding too.  And, once reforms really begin to bite and 20,000 more unemployed are created through redundancies in public services, what will the support for the most marginalised look like after that? And after the redundancy money runs out, what then? And as more become marginalised through the impact of reforms (we need only look to England and the growth of “foodbanks” etc) where next? And when a further £350M, over a third of a billion pounds, is taken out of the NI budget every year so that businesses can get 8% tax cut, what will the support for the most marginalised look like then? And how much investment in the arts will remain? 

At this point, a sense of the depth of despair becomes apparent. A simultaneous cut to the arts will not be felt just by arts professionals. It will be felt by our whole community. The impact will be felt most acutely in so-called working class areas, in schools, in residential homes, in rural community centres, in youth clubs on the edge of estates across Northern Ireland where prospects were already few. It will be felt by young creative students and graduates, who will have less opportunity to develop a career locally and therefore, less chance to support the community creatively or intellectually.

But, let’s re-visit Corporation Tax for a moment. Looked at positively, it is a huge investment in business – an annual investment of £350,000,000. That will be well over 30 times the annual investment the NI Assembly makes to the arts. If some re-balancing to the Northern Ireland economy would seem practical, is it practical to undermine a sector that already produces huge social and cultural dividends, double and triple bottom lines, for a fraction of that cost? Remember too, that this Corporation Tax investment is on top of the £90M pa that is already budgeted to assist business through grant aid.

If it’s accepted that business needs structured investment, why not the business of making celebration, of making music, dance, songs, poetry, fashion, of celebrating our children’s imaginations, and the memories of our older folk, of making our tourists welcome, making our walls beautiful, making our communities unite in hope, making new traditions together, making our towns and cities more attractive to residents and visitors alike, making new migrants welcomed, making the dreams of our young people valued, making our lives better, making us feel, express, reflect and create?

But, let’s keep looking (positively) at Corporation Tax. If we are investing all this money annually and reducing the investment everywhere else, particularly the arts, then when will we feel the collective dividend of this spending?? One year? 5 years? 10 years? More??? Now, even if we see a huge influx of business into NI, the only cash NI gets back is the reduced corporation tax from them. All that greater income tax cash, national insurance and money from more VAT from consumer spend, that all goes to London. So, when do we break-even?  Last year, an economist told me that they had calculated that at 14 years – and that was based on calculations based on pre-2008 levels!! And what will the arts infrastructure look like then?

So, while this massive upheaval in public-funding begins to be felt, and a huge ground-swell of support for the arts goes completely unheard, perhaps we should start to realise that the ‘level playing field’, so often the quoted ambition of business leaders and politicians, doesn’t extend to all.  If we are harmonising Corporation Tax north and south of the border, why not harmonise Tax Exemptions for the Arts north and south too. This year, €50,000 can be earned before tax through the exemptions scheme in the Republic. Imagine we had that opportunity here! Or even better, to attract artists from around the globe, allow artists and arts practitioners to live in N Ireland completely tax-free! Imagine the creativity of the people. Imagine the celebrity! We would become an incredible destination for so many overnight. The impact on all facets of life could be huge.

We need to imagine, we need to create and we need to sustain. The arts are integral to the human condition and symptomatic of the health of any society. Let’s imagine a better place for the arts and our appreciation of all that they represent – before it’s too late.

An Open Letter to the Minister for Finance and Personnel

27^th January, 2015

Dear Minister Hamilton, Minister for Finance and Personnel

I wish to represent to you as a matter of urgency, a reflection on the recent budget allocation to the Dept of Culture Arts and Leisure (DCAL) in relation to arts funding. Despite a huge effort on behalf of the arts by ordinary members of the public and arts practitioners, organisations and community groups, to mobilise an historically unprecedented level of response to a draft budgetary process, it seems our humble petition has fallen on deaf ears. Such a mobilisation of support reflects the centrality of the arts in Northern Irish society and the recognition that we cannot afford not to invest in the current and future provision of creativity if we are to become an innovation-led knowledge-based economy. In reality, education and health budgets have been prioritised, and yet there is no other area of civic engagement better equipped to support the complex needs of both health and education than the arts. If, as a sector, we have failed to represent adequately the beneficial impacts of the arts, perhaps an impartial, economy-focused organisation might assist. A report from OECD just two years ago stresses:  

We argue that the main justification for arts education is clearly the acquisition of artistic skills …By artistic skills, we mean not only the technical skills developed in different arts forms (playing an instrument, composing a piece, dancing, choreographing, painting and drawing, acting, etc.) but also the habits of mind and behaviour that are developed in the arts. Arts education matters because people trained in the arts play a significant role in the innovation process in OECD countries: the arts should undoubtedly be one dimension of a country’s innovation strategy.

ART FOR ART’S SAKE?

© OECD 2013 Art for Art’s Sake? The Impact of Arts Education (Winner, Goldstein and Vincent-Lancrin, 2013).

The same report spells out in its introduction:

In knowledge-based societies, innovation is a key engine of economic growth, and arts education is increasingly considered as a means to foster the skills and attitudes that innovation requires, beyond and above artistic skills and cultural sensitivity.

ART FOR ART’S SAKE?

© OECD 2013 Art for Art’s Sake? The Impact of Arts Education (Winner, Goldstein and Vincent-Lancrin, 2013).

In N Ireland currently, through the variety of expert formal and informal creative arts and engagement programmes, we support physical and mental well-being and develop the creative and intellectual skills of participants, beneficiaries and students. We have a creative infrastructure that produces success, across formal and informal education, communities and socio-economic circumstance.  But this already financially hard-pressed sector is now under threat of imminent decline and potential collapse.

As Minister charged with the economic well-being of our society, the assertions of an organisation like the OECD must surely carry some weight. If, as a member of the OECD, we are looking to develop an innovation-based economy, capable of attracting the leading creative organisations, not just in the arts per se, but across all areas of human endeavour, we would do well to follow OECD advice: OECD (2010), The OECD Innovation Strategy. Getting a Head Start on Tomorrow and OECD (2012), Better Skills, Better Jobs, Better Lives: A Strategic Approach to Skills Policies, both of which point to the arts having a role in developing a necessary creative faculty within innovation-based societies.

As you are no doubt aware, despite this single largest representation of responses from any one sector to the recent Draft Budget, the arts budget is facing a cut in excess of 10%.  The reality that the budget to arts practice and participation will be cut more significantly than the overall DCAL departmental budget is not lost on either core clients of the Arts Council, whose budgets have already been cut by 5% in year. Nor indeed, will this government allocation be lost on the tens of thousands who represented their position though response and petition, that there should be no further cuts to the arts.

Whilst there may be some that are bewildered  that having received such a mandate, that some accommodation couldn’t be afforded, others like myself are seeking guidance as to how to support government decision-making  regarding the veracity of arts and the invaluable support that community arts in particular and arts practice in general gives to our local population. Once again, I call on the OECD documentation. Where they struggled to find a profundity of evidence of a causal link, the For Art’s Sake authors offered this point to policymakers:

Ultimately, however, the arts are an essential part of human heritage and of what makes us human…ART FOR ART’S SAKE? OVERVIEW 15 © OECD 2013

Given the extraordinary level of response from ordinary people, practitioners and organisations, I feel mandated to ask that the budget for the arts be re-instated, as per the wishes of 23,000 responses, (as acknowledged by DCAL Minister Ní Chuilín) and indeed that the arts, and their educative and social benefits, be acknowledged as a key element to the development of the N Irish economy and society and that the terms "Arts" be retained in any new departmental title.

Yours sincerely

Conor Shields