Aodhan Ó Ríordáin and Joan Burton Announce Labour Party’s Radical Plan For The Arts

In a radical new plan for the arts, the Labour Party has promised the kind of substantial boost in funding for the arts, which will make a huge difference to the creative community – including musicians.

The proposals are by far the most coherent and well thought-out plan for the arts raised during the election campaign. They should be seen against the backdrop of the historic commitment which Labour has had to the Arts over the past two decades. The first ever Minister for the Arts and Culture was Michael D. Higgins, at whose encouragement the Department of Arts was created in 1993.

Among the key elements are doubling the budgets of the Arts Council and the Irish Film Board, as well as a reform of the Social Welfare treatment of artists.

“The arts and culture is not something that we can pay lip service to. It’s much too important for that,” Aodhán Ó Ríordáin said, at the launch.

Labour’s plan will involve an investment of an additional €150million in the arts, as well as the establishment of a new Arts Capital Fund, to support artistic and creative initiatives. Labour is also promising a new Global Arts Forum, in order to promote the work of Irish artists, musicians and creatives to the world.

"We are all too keenly aware of the significant toll taken by the economic crash on the fabric of Irish cultural life and on the livelihoods of Irish arts workers,” the Labour leader Joan Burton said. "Yet despite this, Irish artists continued to produce world-class content throughout the darkest days of the crisis. That incredible productivity has proven beyond any doubt the duty of the State to better support these unparalleled cultural ambassadors."

The Labour leader promised to double the the budget of the Arts Council and the Irish Film Board. And in addition – striking a note that will mean a huge amount to emerging artists in particular, she promised reforms to the Social Welfare system that will assist and support artistic and creative activity.

"For too long, our welfare system has failed to recognise the value of artistic work to our national community,” she added. "That’s why we’ll explore ways to reform our social protection system to relieve the activation requirements for those involved in ongoing artistic endeavour, subject to a reasonable cap."

The proposals have come about after a process of consultation both within the Labour Party, and between the Labour Party and the arts and creative communities.

"In the course of those consultations," Aodhán Ó Ríordáin explained, “we heard it argued that the arts and culture have a crucial role to play in the economic health and recovery of this country.

"We heard that a vital and vibrant sector attracts visitors, gets people off their couches and into venues, brings life and business to towns and cities, provides employment in the arts and in other ancillary sectors, makes population centres attractive to employers and so on. All of that is true."

However, Ó Ríordáin – who is currently a Junior Minister in the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht – emphasised that there has to be more to an arts policy than making a business case.

“We also heard that providing space and providing supports for the creative arts to flourish should never just be about a balance sheet or a cost benefit analysis,” he said. "I fully agree with that.

"As a nation, we have told our story; we have made sense of our history; and we have made our voice heard in the global community in a wide variety of ways. But we have done so primarily through artistic expression.

"And as we move towards becoming a more diverse society, and as we mature as a people and as a country, I have no doubt that this very diversity will not only inform and influence artists – painters, directors, composers, writers, actors, choreographers – it will in fact enrich the entire cultural landscape in which we all live and work.

Overall, it is a hugely encouraging approach to the arts – which practitioners have been seeking for a long time.

"I also want to take this opportunity to reaffirm Labour’s support for the artist’s tax exemption, and the retention and improvement of the Section 481 tax relief,” Joan Burton added. "By continuing and strengthening supports for working artists, we are in fact investing in the development of our future national identity."