Arts Grants Scheme 2010
Deputy County Mayor, Cllr. Noel O'Connor's address at the Arts Grant 2010 Scheme Launch
This past year has been very difficult economically. Despite very severe pressure on our own budgets, Cork County Council has continued to provide support for the Arts through its services and its grant support schemes.
The advertising for applications for the Arts Grant scheme this year brought the single largest increase in numbers applying for assistance that we have ever encountered. This was of the order of 64%, and indicates that despite the downturn there is a very high level of activity in the arts throughout the County. It can also be seen as an indication that the downturn is affecting many arts organisations and increasing financial pressure on them. Nevertheless, there is, among the projects we have approved for funding in this scheme, more than ample evidence of a strong commitment from this sector to continuing the valuable work that they are doing.
This year Cork County Council has approved 135 grants under the scheme. These grants cover the full range of activity in the Arts, and include arts projects taking place in schools, hospitals, day care centres in addition the activities of local arts organisations such as drama groups choirs and many more.
The various national and local supports for the Arts made available either by national bodies such as the Arts Council and by local organisations such as ourselves are a valuable and necessary source of revenue for artists and arts organisations.
Grant assistance should never be seen simply as a kind of hand-out or subsidy for the arts. The primary purpose of arts funding is to protect and support creativity. When we support the work of a local pipe band or the work of an emerging artist we are actually affirming that creativity is of value in our society and that expression in the arts in whatever form it takes is central to us individually and collectively.
When we look at our own image here in Ireland or the image of Ireland that is portrayed abroad we will always find reference to our own rich cultural and artistic traditions and the status of our contemporary artists.
This is not accidental. We value the arts in many ways and it is through early and continuing exposure to the arts that creativity is nurtured. The role of the Council in this process has to be to ensure that conditions remain in a positive state for the arts to flourish.
The actor Brendan Gleeson in the pre budget debate at the Joint Committee on the Arts made this observation:
"We punch well above our weight internationally, partly because we are and are seen to be creative. In literature, theatre, movies and every other branch of the arts, we continue to successfully demonstrate to the world that we can be a productive, innovative and dynamic people. This has economic as well as cultural benefits. People want to come here to be a part of it, whether to work or to play. It has an almost unquantifiable value. It is crucial that we maintain it if we are to emerge from our present difficulties. Funding is critical if we are to continue to enable intelligent and creative people to produce work here that has an intrinsic value to us and our well-being, promotes our reputation and standing abroad and generates revenue."
The Arts are important in their own right and are important socially and economically. We in Cork County Council will continue to play our part to support creativity in the Arts. The various organisations and the artists represented in the grants we are announcing today are part of the foundation and fabric of arts that we enjoy and value and which we hope to continue to support and encourage.
County Manager, Martin Riordan in his address said: "We are particularly happy to see that established arts organisations are looking at ways in which they can work differently in the community. A number of projects were identified in this year's scheme that address disadvantage at local and community level. Among these were projects proposed by the Sirius Arts Centre and St. Patricks Pipe Band from Bandon. Such initiatives are particularly welcome as they can result in stronger local partnerships and relationships between organisations being developed. We would hope that this scheme will continue to provide the incentive to support further innovative thinking in the arts into the future."
Members of Cork County Council at the Arts Grants Launch, included are County Manager Martin Riordan, Director of Services Sharon Corcoran and Arts Officer Ian McDonagh
Profile of applicants
The majority of applications we receive for general arts grants are from voluntary arts organisations such as pipe and brass bands, writers groups, drama groups, choirs, youth arts groups and indeed many festivals. They form the bedrock of cultural life in many communities throughout the county. They also provide access points for participation in the arts for many people. It is council policy to support, where we can, the valuable work such organisations do for the arts in their communities.
Local Arts -Access and Participation
It is Council Policy that arts and culture should be available and accessible by all. For this reason the council invests strongly in services such as its libraries and the arts. An important element of the Arts Grants we make each year is support for arts projects that enable participation by disadvantaged and often overlooked sectors of our society. These include projects involving older people- who are enabled to participate in projects in libraries and Day Care Centres, Older people in Hospital settings- People with special Needs and Young people at risk. The Council through this will also support arts projects in schools as these are important points of contact with many young people from isolated rural areas.
Supporting creativity
The Council has a role in supporting the creativity in the arts in all its forms, whether that is the makers, the active participants or audiences. The role of the artist is central as it is through the artist that new contemporary art is created. We have seen in recent months much attention being placed on the importance of the arts and in particular the recognition of the role that the arts play in shaping the positive image of Ireland abroad. (See also Mayor's speech as there is some crossover here). We have become used to seeing our major writers and musicians such as Bob Geldof and Bono playing a role on the world stage that often supersedes their work as artists
The arts are one area where it can be confidently said that public investment has paid significant rewards for the county. We can see a new and growing recognition of the value of the creative artist in the recent appointment of actor, Gabriel Byrne, as Ireland's first Cultural Ambassador.
Economic benefits of the Arts in the County
If we look at Irish film activity alone in the past few weeks, Cork has featured prominently with the release of Neil Jordan's Ondine, shot in Castletownbere and the screening of The Eclipse filmed largely on location in Cobh and screened in prime time on RTE on St. Patrick's Day. This kind of activity and the profiling such projects offer is sometimes overlooked, but is, nevertheless, an extremely valuable means of developing the county as a tourist destination.
Arts Festivals are also an important part of the tourism product that this county has to offer. This year the Council will provide, through the Arts Grants Scheme, support to 26 arts festivals in the county. We are fortunate that we have several well established arts festivals with burgeoning international reputations such as the West Cork Chamber Music Festival, the West Cork Literary Festival and Kinsale Arts Week. We also have a number of newly established festivals that are beginning to show real strength in terms of their artistic vision and management such as the Corona Fastnet Film Festival, the Engage Bandon Arts Festival, the East Cork Early Music Festival, and many more. We are committed to supporting the work of these organisations as they have significant community impact, support tourism and provide an important showcase for Irish and International artists performing and exhibiting in the County.
In the Corona Fastnet Film Festival Council has included a specific prize for the best film made in Cork and screened at the festival.
Background information Arts Grant Scheme
The principles governing the operation of the Arts Grants Scheme are set out in the 2003 Arts Act, which enables a local authority to make financial or other assistance available for the purposes of:
* stimulating public interest in the arts
* promoting knowledge, appreciation and promotion of the arts
* improving standards in the arts
The Arts Grant Scheme provides specific grant streams for:
(1.) General Arts Grants
(2) Schools Arts Projects
(3) Creative project proposals made by artists.
Arts Grants Budget 2010 - €164,000. Number of Applications received was 193. This is an increase of 74 on the number received in 2009. A total of 135 were approved, an increase of 19 on the number of approved applications in 2009.