The Assembly believes the arts don’t matter – we have to tell them that it does!

(An immediate response to the draft Programme for Government 2024-2027, titled “Our Plan: Doing What Matters Most”)

The NI Assembly believes the arts don’t matter …

The draft Programme for Government 2024-2027, titled “Our Plan: Doing What Matters Most”, published on the 9th September, shows the struggle that is underway to save the arts in N Ireland. This draft PfG primarily focuses on economic recovery, public health, education, and infrastructure, with absolutely no explicit mention of direct investment or initiatives to support the Culture, Arts, and Heritage sector. This egregious omission has set off alarm bells across a sector that has enjoyed only neglect, underinvestment and a reduction in living/working standards caused by 13+ years of austerity on the part of the Assembly and government departments. Bear in mind that these sectors, culture arts and heritage, have just completed two major pieces of work in ministerial taskforces, producing firstly a cogent plan for the recovery through the Covid crisis and then latterly, a Culture arts and heritage Strategy completed in 2022, with scores of organisations and their leaders taking part.

Whilst the stark absence of any references to culture and heritage shouldn’t necessarily mean these sectors will be neglected entirely, but given bitter experience and the catchy title of the draft pfg “Doing What Matters Most”, it is evident what government now thinks – that creativity and culture are definitely not priorities and essentially do not matter in this society. This lack of visibility in the stated core governmental priorities begs questions about the ongoing support of these sectors in the next government funding cycles and ultimately, the sustainability of arts and culture in this corner of the globe…

The draft PfG does manage to set out a broad framework for public policy, and its undoubtedly possible that specific initiatives might emerge through funding schemes, possibly through departmental budgets such as tourism or education, but to reduce even the editorial commitment to culture, arts and heritage, is yet another body blow to a sector that has been pummelled for a decade or more and now sees its value not noted ONCE in a draft programme for government. Unbelievable!

As a sector, we must coalesce around a determination to place the arts and culture at the heart of society and seize this consultation process, running from September to November 2024, to press government for stronger representation in policy and commitments to fund our sector sustainably in the finalised pfg.

The 2024-2027 PfG “Our Plan: Doing What Matters Most” shows massive divergence from earlier pfg’s regarding the role of the arts.

1. 2016-2021 Programme for Government

In the 2016-2021 PfG, culture, arts, and heritage were explicitly recognised as critical to Northern Ireland’s identity, social cohesion, and economic development. Specific outcomes relating to these sectors included:

Outcome 5: Emphasised “a more creative society,” with a direct commitment to supporting the arts as a means of fostering innovation, creativity, and inclusion
Investment in Culture: Funding and strategic initiatives targeted cultural projects, aiming to enhance Northern Ireland’s cultural offering as part of its tourism and international appeal. The recognition of the arts as a driver for tourism and economic regeneration was clear in the 2016-2021 document.
Community and Cohesion: Arts and heritage were also tied into improving community relations and reducing division. Initiatives were often designed to support cultural expression as a form of healing from the legacy of the Troubles, with government-funded programmes aimed at both promoting Northern Ireland’s heritage and fostering dialogue across communities

But now in contrast…

2. 2024-2027 Programme for Government

The current draft PfG for 2024-2027 makes absolutely no direct mention of culture, arts, or heritage as priorities in its key outcomes. This lack of explicit focus on the sector marks a worrying departure from previous government programmes and signals an unambiguous threat to the sustainability of these sectors:

Reduced Visibility: While the previous PfG (2016-2021) included a specific outcome tied to creativity and the arts, the 2024-2027 draft shifts attention to broader societal goals like economic recovery, health, and environmental sustainability without any reference to arts, culture or heritage. This is itself is remarkable, but all the more so if one remembers the crisis in race relations continue to reverberate locally for a society that is still emerging from conflict.
Post-Pandemic Priorities: The new draft is heavily focused on rebuilding the economy and health services after the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, cultural funding has been further deprioritised. Bear in mind that only last year, culture arts and heritage leaders spent months working on a ministerial taskforce to address these concerns, and develop a strategy, and yet that vision is now cast aside completely. The clear message to be heard by our sector is that neither our input, nor the industry that works across all sections of our community, employing thousands, matters.

3. Potential Impacts

Funding Concerns: The absence of explicit goals for arts and heritage in the 2024-2027 PfG raises immediate concerns about further and perhaps more profound funding cuts. While earlier versions of the PfG linked cultural initiatives to tourism and economic strategies, the current draft shifts away from these linkages, severing what had been a clear strategic initiative ( and one of course that is employed by neighbouring jurisdictions to global and national effect.)
Consultation Opportunity: The ongoing consultation process offers a chance for stakeholders in the culture, arts, and heritage sectors to push for stronger representation and clearer funding commitments in the final version of the PfG

The PfG 2024-2027 marks a clear shift away from the explicit support for culture, arts, and heritage seen in the 2016-2021 iteration. While the previous PfG recognised the arts as a key driver for social cohesion and economic growth, the current draft lacks any direct references to our sector.

When comparing the 2024-2027 draft PfG with previous versions, in terms of culture, arts, and heritage, key trends emerge:

Reduction in Visibility of Arts and Culture:

In earlier iterations, particularly those from 2011-2015, cultural heritage, linguistic diversity (e.g., Irish and Ulster Scots), and the promotion of arts as community development tools were explicitly addressed. For example, the PfG for 2011-2015 emphasised celebrating cultural and linguistic diversity and included actions related to the provision of resources for Irish medium education, respect for ethnic minority traditions, and cultural participation by disabled and elderly citizens. The emphasis was not only on supporting these sectors but also promoting inclusivity across communities.

Cultural and Economic Development Links:

The 2016-2021 PfG made stronger links between culture, arts, and economic goals, framing the creative industries as contributors to the regional economy. There was an effort to tie arts and cultural activities into broader social outcomes, including mental health improvement and community cohesion.

Whilst arts purists may have baulked at the time and complained of social engineering and instrumentalism, the arts aren’t even mentioned now.

However, by 2024-2027, while the framework continues to promote community well-being, there is a complete absence of specific policies or any stated commitments aimed directly at the arts and cultural sectors.

Broad Social and Economic Focus:

This latest draft of the PfG, primarily focuses on broader economic, health, and educational outcomes, with culture and arts having no explicit role in this strategic overview, where the arts and cultural sectors have explicitly, constantly and consistently supported these areas.

The arts contribution to the UK economy (evidenced in figures around GVA and GDP) leverages huge benefit when compared to the comparatively low level of investment. N Ireland contributes hugely to this leverage.

Similarly, the impact of the arts on mental, emotional and physical health has been proven and charted again and again in community and health settings.

As for education – how many successful engagements has the sector carried out in just the last few weeks, never mind consistently, year on year, across our schools, community centres and centres of learning.

The new framework offers no role for cultural and artistic contributions as key enablers of societal progress, and will undoubtedly lead to further reductions in funding if this is not addressed coherently, cogently and across

This approach by the Northern Ireland government suggests that while earlier programmes may have recognised the intrinsic value of culture and arts and indeed how that value might be applied, the more recent iterations only prioritise measurable economic and social outcomes, the reductive neo-liberal framework that can only count beans.

Our sector and all who have benefited from it over the years, must fight back before we are swept away.

Let’s compare the so-called ‘Doing What Matters Most’ programme with that of our near neighbours in the Republic of Ireland, Wales, and Scotland for a moment.

Just a brief scan around reveals so much.

As I’ve said, here amongst our ministers and their departments in the North/Northern Ireland there is now a marked absence of any explicit reference to the culture arts and heritage sectors. While general public spending is discussed, cultural investment does not appear anywhere, leaving the status of ongoing or new initiatives in the arts and heritage sectors completely unclear and worryingly absent. This contrasts sharply with approaches in the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

Republic of Ireland:

Cultural policy in the Republic is highly evolved and painstakingly consulted upon and developed. It is always integrated into broader governmental priorities. Through frameworks like Culture 2025, the Irish government places culture at the heart of public policy, recognising its importance for social cohesion, identity, and economic development. This all-of-government programme aims to integrate creativity into public policy, touching on key areas such as Creative Youth, Creative Communities, and cultural health and well-being. Moreover, the Irish government has committed to doubling its funding for arts and culture from 2017 levels by 2025.

The Creative Ireland Programme (pdf) (2017-2022) further emphasises key pillars such as enabling creativity in children, investing in cultural infrastructure, and promoting Ireland globally as a hub for cultural and creative industries. Culture 2025 also commits to doubling public funding for culture by 2025 and has extensive support for Irish language, biodiversity, and creative industries.

Scotland:

Although constantly in the news for the wrong reasons around funding over the last months, The Scottish Government consistently highlights the importance of culture through its A Culture Strategy for Scotland (2020), which underscores culture’s role in fostering individual and community wellbeing. Like the ROI, Scotland commits significant investment into creative industries, cultural participation, and heritage conservation and even in light of sever funding pressures, has sought to maintain that commitment. A key element is that culture is seen as a critical element for achieving Scotland’s National Outcomes, with funding provided to both national institutions and community-level arts initiatives.

Wales:

In Wales, our most comparable neighbour in terms of previous funding frameworks (although enjoying twice the funding level per capita) , Wales enjoys a cultural agenda that is similarly well-supported through policies such as Cultural Recovery Fund for arts and culture sectors and the Wales’ Well-being of Future Generations Act (2015). This places culture and heritage as essential to well-being, sustainability, and national identity. There is a strong commitment to safeguarding the Welsh language and promoting heritage tourism, with substantial investment in national museums, heritage sites, and creative industries.

In contrast, Northern Ireland’s PfG says NOTHING… it does not outline even one specific cultural funding commitment or initiative!

It’s clear that policy makers and indeed citizens in neighbouring countries, (who by the way already enjoy cultural investment many times greater than the level of funding here) understand that public investment is critical in supporting a far greater sense of national identity, civic participation, community wellbeing and of course, global recognition of the cultural wealth of these nations. Their governments have consistently embraced culture arts and heritage as a huge driver of national benefit in a multiplicity of settings and relationships, from local community through to international relations.

Northern Ireland’s current PFG lacks any comparable commitment.

For any contemporary nation to ignore culture, arts and heritage and excise all mention from a document entitled “Doing What Matters Most” speaks volumes about how out of step and utterly myopic our collective government is.

Ministers chorus “Our Plan” but its disregards the most basic elements that make society, that makes this place tick – the reasons that we think as we do, the humanity that underpins our language and our interactions, the creativity that we must harness for our collective future and the very essence of how we reflect ourselves today and everyday!

To deny the arts is to undermine any attempt to support our collective quality of life, for citizen or state, child or institution, us’ns and them’uns.

We must push back and not just for the thousands of jobs in this sector, but for the inalienable right of all of us to enjoy the benefits of a cultural life and participate in our society.

ArtsMatterNI offers its resources, platform and collective intelligence to fight back against this casting aside of our sector’s role and respond robustly and collectively to this dismissal of our role.

The Arts Matter. NOW MORE THAN EVER