The current draft Programme for Government (PfG) 2024-2027, titled “Our Plan: Doing What Matters Most,” has sent shockwaves through Northern Ireland’s arts, culture, and heritage sectors. Unlike previous PfG iterations, such as the 2016-2021 version, which acknowledged the critical role of arts in social cohesion, economic regeneration, and identity, this latest draft fails to mention the sector at all. This is not only a stark departure but also an ominous one, coming after years of austerity, neglect, and underinvestment so evident in the sector—this despite the completion of two major cross sectoral initiatives in concert with government, resulting in the Department for Communities offering ‘Culture, Arts and Heritage – A Way Forward’ document, which was meant to signal a new era of interdepartmental collaboration and support.
The current draft PfG’s understandable focus on economic recovery, health, and education ignores the fundamental role that culture and creativity plays in all of these areas. Arts, culture and heritage are not merely decorative or optional; they are the connective tissue of our contemporary world and the building blocks of the future; inspiring, supporting and nurturing all in a healthy and ambitious society. This stark lack of visibility raises real concerns about further disinvestment, particularly given the sector’s demonstrable and pivotal role in community relations, health, and education here, nevermind the recognition of our artists, writers and creative producers on a larger stage. Without any recognition of the arts, culture, and heritage, this draft PfG sends out a stark and unambiguous message: that creativity does not matter and does not figure in our government’s immediate future plans.
The response from our freelance artists, our cultural organisations, our participants and audiences is equally unambiguous and must be clearly heard – that the arts do matter and we demand recognition and the re-prioritisation of support for our rights to be creative for the benefit of all in our society.
The arts sector now has this very brief window to respond, with this consultation process open until 4th November 2024. This moment offers a critical opportunity to demand recognition, prioritisation and investment in any resulting PfG. Comparing our governmental approach to those in the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales reveals a growing and worrying divergence in cultural support, with those regions embedding arts and heritage in their national strategies, funding programmes, policy initiatives and well-being frameworks, backed up by crucial and significant public investment. The Arts Matter NI campaign asks for that same recognition and opportunity, now.
Arts Matter NI demand 5 Key Responses from government :
- Explicit Commitment to Arts Funding: Commit to specific policy recognition that seeks increased investment in the culture, arts, and heritage sectors in the final PfG,
- Recognition of Arts as Essential to Economic Growth: Reinstate the acknowledgment of arts and culture as drivers of tourism, innovation and regeneration, strengthening our creative economy.
- Support for Cultural Recovery: Implement a clear strategy for supporting the sector’s recovery, leveraging the groundwork laid by the Culture, Arts, and Heritage Strategy to address the precarious situation in which all arts workers find themselves.
- Arts as a Pillar of Social Cohesion: Reinstate the essential role of the arts in peacebuilding, community wellbeing, and tackling the historic and contemporary divisions in our society. The arts are a force for healing and their role cannot be dismissed.
- Equitable Investment: Champion financial and political support that addresses the massive difference we see and experience, in cultural investment levels offered by our nearest neighbours in the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. It is time for our government to step up and match the ambition and commitment of others and ensure that we do not lag even further behind.
The Arts Matter NI campaign asks everyone, government and citizen alike to recognise that the arts do indeed matter, now more than ever. The parties that we elected to govern must now show leadership and protect the vital resource that culture, arts and heritage represents for everyone in our community.
Advisory/Steering Group of current campaign phase:
Conor Shields, Community Arts Partnership and convenor of ArtsMatterNI
Darren Ferguson, Beyond Skin
Gwen Stevenson, freelance artist
Sally Young, The Spectrum Centre
David Boyd, Beat Carnival
Grainne Woods, Rogue Encounters
David Calvert, Rogue Encounters
Dave Hyndman, NVTV
Richard Lavery, Accidental Theatre
Josh Schultz, Community Arts Partnership