Dear 

As the year draws to a close ...

The government‘s plans to commemorate 2016 were launched last week to an immediate storm of protest.  Amidst all the disquiet we can’t help but consider our proposition for a ‘Republic of Culture’ as much more inclusive and appropriate than ‘Ireland Inspires’.

We wonder too what role the arts will play in the commemorations. We can but hope that John Concannon, Commemorations Programme Director, recognises the value of the arts and our unique ability to bring people together to ‘remember’, ‘reconcile’, ‘imagine’, ‘present’ and ‘celebrate’ – the Commemorations themes.   And if not, we have to seize the opportunity to tell him at the consultations that are mooted to take place round the country.

We urge all our members to participate in these consultations and use them to contribute our best thinking about a Republic of Culture.

Thanks to everyone who turned up to the Seanad last month for the Private Members' Debate on arts and culture with Minister Humphreys.  The official record of the Seanad debate is now online here.

Minister Heather Humphreys is now on record as having said ‘the national cultural institutions … are essential building blocks of the cultural identity and creativity of Ireland’.  This would seem to be at odds with government decision making which has cut funding to these institutions by almost 50% in recent years and has led to the likes of the National Museum having to consider headline grabbing options such as closing some facilities or charging for entry. After the McNulty debacle, the Minister and the government may be able to recover some credibility if they put their money where their mouth is.

At the Seanad debate, the Minister also spoke of being committed to delivering ‘the country's first ever national cultural policy’ and of her belief that culture should be at the centre of Government policy.

Minister Humpreys spoke of the Department's strategy to promote and develop Ireland's world-class artistic and creative strengths at home and abroad, maximising their societal and reputational value to the country.  She revealed that Culture 2025 will focus on a range of issues, including what culture means to us in the 21st century; what can be done to embed culture at the heart of decision making and discourse in the public and private sectors; policies for growth and expansion; international representation and collaboration; and the delivery of cultural services in the digital age.

The Minister’s sentiments startlingly echo the lobbying call on the European Parliament to put culture back into the European project as an intrinsic part of the original vision for Europe and the demand that the Europe 2020 document be rewritten to reflect this.

Willie White, Director of Dublin Theatre Festival, was in Paris last month to attend an ENCATC Advanced Seminar titled Rethinking Cultural Evaluation: Going Beyond GDP. Whilst he found the discussions very interesting, it seems that our colleagues in Europe are as challenged as we are in considering how to measure the qualitative value of culture.  Read his report with a link to presentations here.

NCFA Chairperson, Valerie Connor was also abroad last month to attend the Culture Action Europe conference on culture and social capital in the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art and Sage Gateshead.

Over 200 delegates from across the EU worked on ideas and actions for measuring value, understanding the role of cities in transforming wider culture, and about whether the message of a ‘shared economy’ is the way forward.  There was much common ground in terms of research and the need to change the political discourse about the arts.  The overarching rallying cry was to put culture back at the heart of the European project and decision-making – and back into the European Parliament’s core strategic document, Europe 2020.  Read her report here.

Help us to look forward to making a difference for the arts in 2015 by making a donation. Every little really does help.

Valerie Connor

Chairperson