Facebook icon Twitter icon Forward icon

National Campaign for the Arts (NCFA) welcomes Heather Humpreys as new Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht

The National Campaign for the Arts (NCFA) today welcomed the appointment of Heather Humphreys as the new Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

The NCFA noted its support of the Government’s recent stated commitment to the creation of a national cultural policy, and confirmed the art sector’s availability to work with the new Minister on the development of this much-needed cultural policy before 2016.

“We look forward to contributing to the new Minister’s development of a truly holistic national cultural policy, which needs to be widely-consulted to ensure buy-in and to be truly worthy of its name”, said the NCFA.

The NCFA also reiterated their opposition to the 2012 reforms of the National Cultural Institutions, which dissolved the independent boards of the National Library and National Museum, and merged a reduced Culture Ireland back into the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

We call on Minister Humphreys to address the serious questions of cultural governance raised by those reforms by including this issue in the national cultural policy consultation”, added the NCFA.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR THE ARTS
Established in 2009 as a response to the McCarthy Report, The National Campaign for the Arts is a volunteer-led, grass roots movement that makes the case for the arts in Ireland. It seeks to ensure that the arts are on local and national government agendas and are recognised as a vital part of contemporary Irish life.

The NCFA’s ambitious but inclusive proposition is to work with the Government and the sector to ensure Ireland is a “Republic of Culture” in 2016 and beyond: to recognise the centrality of the arts to the future, as well as the history, of our nation, and to achieve an appropriate and functional level of state investment in the arts and culture.

For further information, visit www.ncfa.ie.

For media information, contact : jenny@katebowepr.ie / 01 652 0143