Ms Katherine Licken:

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach agus cuirim fáilte roimh mo chomhghleacaithe atá anseo inniu. Mr. Conor Falvey is assistant secretary in charge of the culture division of the Department, Ms Tania Banotti is director of the Creative Ireland programme and Dr. Aodhán Mac Cormaic is stiúrthóir na Gaeilge in the Department.

We very much welcome the opportunity to meet the Special Committee on Covid-19 Response. Covid-19 is having a devastating impact on the arts and culture sector. The Department has been engaged in an ongoing and wide-ranging consultation with stakeholders from across the sector since the commencement of the crisis. This engagement – with national cultural institutions, the Arts Council, Screen Ireland, advocacy bodies, resource organisations, theatre companies, and individual arts practices and artists – has been fundamental to addressing the impact of Covid-19 on the sector, and making effective interventions to help the sector. More recently, this has extended to the commercial for-profit sector, with which we are currently engaged, and from whose representatives the members heard such eloquent testimony on Tuesday.

During these difficult times, culture and art have provided a way to show a community's sense of place while allowing people to express their creativity and resilience. Bringing people together even when we have to stay apart, inspiring and sharing, are the powers of art, the importance of which has been made ever more evident during the Covid-19 crisis. It has been encouraging to see the surge of people accessing cultural content online during Covid-19 - from virtual artists to museums and galleries, streaming of films and even community arts groups via social media - showing the fundamental role that culture and the arts play as a source of resilience during difficult times and, ultimately, its ability to produce high-quality material, which connects with communities and individuals and is made available online to the public.

The Department has supported a number of initiatives to ensure that the public has access to quality cultural and creative online content. For example, Culture Ireland’s innovative Ireland Performs series involved 120 online performances, in partnership with Facebook, and was delivered in April and May to a global audience of 750,000, while the Other Voices Courage programme included a number of performances from our national cultural institutions, which reached audiences of more than 2.7 million, with 1.15 million live views. Those views were not just domestic but international, which is important from a tourism perspective. The Creative Ireland programme also delivered a number of initiatives which provided creative opportunities for the public, working with Healthy Ireland, or through local authorities in the delivery of the highly successful Cruinniú na nÓg. Critically, all of these initiatives also provided opportunities for paid work for artists and creatives when few other opportunities were available.

In terms of the challenges facing arts organisations, there were a number of immediate responses. The Arts Council quickly assured funded organisations that funding remained available in 2020 and that it could be drawn down sooner. This was intended to help tackle cash flow challenges posed by the cancellation of events and to minimise the impact on artists who might otherwise not have been paid. In terms of other supports, individual artists have access to the pandemic unemployment payment and where they struggled to access these supports, the Department provided helpdesk support to individual artists to ensure that they fully understood the supports available. This practical assistance flowed from engagement with arts organisations and proved to be of real, practical support to people in the sector who were experiencing a crisis in terms of immediate income.

While the impact of Covid-19 for some aspects of the cultural sector can be quantified in terms of the number of institutions or sites closed or the loss of revenue for cultural and creative industries, other facets of culture are harder to gauge. The Department is currently conducting a survey to evaluate the continuing impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the sectors supported by it and to better understand the ongoing experience of organisations and individuals affected by the crisis. This information will help to inform the ongoing policy response of the Department to support the sectors during the pandemic.

Officials are also analysing the recent reports from the Arts Council expert advisory group and the National Campaign for the Arts, and the recommendations outlined therein. We are pleased to report that several of these recommendations are already being implemented.

Drawing on all of the feedback received in the early phases, there was evidence that while the actions of the Arts Council had addressed the immediate impact on arts infrastructure, that is, venues and organisations, additional measures were necessary to sustain venues and organisations and to support freelance artists in the development of their work. The issue of sustainability was critical to the announcement on 16 June of an additional €25 million to support the arts and culture sector this year. This funding will include bursaries and commissions to artists and arts organisations and resources for museums and culture workers as they prepare for the reopening of society. A total of €20 million is being allocated to the Arts Council, bringing its allocation this year to €100 million. A further €5 million will be available for other measures, including securing the future of key cultural and museum spaces and facilities throughout Ireland and the production of high-quality digital art and online performances.

Outside of these sector-specific supports, cross-Government measures are also playing an important role. These include - and the committee will be very familiar with them - include the extension of the pandemic unemployment payment until 10 August 2020 and the cross-sectoral economic supports which have been put in place, such as the wage subsidy scheme, increased unemployment benefits, the State credit guarantee scheme-----