Professor Kevin Rafter:

We have put a great deal of money into bursaries and different awards to protect artists at different stages of their careers over the past 16 or 17 months. The increased public money and investment from Government has been really important in protecting jobs and livelihoods. This has been a great challenge for the sector. As I said in my opening sentence, it was the sector first hit and it will be the sector that is last to recover. That is why the public funding is vital for the Arts Council to protect jobs, livelihoods and organisations.