Mr. Michael Rainey:

Obviously, the local government sector has been at the centre of the expansion of arts for the past 40 years. The level of local authority investment continues to grow in that space. What we are able to achieve on the ground we do in the main with the assistance of Arts Council, which provides us with programming funds.

The committee can see in the arts officers we have here today there is a huge appetite to do more. There is a huge appetite to reach out. If there was a restraint - I do not believe it is a policy restraint - it is probably a funding restraint. The more programme funding that is provided to the sector to reach out, the better. We have the infrastructure there. We have arts teams. We have culture teams in every local authority area. There is huge appetite and enthusiasm among arts officers to deliver programmes. The more programme funding we get, the more the delivery there is and the more ability we have to reach out to other communities, such as disadvantaged communities and people who are hard to reach in terms of the arts conversation.