Mr. Noel Kelly:

I thank the Chair for the opportunity to bring the voice of the individual visual artist and visual arts organisations to the committee. We provided a very detailed document prior to the meeting, so I will just summarise the content into key points we believe need attention to strengthen supports for local arts.

First, I will say a little about us. Visual Artists Ireland, VAI, is the representative body for professional artists across the island of Ireland and Irish artists living abroad. With around 3,250 members, we have offices in Dublin and Belfast and operate our services across the country. We believe VAI must be active where artists work and live, meaning that we deliver as far south as the Dingle Peninsula and as far north as Inishowen in north Donegal, with all parts in the east and west covered as well.

We offer a range of supports – advocacy, advice, support services, lifelong learning, consultancy and information provision – and operate so that we ensure artists and arts organisations understand we are a trusted space. We are non-political and do not align with any political belief. Our autonomy and independence ensure our work and research can be trusted to be non-partisan.

In our support document presented to the committee, we address the development of local and community arts through the lens of existing local supports and infrastructure. We focus on the impact of local authority arts offices operating within differing policy and funding levels. VAI's work at grassroots level reflects the voice of individual artists, including the silent majority who do not feel comfortable being part of campaigns and consultations. We also touch upon the impact of specific projects and initiatives from a variety of locations around the country.

We acknowledge that work at local level is significantly dependent upon the importance placed on culture by local government. A variety of initiatives at national level provide additional supports, but, as with all project funding, access is predicated on the ability to understand and prepare detailed applications, to fit within strategic parameters and to have the wherewithal to deliver the programme and provide evidence of a wide range of compliances. These conditions equal access, in that any qualified person or organisation may apply, but they are far from equitable given the range of career and experience levels across the artist community and the range of art practices outside the realm of contemporary art practice. We therefore suggest that all local funding, and, in an ideal world, national funding, take this into consideration and that funders be requested to ensure balanced strategies are introduced, resourced and financed to allow artists at all career stages and art practices the opportunity to gain supports at a meaningful level.

In speaking of local authorities, we speak of the executive and council members. We acknowledge and recognise that given the considerable calls on time and resources, local authority arts officers and other relevant officers are operating in an environment where insufficient staff, funding and other resources may have them operating beyond their current capacity. Therefore, each ask is directed at executive and council levels. It is not our purpose to increase already-stretched teams. We offer them our support, acknowledge the work taking place in many local authority areas and ask that greater support be given regarding the authorities' efforts and ability to deliver ambitious and balanced programmes.

We acknowledge there are many discussions around infrastructure, and in this regard we go into some detail in our document. As part of the discussions, we request that all local authorities be asked to ensure all physical infrastructure put in place is based on sustainable funding and security of tenure and that they be enabled to deliver programmes that support artists in a structured manner across a widely diverse range of art practice areas. Such physical infrastructure should include local authority-facilitated spaces as well as artist-led initiatives.

We believe that due to the nature and scale of work that must take place at national and local levels, proper collaboration and outsourcing models are necessary, especially between local government and national resource organisations. We suggest that a formal structure be put in place that allows for structured engagement between local area organisations and the national resource organisations so there will be an efficient and well-researched approach to supports in local areas and artists can gain access to knowledge and experience from inside and outside their local areas.

We know that much has been said about empty spaces and derelict sites. Therefore, all local authorities are asked to create and deliver a detailed strategy that provides an environment that encourages the handover of empty or derelict spaces for permanent use for the arts and by artists. We request that they work on creating a local and national system that addresses precarious leases as they currently stand and look to working with the National Asset Management Agency and any other agencies that may have the ability to engage with developers and landlords in the creation of a permanent and sustainable financial and legal solution to infrastructure provision.

As outlined in our document, the complexity and labour-intensive aspect of funding applications and compliance reporting comprise a serious drain on artists' time and the resources of arts organisations, which, with very small teams, work endlessly to deliver a programme while at the same time complying with requests, engaging in consultation, making applications and producing reports. The duplication in this area is significant. We ask that a cross-departmental committee be set up to investigate a model to replace the complex and precarious annual funding processes across all public bodies and to allow for sustainable funding to be provided to organisations to cover base costs. We give an example of the level of administration that VAI must deliver in any given year while at the same time operating a quality service for artists.

We suggest that a departmental review be undertaken regarding governance reporting and compliance. We recommend a review of the central reporting system used by the UK. This central repository requires organisations to update it once per annum with details of their financial performance and governance.

We ask that all local authorities be requested to ensure funding is sufficient for the meaningful support of artists and arts organisations in their local areas and that funding organisations allow artists from across all disciplines and career levels to engage with a simple application process that understands and respects their ability to make art that is not necessarily in line with current policies and strategic directions at the local level.

We ask that local enterprise development projects be encouraged to consider the balanced experience of communities and engage with cultural organisations, both commercial and non-profit, to develop and deliver their work outside the large cities.

We also ask that SI 375 of 2022, on the European Communities (Artist's Resale Right) (Amendment) Regulations 2022, be enacted in primary legislation, with the suggested adjustments, so it can fulfil the role set for it at both EU and Irish levels and allow Ireland's visual artists to benefit in the way envisioned in the EU directive. I thank the members for their attention.