Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The published statement of strategy for 2021 to 2023 for my Department sets out the priorities for this Department over the next few years to ensure all sectors recover and grow in a manner that underpins social cohesion and supports strong, sustainable economic growth with a focus on a number of cross-cutting goals of equality, diversity, social inclusion, the Irish language and environmental sustainability. One of the cross-cutting goals of the strategy is to support and promote diversity, social, inclusion and full and effective female participation across my Department’s sectors and society in line with programme for Government commitments.

Access to participation in arts and culture is one of the cornerstones of the national framework cultural policy. Culture 2025 underpins the right of everyone to participate in the cultural and creative life of the nation. My Department works with the Council of the National Cultural Institutions to encourage the development of universal audience access, including access for new communities, people with disabilities, the Traveller community and the LGBT+ communities.

The Arts Council of Ireland is the Government agency with responsibility for the arts and artists. Under the Arts Act 2003, the council provides primary responsibility for the promotion and support of the arts throughout the country. The council’s equality, human rights and diversity, EHRD, policy and strategy is designed to build on a range of existing Arts Council work areas. The council is committed to promoting and enhancing inclusion, diversity and equality.

It funds key arts organisations that have a central role in supporting these areas of work. These awards and schemes operated by the council are informed by the Arts Council‘s EHRD policy and strategy and the paying the artist policy. Diversity is a core organisational value in the Arts Council’s ten-year strategy. The council encourages board membership with knowledge of matters relating to diversity, equality and inclusion.

Screen Ireland is also committed to developing policies in these areas and plans to publish its diversity and inclusion strategy in 2022. My Department is working to achieve better gender balance and more diversity across membership of all the boards of the national cultural institutions and agencies under its remit.

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