Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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246. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if there are regular meetings of regional arts offices with each other. [43395/17]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I assume the Deputy is referring to Local Authority Arts Offices which are primarily an operational matter for the local authorities. However, I understand that there are opportunities for Arts Officers to engage with each other, for example, under the auspices of the Association of Local Authority Arts Officers.

The Arts Council, which is funded by my Department, provides support to local authorities directly for arts programming. The Arts Council also engages with local Arts Officers and local authorities in this role. In this regard, in March 2015 the Arts Council and the County and City Management Association announced a new ten year agreement A Framework for Collaboration  which gives a formal structure to the relationship between the Arts Council and local authorities for the first time.

Finally, Arts Officers are part of the local authority Culture Teams in local authorities across the country, and my Department, through the Creative Ireland Programme office, engages collectively with the co-ordinators of local authority Culture teams on a regular basis.