Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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256. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the extent to which she continues to support various community based cultural activities nationally; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24553/19]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The Creative Ireland Programme is a five-year all-of-government, culture-based initiative, led by my Department, that emphasises the importance of human creativity for individual, community and societal wellbeing. 

The vision of the Creative Ireland Programme is to position creativity at the heart of public policy, to enable, encourage and enhance collaboration and innovation, and to create opportunities for all citizens to engage with all forms of creative activity.

In encouraging new ways and means to explore, express and engage with our natural creativity, the Creative Ireland Programme aims to give autonomy to partners (such as local authorities and community groups) to decide on the creative activities that speak to their strengths, preferences and local traditions.

The main source of support for community-based activities under the Creative Ireland Programme is Pillar 2 - 'Enabling Creativity in Every Community'.  In 2019, a total of €3m has been allocated to all 31 local authorities (€96,000 each approximately) to enable them to support an extensive programme of activities, events and initiatives in each county.  In 2018, over 1,200 events took place across all local authorities.  Each local authority has established a Creative Ireland Co-ordinator and a local Culture Team to manage and allocate this funding in accordance with local needs and in line with their individual 5-year Culture and Creativity Strategies.

Projects funded include arts projects, grant schemes, concerts, conferences, exhibitions, festivals, outreach projects, publications, research programmes, and workshops among other activities. They cover topics such as archaeology, architecture, biodiversity, crafts, heritage, dance, film, history, literature, music, photography, poetry, storytelling, theatre and the visual arts.

Under Pillar 1 of the Programme, the Creative Youth Plan aims to enable the creative potential of every child and young person.  While the Creative Schools project is a flagship of this Pillar, the Creative Youth Plan also seeks to support a range of projects and initiatives that engage with children in a non-formal, community-based environment outside of school.