Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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Primary public support for the arts in Ireland is provided through the Arts Council. This Government has increased funding to Arts Council in recent years and it now stands at a historic high of €134m. It appears from the details supplied that the organisation to which the Deputy refers has not made an application for funding to the Arts Council in recent years. Under Section 24 of the Arts Act 2003, I cannot direct the Arts Council in the matter of its funding decisions.

The Cultural Institutions Unit in my Department administers grants and funding for smaller cultural institutions. This funding is listed under the Cultural Projects funding subhead known as B6

Projects funded under the B6 subhead meet a specific cultural need and support the high level goal of the department in relation to enhancing access to the arts, culture and film sectors and recognising the social and economic role of these sectors in Ireland.

Details of this programme and it’s various categories of funded may be accessed at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/publication/f2ed0-culture-grants-and-funding/

Although the organisation to which the Deputy refers appears to be aware of the B6 schemes, it seems not to have applied for funding under any of those schemes.

My Department also makes capital grants to not-for-profit arts and culture organisations. Much of the nationwide infrastructure of venues and arts centres used by the professional arts were initiated and funded by local authorities. Whereas this network of venues and arts centres receive ongoing funding for programming from the Arts Council, my Department focuses on providing capital grant funding for arts and cultural facilities. The primary focus of these schemes is towards securing and enhancing existing arts and culture facilities.

At present, my Department has a capital scheme open for applications called Stream E of the Cultural Capital Scheme. Grants of up to €50,000 are available to not-for-profit arts and culture organisations for capital projects that reduce their carbon footprint or provide additional capacity for artistic production. Full details for of these capital schemes can be obtained at the following link: gov - Creative Arts: Grants and Funding (www.gov.ie)

In terms of other capital funding, €6m is being made available to local authorities under the Artist Workspaces Scheme that I launched on 12 June. The primary focus of this pilot scheme is to provide funding to local authorities to enable them to provide additional capacity and availability of artist workspaces in their regions on a sustainable basis.