Back to the books for arts access

Libraries could be a key tool in widening access to the arts in Ireland, according to a new report from the National Economic and Social Forum, writes Rosita Boland.

The arts can be a tricky area to navigate when it comes to quantifying both what they are, and how people engage in them. On one level, the arts are public and clearly definable: either paid-for or free cultural events, in which the wider community participates. On another level, the arts are personal and subjective, including both the person who plays a musical instrument for private pleasure, or the one who simply sits at home reading a book. So how do you go about measuring the extent to which these different activities contribute to creating a better community?

This week, the National Economic and Social Forum (NESF), a social partnership organisation, launched a report entitled The Arts, Cultural Inclusion and Social Cohesion. The project involved an extensive amount of research by a large team of people and organisations, with representatives from all four cohorts of the NESF's members. These cohorts are made up of: politicians from both governing and opposing parties; the voluntary and community sector; central and local government and independents; and employers, trade unions and farming organisations. The project was chaired by Prof John O'Hagan of Trinity College, Dublin.

The main purpose of the research was to see if and how participation in the arts adds to "social capital" and thereby to a greater sense of social cohesion within the wider community.

So why is it that the arts are seen to have a positive contribution to communities? The report argues that, at the most basic level, the arts provide opportunities for communities to gather together, thus building social solidarity. Organisations such as amateur-theatre groups encourage leadership and organisation. There are, of course, many other valuable ways in which communities come together - through sport, for instance. The NESF argues, however, that the arts offer different and specific advantages to communities, since they are based on communication and expression; the arts allow private feelings to be publicly expressed. In addition, areas where the arts are thriving can be of economic benefit to a community, either though festivals or by becoming a place where more practising artists come to live.

The report also examines ways of encouraging greater access to and participation in the arts by all socio-economic groups, as well as through the education system. The team consulted widely with individuals and organisations through Ireland. In addition, a public call for written submissions on ideas resulted in 82 replies from various parties, many of which came from within the library services.

Last year, the Arts Council published its own report on how the public access the arts, The Public and the Arts 2006. Unsurprisingly, one of its key findings was that those in the higher socio-economic groups have a much greater level of engagement with the arts. Those on higher incomes were three times more likely to attend classical-music concerts, and twice as likely to attend plays and art exhibitions as those on lower incomes.

That report also found that participation in the arts in Ireland depended not just on income, but on a person's level of education, where they live, and their age. Again, unsurprisingly, those in more rural areas of the country, and who have less access to the arts, avail of them less. All of these findings were relevant to the NESF report, and they are highlighted within it.

Clearly, the task of examining every arts organisation in the country, whether staffed and funded or operating on a voluntary community basis, would be next to impossible. Although the NESF team did consult widely, it decided to focus its attention on the policy and practice of three key areas of the arts: libraries; professional and amateur theatre; and visual arts.

Apart from schools, our state-funded libraries are possibly the most widespread network of places where the arts can be accessed, so it made sense to look closely at ways of developing their potential, since they are such focal points for communities. In 2003, an MRBI survey showed that 68 per cent of adults were or had been a member of a public library, with 833,968 people registered as current members. The figures did not include those additional people who went to the library to attend readings and talks, to use the internet, or read newspapers.

In 2004, there were 353 central and branch libraries recorded in the country, with an additional 800 auxiliary services, to places such as hospitals, schools and prisons. Both librarians and arts officers who contributed to this report stated that the public was more open to visiting art exhibitions in libraries, as people found the spaces were more familiar and less formal than traditional art galleries. To illustrate this, there is an example given of a library in Waterford, where a photographic exhibition on hurling and a "Polish exhibition" (the report is unclear on what this means) both "attracted people into the library who might not normally go to art exhibitions".

No contemporary report which focuses on cultural inclusion in Ireland can ignore the large number of foreign nationals who have settled here in recent years, and who themselves bring a rich assortment of culture to the country. A pilot project was carried out in libraries in Dublin city, Waterford city and Co Meath, which looked at ways of providing a multicultural library service. As a result, the stock of books in languages other than English has been increased in those libraries, as well as a stock of books written by Irish writers in translation. Again, however, it would have been useful if the report had listed the languages which these books came in, to give a clearer idea of which of the new communities were being serviced in this way.

Among the recommendations the report makes for the library services are ways of improving social inclusion via longer opening hours, free membership and free internet access on the 1,400 computer terminals throughout the system, and a development of the Taobh Tíre project (see panel) in other counties.

Education is the most democratic area of all where the arts can be encouraged. The Arts, Cultural Inclusion and Social Cohesion report particularly recommends that art materials be provided by the State to schools in disadvantaged areas, and the development of links between schools and visiting artists.

One of the key findings is that policy-making for the future in the arts is made difficult due to the lack of links between the various organisations, and that better policy coordination is needed to widen participation in the arts, at both a local and national level. For instance, amateur theatre, which is non-funded and run almost exclusively on a voluntary and goodwill basis, but which makes a large contribution to the community, is difficult to formalise due to its ad-hoc nature. Even in the state-funded sector of the arts, there is often a lack of cohesion.

Prime examples of this are arts officers, now operating in almost every county, many of whom organise extremely successful community arts projects, several of which are set out in this report. While local-authority arts plans are based on Arts Council plans, a number of strategic links are missing, which could coordinate the work done at an inter-county level. For example, while county arts offices are frequently recipients of funding from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, they don't have any official links with it. Nor is there any evident coordination between the Office for Social Inclusion and the arts offices.

It follows on that ensuring a reliable stream of long-term funding for pilot projects is one of the recommendations of the report. It's also stressed that better data is needed on those who are currently involved in decision-making in the arts - eg, what their gender, race and social class are - in order to widen access.

Although the report has only just been published, one of its key recommendations has already been picked up by the Department of the Taoiseach, that of forming a strategy committee, with an independent chair, to implement the recommendations. However, no decision has yet been made about when it will be established.

A library scheme leading the way

Taobh Tíre is a pilot project to provide library services to isolated areas, and features as an example in the report. It has successfully been carried out in Co Donegal, an area where libraries are very far-flung.

The project delivers library services through a network of points in rural Donegal; points which range from community halls to resource centres and co-ops.

Each of these places has a small collection of books and a computer that links users to the county library's online catalogue, from which people can choose and order which books, CDs, DVDs or videos they want. These are then delivered to their local service point for collection.

Visual arts raise a smile

In 2004, under the guidance of professional photographers, 1,200 schoolchildren and their teachers from 19 schools in the Docklands in Dublin were given cameras and invited to shoot images that best represented the cultural mix of their area, as part of another project looked at in the report.

An exhibition of 100 selected photographs (including the picture above), toured various locations in the Docklands, and were also published in a book, Caught on Camera.

KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED IN THE REPORT

1. What is meant by arts participation and cultural inclusion?

2. Why does participation in the arts and cultural inclusion matter and, in particular, how does it contribute to social cohesiveness?

3. What are the main barriers to cultural inclusion through participation in the arts?

4. What policies and measures have been put in place in Ireland to address the issues of participation in the arts and cultural inclusion?

5. What changes can be recommended to improve the contribution of the arts to cultural and social cohesion?

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS IN THE REPORT

1. Better policy coordination: at a national level and within local authorities; among local arts groups; between national and local arts organisations; and among arts officers.

2. Management and certainty of funding through: multi-annual funding; revenue funding and staff; a system to roll out successful pilot schemes; ring-fencing cultural-inclusion funding.

3. Targeted measures for specific groups including: outreach programmes; public-awareness campaigns; and staff training.

4. Support for children via: links between schools and artists; specific funding for disadvantaged schools; and support for adult education in the arts.

5. Improved data and evaluation via: more data on both those who are and who are not currently participating

in the arts; and statistics which measure the social impact of the arts.

6. Implementation of these recommendations should be via: a strategy committee; and an arts partnership fora.