Arts Council gets €2m extra towards 1916 centenary

Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Heather Humphreys has announced €2 million in extra funds for the Arts Council next year, to finance events for the 1916 centenary.

In a statement, the Minister said the €2 million would allow the Arts Council to fund “a series of events and initiatives across the country as part of Ireland 2016”, the programme marking the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising. Earlier this week, Ms Humphreys also announced an extra €2 million in funding for the country’s national cultural institutions.

“I want the arts to play a central part in the 2016 commemorations,” she said. “The Arts Council plays an extremely valuable role in supporting the arts in towns and villages across the country. This additional funding will allow it to provide direct financial support for events and initiatives [for Ireland 2016].”

“One of the big things we would like to do is get everyone talking and reach into every corner of Ireland,” said Sheila Pratschke, chair of the Arts Council. Ideas are still in the planning stages, but one proposal is a nationwide choral event, involving RTE and the GAA, “with perhaps a massive culmination in Croke Park”.

“We would also like to do big commissions across the art forms, in visual arts, dance, theatre and music to really mark the occasion.”

This brings the Arts Council’s funding to €60 million for 2015, and total Government spending on arts, culture and film to €158 million.

Some €28 million is being spent on the commemorations programme in 2015, on seven major projects. These include: an interpretive centre at the GPO; a visitors’ centre at Kilmainham Gaol; the refurbishment of Richmond Barracks, where some of the 1916 leaders were held after arrest; a tenement museum on Henrietta Street; a visitors’ centre at Pádraig Pearse’s cottage in Rosmuc, Co Galway; and the refurbishment of the military archives building at Cathal Brugha Barracks.

The Minister said that she has been “making the argument that the arts must benefit as the economy continues to improve”. The department has seen consecutive cuts to its funding for almost a decade.