Rita Duffy
The Belfast-based artist believes the new department is "brilliant. It is the first time ever we have had a serious opportunity to deliver art to a wide range of people". She urges McGimpsey to "scrap the Arts Council" of Northern Ireland. "We could do without the Arts Council for a year or two until we get a clear strategy."
She believes that the arts would be better served by having civil servants and a panel of experts in various art fields working together.
Carlo Gebler
The Fermanagh-based writer and member of An Chomhairle Ealaion has simple advice for the minister and his department: "Avoid an officious, Stalinist arts bureaucracy" which gobbles up money which should be spent on arts and artists.
Martin Lynch
The Belfast-based playwright admits to being "greatly optimistic" about the new department - especially as someone who has been "very disillusioned by the ACNI and its capacity to make change". The department must "auger well for improvement".
Caitriona Ruane
The director of Feile an Phobail in west Belfastiona Ruane, says that the department will make a "huge difference" in providing a focus for lobbying and making arts administration "more accountable". One of the first priorities of DCAL will be to "negotiate a bigger budget" for the arts. The department will have a role to play in "terms of self-esteem, identity and creativity". She is also critical of ACNI.
Patricia Quinn
The director of the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaion says: "I'm greatly encouraged by the evidence of a spirit of co-operation between the two Ministers (Michael McGimpsey and the Republic's Minister for the Arts, Sile de Valera TD) . . . With this kind of political recognition, our existing relationships with colleagues in Northern Ireland are sure to become even stronger, which is most welcome."
Stella Hall
The newly appointed director of the Belfast Festival at Queen's is enthusiastic about the new department and looking forward to a "happy relationship" with it. She says she is "very much looking forward to working" with DCAL and believes its "presence ups the profile of arts" in the North.
