Q. In your Irish Times column you stressed the importance of arts organisations seeking private funding, but most people in the business have been adept at this for years. What more could they be doing?
A. I agree that many arts organisations in Ireland work hard to generate private funding, but think we are still a long way from reaching our potential. Only a small percentage of what is given in Ireland – estimated at 0.6 per cent – goes to the arts.
Arts organisations in general raise about 3 per cent of their income from philanthropy, less than in many other countries. We need to work out why that is and how we can change it.
Some people are good at asking for money, but many welcome help in enhancing their skills. The Arts council has introduced the Raise programme to build fundraising capacity.
Q. How is your department helping to facilitate their efforts?
A. Over the past two years we have introduced schemes to leverage philanthropic donations. Their main aim has been to change the culture of fundraising, and they have been successful. We have made small changes to the scheme each year to redirect emphasis – for example in 2013 the emphasis was on arts-in-education, rewarding people for working with children.
Q. Public funding has always followed an "arm's-length" principle . Will this continue? W ill we move to a more American model of funding fuelled by private philanthropy?
A. Private philanthropy will never replace public funding of the arts in Ireland. In the USA the approach is different – not only in the arts, but across the board with public policy. I want to see public funding increase as the economy recovers but I do want arts organisations to supplement what they get from the taxpayer. The arm’s-length approach is enshrined in the Arts Act, 2003. There is no doubt that there are arts organisations in the USA whose balance sheets are the envy of arts organisations all over Europe. However, these are often high profile organisations in very big population centres. Our system provides a richer more diverse tapestry of arts for all in society. Public funding will remain the bedrock of how we support art, culture, film and heritage but we should add to that through sponsorship.
Q. Are there plans for more tax incentives to those donating to or sponsoring the arts?
A. Phil Hogan TD, the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government, reconvened the Forum on Philanthropy. In its report the Forum makes a number of recommendations on tax incentives for donors including recommending that the tax relief in respect of the donation of art works and heritage items to approved cultural institutions should be restored to 100 per cent.
Q. Even though there are cutbacks everywhere, is it not a false economy to cut Culture Ireland by 20 per cent – down to just €2.5 million?
A. The fact is that my department, like every department, has less money for 2014. I can’t fund everything as much as I’d like, so I have to make choices.
Nonetheless, the Culture Ireland programme will support 122 separate events across 27 different countries between January and June this year including a special focus on Irish culture during the St Patrick’s Festival.
The National Cultural Institutions attract more than 2.75 million visitors a year. I allocated as much as possible to the National Museum and Library, and held allocations steady to the National Archives. That meant cutting elsewhere. I wanted to enable these institutions to maintain services to the public over the course of 2014, and I prioritised them over some international events for this year whilst still ensuring that we would spend €2.5 million on international events.
I’ve also made changes at the Culture Ireland programme to ensure representatives of the IDA and the tourism bodies are involved as well as those from agencies like the Arts Council and Film Board. The Culture Ireland programme can therefore work closely with other organisations that promote Ireland on the world stage.
