Arts Council Cuts

The latest Arts Council newsletter contained this statement about its recent cut in funding, and how it will impact the organisation and its funding decisions in the coming year:

You may be aware that the Arts Council grant-in-aid from Government has been reduced twice in recent months - in February and again in April. The combined effect of these cuts is a loss of €2.35m on the sum originally provided in the October 2008 budget.

This means that, at the time of writing, the Arts Council's grant-in-aid for 2009 is €73.35m.

The Arts Council has given careful consideration to how it will manage this altered allocation. It has taken account of the fact that, if implemented this far into the year, budget cuts would cause great difficulty for organisations. Accordingly, at its meeting on 28 April, the Council decided that it will not revisit grants to organisations for 2009.

The impact of these recent cuts, however, will be reflected in reduced funds available for 2010 grant allocations.

The Council is now turning its attention to planning for 2010 and beyond. We would alert you to the likelihood that the funding context next year will be extremely difficult. We will be in touch again after we have considered further our strategy, to advise you of our approach and to allow you to plan accordingly.

We will also advise you separately of the application deadlines this year for funding in 2010. These deadlines are likely to be set for later in the year than usual.

The intention of the approach outlined in this article is to support you in the immediate term to realise the activities planned for this year and, most importantly, to assist you in planning your organisation's future in what will be very challenging circumstances.