Member's statement: Arts Funding: North/South Disparity
Member's statement by Mrs Cathy Mason on .
- MLA
- Mrs Cathy Mason
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 30 June 2026
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Arts Funding: North/South Disparity
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5652709
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Just over a week ago, artists from across Ireland gathered in Dublin — fittingly, it was at the end of Bloomsday Week — for an event titled "The Arts in a New Ireland", which was organised by Sinn Féin's Commission on the Future of Ireland. It gave artists the opportunity to raise concerns about the challenges facing the sector today and to share their hopes for the future of the arts, particularly in the context of a united Ireland. As more and more people spoke, one thing became strikingly clear. While artists in the Twenty-six Counties face real challenges, artists in the North look with envy at the support available in the rest of Ireland, and it is not hard to see why.
We have no new arts strategy in the North, while, in the South, serious efforts were made to rebuild the sector following COVID. Arts funding here has suffered real-terms cuts of around 40%, while funding per capita in the South is around four times higher. The universal basic income for artists recognises the immense cultural and economic value that artists bring to society. Nothing remotely comparable exists in the North. Investing in the arts is not a luxury. Every £1 invested through the Arts Council generates £1·81 in economic activity, with the potential to deliver even greater returns were the sector properly supported. It would be easy to lay all the blame at the Minister's door. Certainly, Minister Lyons could never be accused of being a champion for the arts. Just last week, he confirmed to me that his Department will provide no direct funding to Fleadh Cheoil, one of the largest music festivals in Europe, when it comes to Belfast for the first time in August. However, the real barrier to progress runs much deeper, with its roots in partition and indifferent Governments in London holding our purse strings. The message from those at the "The Arts in a New Ireland" event was clear: develop a coherent, all-island arts strategy; maximise cooperation across Ireland on arts projects and policy; remove barriers for artists working across the island; and ensure equal opportunities for arts from Derry to Kerry. I urge the Minister to remember that his remit extends beyond soccer clubs and marching bands and to listen to a sector that enriches our communities and strengthens our economy and is slowly suffocating on his watch.
398 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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