Debate contribution: Valuing the Arts

Debate contribution by Mr Gordon Lyons on 17 June 2025.

MLA

Mr Gordon Lyons

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

17 June 2025

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Valuing the Arts

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5014028

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you very much, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. I thank the Member for Foyle Sinéad McLaughlin for bringing the debate to the Chamber today. I agree with nearly everything that she said, and, indeed, I agree with many of the comments made by Members around the Chamber. However, as she would probably expect, I take issue with a couple of her comments. First, she said that I do not get that the arts are an important lever in tackling economic inequality: I do. I fully grasp and understand that. I wish that I were in a position to do more. I absolutely understand the impact, because I have seen that in communities in my consistency, in that of Mr Brett and Mr Kingston and in many others. The arts have a transformative impact, and I want to be able to do more. I will address that more in my comments. Secondly, there has been a mischaracterisation of my position on regional funding. I certainly agree with the Member: I want to see regional balance. I do not think that there is that balance at the minute. We need to see more of it. When I discussed the issue in the Chamber last week or, potentially, the week before, I highlighted the fact that my constituency and my council area got 0·4% of the overall arts budget. Yes, I understand that the Arts Council is not the only organisation that delivers arts funding. I get that many of the organisations that are based in Belfast work in areas outside Belfast and, indeed, across Northern Ireland. We are on the same page in wanting to make sure that we get that support across Northern Ireland. That is why I have taken some of the actions that I have. Today's motion focuses on the strategic importance of the arts and the mechanics of support. I acknowledge and fully understand that engagement in the arts can have a significance that is broader and deeper than many of the issues that we deal with here. I understand the intrinsic value of the arts, which is often very personal and difficult to quantify. When I speak of "the arts", I mean their personal and intangible value, as well as the broader economic and social value that is at the core of today's debate, and that is what I will turn to now. On the value of the arts and the funding position, let me be crystal clear by reiterating what I said in the House in January:

"To Members who think that the arts budget is not enough ... I say that I agree. To Members who think that the work and contribution of the people who make up our arts sector are not understood or valued by me or my Department, I say that that is far from the truth." — [Official Report (Hansard), 28 January 2025, p71, col 1-2].

I understand that words are one thing, and I know that Members across the Chamber will want to judge me on my actions. I am happy for that to happen, because everyone in the Chamber knows that the current financial landscape is highly competitive and strained and that unpalatable choices have had to be made. However, even against that backdrop, I have chosen to add £500,000 to the Arts Council's opening resource budget this year. I have also increased its opening capital allocation by over 50% to £1·4 million: first, for an initiative that will put instruments into people's hands across all communities in Northern Ireland and in school groups and other musical and cultural groups; and, secondly, for a small capital grants programme that will benefit arts activity and organisations throughout Northern Ireland. That is in addition to the more than £2 million that I have provided to support my Department's partnership with Northern Ireland Screen. That pattern was seen last year, too, when I added almost £3 million in resource and capital funding to the Arts Council's opening allocation. I will continue to invest in the arts and creative activity and to make the case for more investment from the Executive. However, in order for me to make that case, policies, ideas and partnerships are required, and the Heritage, Culture and Creativity (HCC) programme that I launched in July last year will be the catalyst for that. In the first phase, it will renew policies on public libraries and museums and, crucially, fill the policy vacuum on the arts and our historic environment. It is also important to recognise that the financial pressures felt in the arts sector and many other areas of the Executive's work will not be dealt with solely through public funding, as Mr Bradley rightly said. We need to broaden funding sources and seek new avenues of support, ensure that our funding and distribution structures are robust and effective and work across Departments to recognise and maximise the impact of the arts. Those are all key tenets of the work being undertaken to develop the new arts policy. Rather than work in silos, the approach is intentionally collaborative and has already seen engagement between my officials and each of the other Departments and, by the way, all 11 councils, which is important. From those engagements comes a greater shared understanding of and appetite for the potential of the arts and culture to play an even bigger role across Executive priorities in health, education, the economy and so on. Today's debate has touched on the Programme for Government (PFG) and the arts' place in it. I take some issue with the idea that the arts are completely absent from the Programme for Government. While the arts may not be captured in the PFG top priorities, if we look a little more deeply into the well-being framework, we will find arts and culture to be a key indicator across the work that is being done. We need to look at the PFG priorities as a whole and think of the contribution that people and organisations working in the arts make to growing the economy. The creative industries sector is one area in our economy with exceptional potential for growth. On the relationship between the Department for the Economy and Department for Communities, I can say that the engagement between officials on issues to do with the creative industries is positive and productive. The motion also proposes the publication of:

"a multi-year funding and delivery plan"

for the arts and creative industries. There are real positives to be found in multi-year funding agreements and few downsides. The practical reality, however, is that, to be meaningful, a multi-year funding plan needs a multi-year budget. Should circumstances allow for multi-annual departmental budgets, which, I believe, we will see soon, I for one will certainly embrace that opportunity.

It is certainly something that we can look at. The Member will be aware of the outworkings of the new heritage, culture and creativity programme that we are bringing forward. I will not be found wanting when it comes to engaging with other Departments, in particular the Department for the Economy and the Department of Finance, to deal with the issues that the Member raises. As I said, there are few downsides to multi-year budgets. One of the issues that many people face in the arts sector is a lack of certainty. We can see that across the community and voluntary sector as well. People spend a large proportion of the year waiting to find out whether they will have a job at the start of the next financial year. That is where we can make a positive difference. I believe that talent, creativity and aspiration should not be based on a postcode and nor should opportunity. Through the work that is being done, I aim to ensure that there is equality of opportunity for people, wherever they are in Northern Ireland, to participate in the arts and to ensure greater participation and engagement at a grassroots level and across all age groups. To achieve that, I want to see greater support and recognition for grassroots and community-based arts. That should not come at the expense of the people and organisations that make up the core of our arts infrastructure and whose current contribution and great potential to do more I reflected on in earlier comments. We must ensure, however, that everyone has access to the arts and to realising their potential, if they have the interest and talent, no matter what their background, location or personal circumstance. That is all the more important when the evidence shows that people from working-class backgrounds are under-represented in our creative industries. That should not be the case, because we have talent and ambition in all our communities, and I pledge to be a Minister who works hard to make sure that the opportunity is there for everyone, no matter where they come from.

I thank Members for their contributions. I look forward to having the support of the House for initiatives such as those that will come through the heritage, culture and creativity programme, not just because we believe that the arts are good for people's well-being and for society but because we know the economic potential and benefits that they can bring.

1,544 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:48 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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