McGIMPSEY ALLOCATES ADDITIONAL MONEY TO THE ARTS

Arts Minister, Michael McGimpsey unveiled a new strategy for the future direction of the arts in the Northern Ireland and has backed it up with an additional £400,000 for the sector.

The Minister was at the Ormeau Baths Gallery in Belfast on Wednesday June 20 where he was launching ‘Face to Face’, the blueprint for the setting out of a vision and framework for the development of the arts and culture in Northern Ireland.

Mr McGimpsey pointed out that the document was the product of a long and inclusive process, which began with the Future Search Conference in Cookstown last year and, for the first time, enabled representatives from the various art forms to contribute to a policy document at draft stage.

He said: “This launch is an important landmark on the cultural landscape of Northern Ireland and I am confident that it provides a blueprint for the future which will be welcomed widely throughout the sector.

“‘Face to Face’ contains the collective views of all the important stakeholders. It would be wrong to think of the document as a work owned by my Department as many people who are directly involved, or who have an interest in the future development of the arts and culture in Northern Ireland, have had a hand in its production.

“The outcome is a document to which everyone in the sector can pledge their allegiance and, in order to give momentum to its recommendations, I will be allocating an extra £400,000 to the arts in the current financial year.”

This additional £400,000 boosts the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure’s planned expenditure on the arts in the 2001/02 financial year to £8.8million, a 10 per cent increase over last year’s provision of almost £8 million

This cash injection will go towards developments at community level, the promotion of the arts on the international stage, the development of partnerships with the district councils and funding for the Arts Council for widening access.

Mr McGimpsey also stressed his department's commitment to the editorial group’s mission, which was ‘to discover, inspire and value creative confidence in every person’. He added: “This reiterates the importance of creativity and highlights the value and benefits of culture to society. I will be building on ‘Face to Face’ in the near future when, together with three of my Ministerial colleagues, we will announce the next step in our strategy to help unlock creativity in our community.” (AMcE)