Cllr George Lawlor (on behalf of Minister Brendan Howlin TD), Julie Hogan (Fine Gael), Anne Walsh (Green Party), Cllr Deirdre Wadding (People before Profit), Jo Mangan (Chairperson), Elizabeth Whyte (Wexford Arts Centre), Emmet Moloney (Independent), Cllr Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail), Aoife Byrne (Fianna Fail) participated in the Election 2016: For Arts Sake, in the Wexford Arts Centre. Pic: Jim Campbell
A COMPACT but vocal crowd made their voices heard when they took a selection of the general election candidates to task over government policy on the Arts, funding and related issues.
General Election 2016: For Art’s Sake was organised with the cooperation of the National Campaign for Arts movement, which was represented on the night by Jo Mangan, who also chaired the event.
Eight of the 17 candidates running in the election were present. They were: Julie Hogan (FG), Aoife Byrne (FF), Cllr. Deirdre Wadding (PbP), Cllr. Malcolm Byrne (FF), Ann Walsh (Green), Cllr. George Lawlor on behalf of Minister Brendan Howlin (LAB), Emmett Moloney (IND) and Leonard Kelly (SOC DEM).
Executive director of the Arts Centre Elizabeth Whyte explained that with an election approaching it was an opportune time for those in the Arts Sector to get their ideas across to those seeking election. She remarked that practitioners often weren’t great at talking about their needs and demands.
Ms. Mangan opened the proceedings with a brief overview of the sector saying that between 2011 and 2013, over 3,000 people left jobs in the arts sector. She commended Ms. Whyte who, she said, had “taken the bull by the horns to organise an ‘Arts Hustings’.”
She pointed out that ‘Brooklyn’, a film based in Wexford had been nominated for Oscars and she wondered how much more success the county could have if arts funding was increased and this was addressed. The City of Culture bid, she added, if successful would be of huge benefit to the county.
She pointed out that just 0.11% of GDP in Ireland in 2012 was spent on culture spending, while the average spend across Europe was 0.6%: the campaign was calling for Ireland to reach half of the average.
The participants in the debate were then given four minutes each to outline their own views on the arts before the floor was opened for questions.
[Full coverage of the meeting is in this week’s Echo]