NEWS: The Development of Local and Community Arts

Please find a letter / call to action from AIMS President Fergal Cavanagh & a link to the report above.

Open Message To all AIMS Societies Chairpersons & Committees 15.08.2024.

I am delighted to inform everyone that, after a lot of hard work by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sports, & Media, their major report on "The Development of Local & Community Arts" was launched last month, which I attended on behalf of A.I.M.S.

This is a substantial document that, if fully implemented, will be a watershed moment for our musical theatre societies and companies throughout the country.

I want, in particular, to point out three items from the Key Recommendations (P10).

Developing Arts in Irish Localities 

1. The Committee recommends that the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media develop an arts capital and equipment programme for investment in local and community arts of a similar scale and structure as its Sports Capital and Equipment Programme, to build on its current Cultural Capital Scheme – Stream E. 

2. The Committee recommends that the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage work together to review the role of local authority arts offices in supporting local and community arts with a view to developing partnerships across State agencies to improve access to the arts among target communities and that increased funds would be provided to local authority arts offices accordingly. 

3. The Committee recommends that The Arts Council formally recognise musical theatre as a distinct artform, and that funding would be provided to the sector accordingly. 

The implementation of these recommendations will make potentially enormous changes for funding for societies through local council and open new doors for capital expenditure project both in revamping existing facilities along with new builds and to finally have Musical theatre accepted as a standalone Art Form and to be funded by the Arts Council.

We on the AIMS executive have been working closely on this project over the last three years and Rob Donnelly, Frank Foley and myself have all made both written and oral submission to this committee when we attended their meetings.

So now it is up to all our AIMS societies to garner support throughout the country to ensure that all our local TD’s Senators and also our Councillors support the work of this committee and all the recommendations of this document 

In talking to members of this committee and in particular Senator Malcolm Byrne who has been very supportive of A.I.M.S - It is absolutely essential that all societies contact their local TD’s Senators & Councillors to lobby for support and the approval and implementation of these recommendations.

I must say that in travelling around the country and looking at the individual show programmes that all societies get great support with all the adverts from their local TD’s Senators and councillors, so please use all those contacts to ensure that we get the support we need to have these recommendations fully accepted and implemented.

In doing so we will have the opportunity of entering a whole new era of support for Local & Community Musical Theatre throughout the country.

Attached to this is the full report. Should you have any queries please let me know.

Feargal Cavanagh 

A.I.M.S. President