Belfast Council votes to contest arts cuts

Belfast City Council has voted in favour of a motion to support a campaign calling for a reversal of arts cuts in Northern Ireland. 

The motion asked government officials for “a reversal in cuts to the arts” and committed the council to signing an open letter from Equity Noerthern Ireland to Colum Boyle, Permanent Secretary of the Department for Communities.

MPs unanimously endorsed the motion, which recognised that Permanent Secretaries are “being forced to take, without a mandate, difficult decisions that should be taken by locally elected ministers and a devolved Executive and Assembly” and that “too often the council is forced to step in and financially support arts and cultural organisations who have lost funding from Stormont departments”.

A 10% reduction to Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s budget was proposed in April, which was later lowered to 5%. In its letter, Equity NI said that reduction in the decrease was of "no comfort", claiming that Arts Council NI funding has decreased, in real terms, by 30% over the last decade.

Around 130 Equity members and supporters held a rally at Belfast City Hall ahead of the vote on Wednesday night (1 November). Speaking at the protest, Equity president Lynda Rooke said: “12,500 people signed Equity's petition demanding more investment in the arts and no to further cuts, I echo this with the backing of 47,000 Equity members from across the four nations of the UK."