Dear Ministers and Committees at Stormont,

 In recent issues of our grassroots arts and culture periodical, we have run articles addressing the effect the economic downturn is having on the local arts. In articles entitled “Enterprise Zone”, “The Arts – The Cuts” and “Bureaucracy Needs Exit Strategy”, we have given an assessment of the situation from a grassroots perspective and offered an alternative way ahead. It doesn’t matter too much of course ,what we say in our grassroots newspaper, that so far has been totally ignored by the establishment and the established media. It is really only you, the people in power, who can make the changes.

If anyone is interested in what we have to say, Issue 2 is available online at www.theulsterfolk.com and Issue 3 will be online shortly. Issue 4 will be available in shops across Northern Ireland from July 7^th. Alternatively, we could post you free copies or email the relevant articles which provide the details.

To summarise, we are basically saying that, while a thriving local arts and culture sector is essential for many reasons- including cultural tourism, there needs to be a fresh approach to government funding. Bureaucracy needs to be cut back seriously and the Private Sector needs to be given more responsibility in an environment where ultimately the people, with their personal money, will determine which aspects of the arts and culture they want to support.

To minimise the excessive cost of bureaucracy and the unnecessary problems caused by it ,as outlined previously in The Ulster Folk, there needs to be a strategy for transition and we can offer suggestions.

1) A new approach needs to be developed to create a level playing field between existing funded arts organisations and new groups with new initiatives, who presently cannot compete with heavily funded groups.

2) Some government money is still essential to avoid the collapse of existing groups and to stimulate new innovative, well managed projects which would be reluctant to take off in this economic climate.

3) Pilot projects could be set up for which partial up-front funding could be provided for proposals with sound artistic and management content; proposals that can be held accountable and be fully transparent through the delivery of the goods. They simply wouldn’t receive further support if they couldn’t deliver.

4) This may not seem a lot different on paper, to present government strategy for public funding; the difference would be a drastic elimination of bureaucracy. Companies and individuals still have to keep financial records for Inland Revenue purposes and keep business records in order to operate efficiently. I recently asked the owner of a successful small business what percentage of the cost of running his business went into the administration and management of his employee’s payroll. After consideration he came back with 1% and the extra bureaucracy for such a company with this proposal would be minimal. The great savings would be in the massive reduction of public money to cover the government bureaucracy.

5) In Northern Ireland, the dependency on the Public Sector for employment surely has to end in all sectors. There is an opportunity here for arts and culture to lead the way in a transition to a Private Sector-driven economy. This will not appeal to the thousands of Public Sector workers at present but in the inevitable transition the skills developed by the government officials in charge of arts and culture to date could be put to good use within the Private Sector.

6) Other advantages-

a) The elimination of the artificial “tendering” process that has become a growing stipulation for receipt of public money.

b) The elimination of the need for arts associations to have committees consisting of experienced capable skilled persons, who cannot be involved in artistic or active management of the enterprise as they cannot be in receipt of public money while being on the committee.

c) The reduction of costs for employing personnel for certain posts; for example, advertising alone can be excessive in order to fit in with government guidelines.

We trust you will be able to give consideration to these ideas.

Sincerely,

Willie Drennan

The Ulster Folk