National Campaign for the Arts
Beyond the Obvious: Culture Action Europe Annual Meeting 2014. The Baltic & The Sage, Gateshead, England. Photograph courtesy Culture Action Europe.
The National Campaign for the Arts was established in September 2009 in response to a government public expenditure review, known colloquially as the McCarthy Report. The report made a series of recommendations which would have devastated the cultural infrastructure and had profound consequences for the arts in Ireland. Since then, the NCFA has consistently and successfully lobbied to safeguard public funding for the arts and is compliant with the Standards in Public Office Act 2001.
I chaired the National Steering Committee from 2013 until 2016. Over that time, a working group was established to advocate for research attitudes and approaches that would improve political decision-making that affects the arts. The research working group was moderated by Kerry McCall Magan. A Strategy for Research was submitted to the Department of the Arts in 2013.
In 2013 and 2014, a series of public Colloquia curated by Tara Byrne, liaising with Kerry McCall Magan, were held in Galway, Kilkenny and Dublin. Arts advocates in each city produced the events and summary reports and podcasts of the four colloquia can be accessed online. In advance, Tara Byrne was commissioned by the NCFA to independently write a Discussion Paper on the Four Founding Campaign Objectives of the NCFA. It began by acknowledging how layered the concept of the public has become and what has to be considered if it is your intention to engage the public in a ‘deeper conversation’ about the arts.
I chaired the National Steering Committee from 2013 until 2016. Over that time, a working group was established to advocate for research attitudes and approaches that would improve political decision-making that affects the arts. The research working group was moderated by Kerry McCall Magan. A Strategy for Research was submitted to the Department of the Arts in 2013.
In 2013 and 2014, a series of public Colloquia curated by Tara Byrne, liaising with Kerry McCall Magan, were held in Galway, Kilkenny and Dublin. Arts advocates in each city produced the events and summary reports and podcasts of the four colloquia can be accessed online. In advance, Tara Byrne was commissioned by the NCFA to independently write a Discussion Paper on the Four Founding Campaign Objectives of the NCFA. It began by acknowledging how layered the concept of the public has become and what has to be considered if it is your intention to engage the public in a ‘deeper conversation’ about the arts.
The NCFA continues as a volunteer-led, grassroots movement that makes the case for the arts in Ireland. We work to ensure that the arts are on national and local government agendas and are recognised as a vital part of contemporary Irish life.