Local Authority and European Parliament Elections
2014 - 2019
Cabra/Finglas: Dublin City Council candidates successfully elected in my area, 2014 - 2019:
Cieran Perry (Ind), Teresa Keegan (Ind), Emma Murphy (SF), Séamus McGrattan (SF), Anthony Connaghan (SF), Brendan Carr (Lab), and David Costello (FF). Political Party and Independent Spokespeople on the Arts in the Dail and Seanad are on the Oireachtas website.
European Parliament: MEP candidates successfully elected in the Dublin area, 2014 - 2019:
Lynn Boylan (SF), Nessa Childers (Ind) and Brian Hayes (FG). There are 8 more MEPs across Ireland, full list here.
Out of Ireland's total of 11 MEPs, only one is involved in the cultural agenda formally at EU level. Liadh O'Riada (SF) sits on the Culture Committee. Elected by voters in Ireland South, a party political election video outlining her personal and political view of culture is here. Write to her and ask how she is advancing the case for restoring culture to the heart of European decision-making. Check in with the umbrella lobbying organisations Culture Action Europe and the European Cultural Foundation for their analysis of the European picture now.
Add to your address books and contact lists, the emails of your elected representatives as well as their Dáil and Seanad on spokespeople on the arts and local government. Always invite them to your arts events so they properly understand the extent of the contribution the arts make to society locally, nationally, in Europe and beyond.
Arts and local authority budgets make the most important combined public contribution to the making and experience of art and culture all over Ireland. The public stake in culture powerfully signifies confidence in a shared belief that we have and hold culture in common. A combination of national legislation and local councils' political commitments keep the wolf from your arts office's door.
Cieran Perry (Ind), Teresa Keegan (Ind), Emma Murphy (SF), Séamus McGrattan (SF), Anthony Connaghan (SF), Brendan Carr (Lab), and David Costello (FF). Political Party and Independent Spokespeople on the Arts in the Dail and Seanad are on the Oireachtas website.
European Parliament: MEP candidates successfully elected in the Dublin area, 2014 - 2019:
Lynn Boylan (SF), Nessa Childers (Ind) and Brian Hayes (FG). There are 8 more MEPs across Ireland, full list here.
Out of Ireland's total of 11 MEPs, only one is involved in the cultural agenda formally at EU level. Liadh O'Riada (SF) sits on the Culture Committee. Elected by voters in Ireland South, a party political election video outlining her personal and political view of culture is here. Write to her and ask how she is advancing the case for restoring culture to the heart of European decision-making. Check in with the umbrella lobbying organisations Culture Action Europe and the European Cultural Foundation for their analysis of the European picture now.
Add to your address books and contact lists, the emails of your elected representatives as well as their Dáil and Seanad on spokespeople on the arts and local government. Always invite them to your arts events so they properly understand the extent of the contribution the arts make to society locally, nationally, in Europe and beyond.
Arts and local authority budgets make the most important combined public contribution to the making and experience of art and culture all over Ireland. The public stake in culture powerfully signifies confidence in a shared belief that we have and hold culture in common. A combination of national legislation and local councils' political commitments keep the wolf from your arts office's door.
I used the following letters when writing to candidates in the run up to election. I have been able to use some of this information again, when reminding representatives what people want and what priorities the NCFA has identified for action with a view to change for the better for the arts.
Dear [Local Authority Candidate],
With the local elections just weeks away, I am writing to draw your attention to local authority funding for the arts and ask you to commit to sustain and, as things improve for us economically, to increase that spend. A National Campaign for the Arts RedC Survey shows significant public support for more arts funding by local authorities.
63% of the public believe that local authorities should invest in the arts.
This is a pretty compelling statistic. Nearly two-thirds of the public believe that local authorities should provide financial support to fund the arts to a level above present spending.
13 cent is not enough …
Currently, on average, local authorities spend 13 cent per person per week on the arts (compared with 98 cent spent by central government).
I am calling on you to commit to raise the amount spent on the arts and to challenge you to help achieve the National Campaign for the Arts’ target of €1 per person per week by 2019. I recognise it’s a huge target and a bold ambition. But the arts are worth the investment. And it’s what the public want.
… the public believe that local authorities should spend more than 50 cents …
The survey also showed that over 50% of people believe that local authorities should spend more than 50 cent per person per week on the arts. And more than 1 in 5 people actually thought that this figure should be higher, at least €1 per person per week.
… to benefit the community you hope to serve
Please take a moment to consider the huge contribution made by the arts to the life of our community in Dublin's Cabra-Finglas area.
For example, Phizzfest including the Arts Clinic at the Mater Hospital, the Artists and Writers in Prisons programmes in Mountjoy Prison, Art in Context at the Botanic Gardens, the Glasnevin Museum, The Lost and Found Sound Assembly, organised by US composer George Higgs with St Mary’s School for Deaf Girls, Cabra, artist Dominic Thorpe's projects with the Irish Youth Justice Services and the Finglas Suicide Network and the Grangegorman Development agency/DIT Arts Strategy. And more...
This is replicated throughout the country. We’ve a fantastic network of arts centres operating year-round at the heart of their community. All over the country festivals big and small put our towns and cities on the map, help us feel proud of who we are and where we’re from and bring proven economic benefits.
In schools, the arts promote attendance, accelerate learning and build confidence. In hospitals and healthcare settings, the arts create opportunities for people, who face long-term illness and treatment, to be creative, joyful, and strong. And where people are on the outside, who are marginalised, the arts can help them find their voice, to be empowered, heard and understood.
The arts matter to your voters …
Over the last few difficult years, the arts have proved their resilience, popularity and value. The arts matter to your voters. They know they make a difference in their lives.
….make them matter to you. Support local authority arts funding
If you are elected, please make the arts matter to you. I’m asking you to support your area arts service and champion your local area arts plan. Demand fair play and a fair deal for the arts in your area.
Yours sincerely,
Valerie Connor, Chair, National Campaign for the Arts
Resident Cabra/Finglas, Dublin
www.ncfa.ie
www.valerieconnor.com
Other Searchable Websites for Public Art, Arts and Health, & Artists Working with Children
www.artsandhealth.ie
www.publicart.ie
www.practice.ie
63% of the public believe that local authorities should invest in the arts.
This is a pretty compelling statistic. Nearly two-thirds of the public believe that local authorities should provide financial support to fund the arts to a level above present spending.
13 cent is not enough …
Currently, on average, local authorities spend 13 cent per person per week on the arts (compared with 98 cent spent by central government).
I am calling on you to commit to raise the amount spent on the arts and to challenge you to help achieve the National Campaign for the Arts’ target of €1 per person per week by 2019. I recognise it’s a huge target and a bold ambition. But the arts are worth the investment. And it’s what the public want.
… the public believe that local authorities should spend more than 50 cents …
The survey also showed that over 50% of people believe that local authorities should spend more than 50 cent per person per week on the arts. And more than 1 in 5 people actually thought that this figure should be higher, at least €1 per person per week.
… to benefit the community you hope to serve
Please take a moment to consider the huge contribution made by the arts to the life of our community in Dublin's Cabra-Finglas area.
For example, Phizzfest including the Arts Clinic at the Mater Hospital, the Artists and Writers in Prisons programmes in Mountjoy Prison, Art in Context at the Botanic Gardens, the Glasnevin Museum, The Lost and Found Sound Assembly, organised by US composer George Higgs with St Mary’s School for Deaf Girls, Cabra, artist Dominic Thorpe's projects with the Irish Youth Justice Services and the Finglas Suicide Network and the Grangegorman Development agency/DIT Arts Strategy. And more...
This is replicated throughout the country. We’ve a fantastic network of arts centres operating year-round at the heart of their community. All over the country festivals big and small put our towns and cities on the map, help us feel proud of who we are and where we’re from and bring proven economic benefits.
In schools, the arts promote attendance, accelerate learning and build confidence. In hospitals and healthcare settings, the arts create opportunities for people, who face long-term illness and treatment, to be creative, joyful, and strong. And where people are on the outside, who are marginalised, the arts can help them find their voice, to be empowered, heard and understood.
The arts matter to your voters …
Over the last few difficult years, the arts have proved their resilience, popularity and value. The arts matter to your voters. They know they make a difference in their lives.
….make them matter to you. Support local authority arts funding
If you are elected, please make the arts matter to you. I’m asking you to support your area arts service and champion your local area arts plan. Demand fair play and a fair deal for the arts in your area.
Yours sincerely,
Valerie Connor, Chair, National Campaign for the Arts
Resident Cabra/Finglas, Dublin
www.ncfa.ie
www.valerieconnor.com
Other Searchable Websites for Public Art, Arts and Health, & Artists Working with Children
www.artsandhealth.ie
www.publicart.ie
www.practice.ie
Dear [European Parliament Candidate],
With the European elections just days away now, I am writing to draw your attention to the role of the arts and culture in the future of Europe and to underline cultural development now as a strategic necessity.
As a supporter of the National Campaign for the Arts, I understand the immense value of the arts to our society and the role they play in enriching people’s lives. I am glad that that this is acknowledged in Europe and has been supported through structural and other funding initiatives. The EU’s new programme for the cultural and creative sectors 2014 -2020, Creative Europe, further ratifies this.
But the arts, creative and cultural industries must not be sidelined or considered apart from the fundamental work of the Europe Union. Established first to ensure peace, then to progress economic stability and prosperity, contemporary Europe must now be about social growth and cohesion. As such, the arts, creative and cultural industries must be a part of the core vision and plan for a successful, progressive and prosperous Europe in 2020.
I am asking you, if elected, to do three things:
(1) To promote the role of culture, arts and citizenship and push it higher up the Europe 2020 agenda;
(2) To commit publicly support the Creative Europe Framework;
(3) To improve access to the arts for all citizens and safeguard my cultural rights, as enshrined in the International Covenant of Economic Social and Cultural Rights.
As our colleagues in Culture Action Europe say, ‘enhancing people’s cultural capacities such as co-operation and creativity, openness to diversity and curiosity, lyricism as much as logical thinking, is essential to develop a fully sustainable society where human rights, civil liberties and shared well-being can be achieved. Art and science powerfully contribute to the enhancement of such capacities as well as cultural life, education and research. These are priority fields for policy and action’.
A national strategy to implement the chapter on culture in the Treaty on European Union could be an umbrella to enable citizens in Ireland to participate in transnational artistic initiatives, collaborations and artistic exchange, and deliver on national actions and investment on arts and culture in other policy areas of the Treaty (e.g. Health; Research and Innovation).
I am supporting the Culture Action Europe's Europe-wide action today and attaching the We Are More Manifesto.
I wish you all the best with your campaign and sincerely hope, if elected, you will indeed enable a truly tolerant and confidently Creative Europe.
Kind Regards,
Valerie Connor, Chair, National Campaign for the Arts
Resident Glasnevin, Dublin
www.ncfa.ie
www.valerieconnor.com
EU Culture Related Websites
Culture, European Union website:
http://europa.eu/pol/cult/index_en.htm
The part of the Treaty on European Union that relates to Culture:
http://europa.eu/pol/pdf/qc3209190enc_002.pdf#nameddest=article167
The section on Culture, Education, and Youth, European Commission:
http://ec.europa.eu/policies/culture_education_youth_en.htm
The Creative Europe programme.
http://ec.europa.eu/culture/index_en.htm
The Arts Council’s programme for ‘Culture Connects’, which was the cultural programme of Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2013:
http://www.artscouncil.ie/en/intro/eu-presidency.aspx
As a supporter of the National Campaign for the Arts, I understand the immense value of the arts to our society and the role they play in enriching people’s lives. I am glad that that this is acknowledged in Europe and has been supported through structural and other funding initiatives. The EU’s new programme for the cultural and creative sectors 2014 -2020, Creative Europe, further ratifies this.
But the arts, creative and cultural industries must not be sidelined or considered apart from the fundamental work of the Europe Union. Established first to ensure peace, then to progress economic stability and prosperity, contemporary Europe must now be about social growth and cohesion. As such, the arts, creative and cultural industries must be a part of the core vision and plan for a successful, progressive and prosperous Europe in 2020.
I am asking you, if elected, to do three things:
(1) To promote the role of culture, arts and citizenship and push it higher up the Europe 2020 agenda;
(2) To commit publicly support the Creative Europe Framework;
(3) To improve access to the arts for all citizens and safeguard my cultural rights, as enshrined in the International Covenant of Economic Social and Cultural Rights.
As our colleagues in Culture Action Europe say, ‘enhancing people’s cultural capacities such as co-operation and creativity, openness to diversity and curiosity, lyricism as much as logical thinking, is essential to develop a fully sustainable society where human rights, civil liberties and shared well-being can be achieved. Art and science powerfully contribute to the enhancement of such capacities as well as cultural life, education and research. These are priority fields for policy and action’.
A national strategy to implement the chapter on culture in the Treaty on European Union could be an umbrella to enable citizens in Ireland to participate in transnational artistic initiatives, collaborations and artistic exchange, and deliver on national actions and investment on arts and culture in other policy areas of the Treaty (e.g. Health; Research and Innovation).
I am supporting the Culture Action Europe's Europe-wide action today and attaching the We Are More Manifesto.
I wish you all the best with your campaign and sincerely hope, if elected, you will indeed enable a truly tolerant and confidently Creative Europe.
Kind Regards,
Valerie Connor, Chair, National Campaign for the Arts
Resident Glasnevin, Dublin
www.ncfa.ie
www.valerieconnor.com
EU Culture Related Websites
Culture, European Union website:
http://europa.eu/pol/cult/index_en.htm
The part of the Treaty on European Union that relates to Culture:
http://europa.eu/pol/pdf/qc3209190enc_002.pdf#nameddest=article167
The section on Culture, Education, and Youth, European Commission:
http://ec.europa.eu/policies/culture_education_youth_en.htm
The Creative Europe programme.
http://ec.europa.eu/culture/index_en.htm
The Arts Council’s programme for ‘Culture Connects’, which was the cultural programme of Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2013:
http://www.artscouncil.ie/en/intro/eu-presidency.aspx