Recently I was asked to speak at an arts policy event in Dublin. The request came at short notice and so on the day I wrote down the thoughts that occurred to me. The first was this: in 25 years of attending round-table arts policy discussions, I always seem to be going in one direction: to Dublin. 

In the past, this didn’t seem so incongruous. Dublin was somewhere everyone could get to, and the Arts Council and many of the arts and music organisations are based there. But something has shifted over the years, and it has sped up post-pandemic: artists have been getting out of the city because it is unaffordable, and yet all of the decisions that affect their lives still take place in the capital. This leads to a disconnect. 

Consider the Arts Council’s Strategic Funding scheme, for example. This is where a huge proportion of Arts Council funding goes – €50m of the total of €134m in 2024. The next largest infrastructural tranche is the €14.6m spent on Arts Grant funding for smaller organisations, followed by the €6.5m spent on arts centres. If you want access to significant long-term funding as an arts organisation, you need to get into the Strategic Funding category. The average grant in Strategic Funding this year is €465k; for organisations in the Arts Grant category, it is €80k.

Given its significance, it should concern us that a mammoth 70% (€34.7m) of all Strategic Funding is now going to organisations in Dublin. The remaining 30% is distributed over 25 counties. Yes, some organisations in the capital have a national remit and also organise events around the country (they can apply for additional funding for tours). And yes, some Dublin organisations may be underfunded and struggling as it is. It is also true that the Arts Council has a range of grants for individual artists and distributes funding nationally via other means, such as the Partnership Funding scheme for County Councils (€3.8m), the Festivals Investment Scheme for small festivals (€3m), the Creative Places scheme (€993k) and the Creative Schools scheme (€736k), although there is funding for Dublin in all of these too. It is also a fact that Dublin has a larger population, yet it is still only 29% of the country. Nonetheless, allocating 70% of Strategic Funding to one county means that it is almost impossible to grow a broad arts infrastructure throughout the rest of the country. 

When an arts organisation is part of Strategic Funding, it means it can employ a staff and provide its employees with a degree of security. For much of the rest of the arts scene, it is a more precarious life. If you are wondering why small festivals and venues pop up and then close down soon after, or why so many towns and cities still don’t have adequate venues and spaces for artists, the answer lies in the national distribution of funds. 

The disproportionate allocation in Strategic Funding was in evidence even before the pandemic. It means that a substantial portion of the famous government increase since 2020 has simply gone to the capital. 

County funding
Even when organisations from outside Dublin make it into Strategic Funding, their combined allocation is dwarfed by Dublin organisations. In 2024, Galway and Limerick both received just 6% compared to Dublin’s 70%, Cork received 5% and Kilkenny received 3%. Eight counties didn’t receive any Strategic Funding at all: Cavan, Kildare, Laois, Mayo, Offaly, Roscommon, Tipperary and Wicklow. 

A simple example shows the disparity: the small Bewley’s Cafe Theatre on Dublin’s Grafton Street has been added to the Strategic Funding cohort, but Cork International Choral Festival, Cork Opera House and Cork Orchestral Society have not. 

How have we got to this point? Clearly, arts organisations based in Dublin have more visibility among Arts Council staff, there is greater awareness of those organisations’ work, and therefore they do better in funding decisions. Are there no checks to make sure this doesn’t happen? The Council’s 2022 Place, Space & People strategy said there would be, but if there are, they are not working. The fact that almost all of the members of the Arts Council Board are Dublin-based – and that there are hardly any artists among them – only compounds the problem.

What can be done? I suggest three things. First, the Arts Council should decentralise. It needs to set up additional offices in Cork, Galway and near the border and divide its budget and staff accordingly. Future decisions on funding need to be taken by people on the ground. 

Secondly, there should be some democratic element to the membership of the Arts Council Board, whereby each province has an artist representative. Relying on the government’s Public Appointments Service is not working.

Thirdly, some national organisations in Dublin need to look at moving out – 53 of the 107 in Strategic Funding are in the capital. They will be reluctant until the Arts Council decentralises, which is why the next moves are so important.

This is a critical time for communities in Ireland. Recently I drove from Conamara to Bantry and the scale of dereliction in rural towns and villages is incredible. It is all related to this centralised mindset. The Arts Council can not do everything, but given the unprecedented €140m it has received in the budget, it has a chance to take action, or let the decline continue.