April 1st. The day of fools. But for Northern Ireland’s arts sector, April Fools’ Day has lost all novelty—it’s just another date on the calendar when absurdity takes centre stage.
Today marks the beginning of the new financial year. Not a single annually funded arts organisation has received a Letter of Offer from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. No one even knows if they met the threshold to receive funding. We are now officially into a new working year with not a penny of funding in place, no contracts signed, no safety net, no core support from our principal funder – just a hope that something might land in the inbox before insolvency kicks in, or the protective redundancy notices get sent.
Last year, this situation was unprecedented. It was truly shocking. In 25 years, I’d never known such an instance. Bear in mind that in that quarter of a century, the arts have professionalised massively here. And the whole area of applied creativity is so embedded in every facet of publicly funded arts services right across the country. But for this to happen again – this year, with all we know, with all we have said, with all the evidence that we continue to lay out? That’s not just alarming any more ; it’s absurd. Who was it that said: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” ? That’s right, apparently the same fellow who said “Not everything that counts can be counted.” Go figure Einstein!
Read the rest of the CAPtain’s Blog below…
