What will the 2024 election mean for music and the arts?

Opinion: Despite funding increases, pressing questions remain about the state of arts funding and support, writes Journal Of Music editor Toner Quinn.

Now that the US election is over, we can remind ourselves that we are not citizens of that country, and that all of the airtime it has taken up in Irish media is time not spent talking about what matters on the ground in Ireland.

For those in music and the arts, there is much to discuss, particularly now that a general election has been called for 29 November.

The last five years of the Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil/Green Party government has seen Arts Council funding increase from €80m to €140m. A remarkable figure that was prompted by the crisis of the pandemic, yet a recent analysis has shown that 70% of the Council's largest funding pot – the Strategic Funding scheme – is going to Dublin.

What does that mean for the rest of the country? It means it is almost impossible to build a broad arts infrastructure. This year, Galway and Limerick each received just 6% of the Strategic Funding amount, Cork received 5% and Kilkenny received 3%, compared to Dublin’s 70%. Eight counties didn’t receive any Strategic Funding at all: Cavan, Kildare, Laois, Mayo, Offaly, Roscommon, Tipperary and Wicklow.

The election has only just been announced, but already the concerts promoter Music for Galway – now in its 43rd season – has issued an email asking its supporters to talk to canvassing politicians about the need for a hub for music in the city. This is an issue that has been highlighted for decades. Meanwhile, the alternative Black Gate music venue in Galway has just run an online fundraiser to try to reopen, and West Cork Music is working to develop a new music centre in Bantry.

And yet, the situation for artists on the ground in Dublin is just as mixed. While the Newpark Academy of Music in south Dublin almost closed last year and was saved by a community campaign, this week we learned that the Unit 44 alternative music space run by Kirkos on Dublin’s northside is closing down in March. Meanwhile, Fingal County Council is building an ambitious new venue in Swords.

In June, Minister for Arts Catherine Martin announced €6m for local authorities to develop artist workspaces nationwide, but the composer Sebastian Adams of Kirkos has argued that these initiatives do not solve the issue of space because the funds are not distributed to artist-run initiatives.

Betting on the Basic Income

Many artists will have already concluded that the best chance of improving their situation is not an Arts Council or local authority grant but rather the expansion of the government’s Basic Income for the Arts (BIA) pilot scheme. (A recent First Music Contact/Performing Arts Forum survey showed that the average income for musicians is just €14.5k).

The BIA pilot – which has provided two thousand artists with a basic income of €325 per week on top of which they can earn additional income – will complete its three-year pilot next August. It has already shown improved life satisfaction for artists, less depression and anxiety, and more time spent on artistic practice. Minister Catherine Martin has signalled that she wants it to continue.

In the recent Budget, the government announced further funding of €35m for the BIA, which suggests it will be continued beyond next year. The scheme has solid momentum, but if the Green Party, which negotiated the BIA into the programme for government, does not get into power again, what will that mean?

Sinn Féin has committed to continuing the scheme and other parties likely will too, but of course it depends on what ends up in the programme for government.

There are other considerations. As welcome as the BIA is, we have to be clear that the scheme is an emergency measure. It is a social security net to protect those on low incomes, but where is our ambitious plan to lift artist incomes? It is four years since writer Gareth Murphy published a plan for how to transform Ireland’s music business with a focus on building up the Irish independent label sector, and seven years since IMRO published its own plan for the music industry with a focus on strengthening copyright, but in Irish arts discussion – even on programmes and stations purporting to be dedicated to the arts – these ideas may as well have not been published at all.

Meanwhile, the Arts Council launched a music policy consultation in 2021, but it was two years before the policy was published. Since then, there has been no public announcement about it and it has not been officially launched. It includes a section on developing a 'Commercial Music Industry Strategy’ and says it will commission research for the ‘development of the Irish commercial music industry(ies)’, but there is still no indication as to when this will happen.

The Traditional Arts section of the Arts Council also launched a policy consultation at the beginning of the year. We have to hope that it does not take as long to set out its plans.

Ireland has a remarkable music scene, with many artists and organisations to be proud of, but the funding overall is unbalanced, the schemes for arts spaces are not flexible enough, and the plans to grow the industry are too slow in coming. No doubt, readers could mention many other issues too.

The popular narrative regarding increased arts funding in Ireland over the past five years is, therefore, not as simple as it seems. Artists continue to find it difficult here. The government has still not tackled powerful interests and bureaucratic processes that make rent and housing unaffordable.

The 2024 election offers an opportunity to highlight all of these issues with politicians. As ever, it is down to those concerned about music and the arts to continue to make the case.

Read more from The Journal Of Music here.