Strategic review 2014

In November 2013, the Arts Council announced that it would undertake a strategic review of how we address our remit, and that review is now underway.

The review is timely and necessary. The decade since the 2003 Arts Act consisted of two periods of starkly contrasting fortunes for the arts. First there were five years of remarkable expansion and development with unprecedented levels of investment. The following five years (2008-2013) saw the model so recently developed become increasingly stressed by the severe and sudden contraction in public investment.

The scale of that reduction and its effect on the entire arts ecology have now reached a point where we must take stock, focus on the future, and make whatever policy, structural or funding changes are necessary to achieve the best arts experiences we can for the people of Ireland.

The wider social, cultural and technological changes that have occurred in the past decade, some of which have particular relevance for the arts, will also inform our deliberations.

The review is being overseen by a steering group, chaired independently by Terence O’Rourke. You can see full details of the Steering Group’s membership here and its terms of reference here.

Making a submission:

An important part of the Strategic Review is dialogue with a wide range of stakeholders.

We have prepared an online survey so you can make a submission to the steering group. There are 16 questions in the survey and you can enter a maximum of 750 words for each of your answers. If you have long responses to questions, we suggest that you draft them outside the survey and then copy the texts into the survey.

You have until 12h00 on 22 April 2014 to make a submission.

To complete the survey:

Read the briefing document Arts Council Strategic Review Briefing Document (PDF, 3.3 MB)
Read any other background material you might find useful - some documents are listed below
Think about your responses to the questions in the Briefing Document and draft up long responses in a word editing programme.
Visit the survey and fill in your responses.

GO TO THE SURVEY TO MAKE A SUBMISSION

Some background documents
Arts Council Strategic Statement, November 2013 (PDF, 0.46 MB)
Strategic Overview 2011-2013 (PDF, 0.22 MB)
Annual Report 2012 (PDF, 1.97 MB)
Graphic analysis of direct arts expenditure 2012 (PowerPoint, 0.44 MB)
Weighing poetry: Exploring funding criteria for assessing artistic quality (DOC, 0.04 MB)