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All children to have access to music lessons under ambitious new Irish culture plan

The plan is built around five pillars and will involve communities, schools, and arts stakeholders.

Creative Ireland / YouTube

A NEW, AMBITIOUS plan to boost Ireland’s cultural creativity has been launched today by the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny.

Under the plan, Irish schoolchildren will have access to music tuition, communities will come together to create cultural plans, and Ireland’s ‘global reputation’ will be unified as it becomes a “global hub” for film and TV production.

The Creative Ireland programme was launched by Kenny and Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Heather Humphreys TD and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Paschal Donohoe at the National Gallery of Ireland this morning.

Creative Ireland, which is being described as the Government’s legacy programme for Ireland 2016, is a five-year initiative running from 2017 – 2022.

The programme comes in the wake of the huge 1916 centenary programme this year, which involved thousands of events taking place across Ireland.

The plan is built around five pillars:

  • Enabling the creative potential of every child
  • Enabling creativity in every community
  • Investing in our creative and cultural infrastructure
  • Ireland as a centre of excellence in media production
  • Unifying our global reputation

There are a number of key initiatives due to be delivered in 2017, including:

  • The publication of a five-year Creative Children plan which will enable every child to access tuition in music, drama, art and coding
  • Each Local Authority will appoint a Culture Team to drive local needs and will publish a Culture Plan for their own county
  • A new annual cultural day, Cruinniú na Cásca to be held nationwide on Easter Monday each year, replicating the very successful Reflecting the Rising event, which was held in Dublin this year

The Departments of Arts and Social Protection will also devise a mechanism, under a pilot scheme, to assist self-employed artists who have applied for Jobseekers Allowance.

Under Creative Ireland, an annual County of Culture will be named each year from 2018.

Due next year is a planned investment programme for Ireland’s cultural and heritage infrastructure, including our national cultural institutions.

Finally, in the wake of successes like Star Wars and Room, there are plans for an industry-wide, long-term plan “to develop Ireland as a global hub for film, TV drama and animation”.

“Together we can do extraordinary things”

. Children play music for th File: Children from St Agnes Community Centre for Music and Arts in Crumlin perform for Sabina Higgins and the board of management. Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland / Photocall Ireland

Speaking at today’s event, An Taoiseach described Creative Ireland as being “about placing culture at the centre of our lives, for the betterment of our people and for the strengthening of our society”.

Together we can do extraordinary things: we can make Ireland the first country in the world to guarantee access for every child to tuition and participation in art, music, drama and coding. We can make every local authority a dynamic hub of cultural creativity. We can unlock the huge potential of our people in the creative industries. And we can make an important statement to ourselves and to the world about the interdependency of culture, identity and citizenship.

Minister Humphreys TD said that Creative Ireland was inspired by the “extraordinary” public response to the Centenary Programme.

Thousands of events were held around Ireland as part of this programme, and Humphreys said the government wants to build on this.

“We now want to build on the success of the commemorations and plan ambitiously for our arts and culture sectors for the years ahead,” she said. “Creative Ireland will ensure that children can participate in the arts from an early age, and it will drive cultural engagement in every county nationwide.”

She described it as a “very ambitious” public policy initiative – “possibly the most significant for the arts and cultural sectors in a generation”.

“The Government recognises that high quality infrastructure is critical for a vibrant arts and culture sector and that such investment underpins social cohesion and supports strong and sustainable economic growth,” added Minister Donohoe TD.

It’s understood that the plan to enable all Irish school children to access tuition and participation in art, music, drama and coding will begin in September 2017. The plan will also see the Charter for Arts in Education being fast-tracked and resourced.

Cruinniú na Cásca, an annual programme of arts activities and cultural reflection, will be held on Easter Monday, starting in 2017.

Investment programmes in the National Gallery, National Library, National Archives and National Concert Hall are already underway, and the Department of Arts is set to work with cultural institutions and key stakeholders to prepare investment plans to address infrastructure needs. The plan is to develop an overall capital strategy for the cultural and heritage sector, which would include digitisation projects and the building of national cultural collections.

Creative Ireland will develop a platform for a major initiative in the media production sector – involving the Irish Folm Board, RTÉ, the independent production sector, third-level institutions and other stakeholders – to “position and enable Ireland to be a leading international centre” for media production.

Finally, the fifth pillar – unifying Ireland’s global reputation – is described as “particularly important” in the wake of Brexit. Under this, the website Ireland.ie will be used as a “national website for Ireland”.

Creative Ireland will “will create a communications programme based on an authentic representation of Irish culture and creativity, representing Ireland as a great place in which to live, in which to invest, to visit and in which to study”.

“Investment boost” needed

The National Campaign for the Arts (NCFA), which was established in 2009, welcomed the Creative Ireland initiative, saying it is hopeful that it will mark “a sea change in national arts and cultural policy”, but cautioned that it must be matched by a long-term investment boost.

It said the proposed social protection changes “offer a longer overdue safety net for self-employed artists”.

The NCFA met with Minister Humphreys and the Ireland 2016 team to advocate for a number of key principles and proposals related to the initiative.

NCFA Chairperson Jo Mangan said:

If transformational investment is delivered in the coming years as a result of this ambitious Government initiative, Ireland will finally be able to consign to history its unenviable position at the bottom of the EU league in terms of average GDP spending on arts and culture. We have the chance now to tap fully into our most extraordinary natural resource – our innate creativity – for the lasting benefit of all our citizens.

Read: Thousands sign petition calling for Ardmore Studios to be saved>

Read: ’It’s cultural vandalism’: TDs and Senators criticise Arts cuts in the Budget>

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24 Comments
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    Mute king Tut
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    Dec 8th 2016, 12:02 PM

    Now that’s worth spending money on.

    154
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    Mute Danny Farrell
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    Dec 8th 2016, 12:01 PM

    This is brilliant!

    Music is an international currency, which will be handy since we seem to have a habit of mass emigration every few years. We’ll never be poor!

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    Mute Stephen Maher
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    Dec 8th 2016, 12:35 PM

    Music is very important for children, don’t like acknowledging anything that Kenny does but this is a good news story.
    Will the teachers accept it?

    64
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    Mute Nick Allen
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    Dec 8th 2016, 1:04 PM

    @Stephen Maher:

    They will, but following the strike and pay rise. God forbid they may have to work 24 minutes overtime without financial compensation.

    23
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    Mute Ace
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    Dec 8th 2016, 2:22 PM

    I am not a teacher.

    But why would anybody be expected to work for free ?

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    Mute Rusty Balls
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    Dec 8th 2016, 4:14 PM

    @Ace: It’s my experience that those who condemn teachers for not working 24 minutes for free tend to be standing at the clock machine for five minutes with their coat on at 5 o’clock… preach, but don’t practice.

    31
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    Mute Get Lost Eircodes
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    Dec 8th 2016, 5:42 PM

    Scrap useless religion, then there’s loads of time for music.

    14
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    Mute king Tut
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    Dec 8th 2016, 8:52 PM

    Totally agree with you there

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    Mute Colleen McGovern
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    Dec 8th 2016, 12:26 PM

    Yes every child should start playing the piano / violin at the age of 4. It takes years to perfect, but when they do it is well worth hearing the sound of music.

    54
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    Mute Kieran OKeeffe
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    Dec 8th 2016, 12:30 PM

    How about a few less plans and a bit more action?..shall we file this one away with the plan for health..the one for housing (that was a goof one..360 rapid build houses delivered..er no..not even started)..or the one that kicks the 8tth down the road..

    34
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    Mute Alan Scott
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    Dec 8th 2016, 1:07 PM

    With a lot of children living in Hotels I don’t think the sound of music will be happening very soon . It’s a great idea But first fix the roof over the heads of children who have no home.

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    Mute Ted Murray
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    Dec 8th 2016, 12:00 PM

    The Diddly Eye Directive?

    24
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    Mute Squarepeg01
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    Dec 8th 2016, 1:07 PM

    Another expensive boondoggle, courtesy of our political masters. It’s not the govt’s job to spend our tax dollars on fantasy schemes that stroke their vanity. It’s the govt’s job to get out of the way and let we the people do it for ourselves. There are plenty of well functioning private institutions doing this sort of thing quite well. I already sacrifice a holiday every year to finance my kids’ musical education because I value it as an important part of their cultural enrichment and because that’s my job as a parent. I have no wish to have the state take over from me, nor do I wish to subsidise the kids of anybody else.

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    Mute Anne Marie Devlin
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    Dec 8th 2016, 1:39 PM

    @Squarepeg01: First of all, I think you may be talking about the wrong government here. We don’t give our government any tax dollars – we use the euro here.
    But I’m sure your kids really appreciate you prioritising the piano over a fortnight in the sun, splashing around in swimming pools, playing football on the beach, spending quality time with hard-pressed parents …

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    Mute Squarepeg01
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    Dec 8th 2016, 1:52 PM

    @Anne – was there a point to your comment or did you just have 3 minutes to kill?

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    Mute Richard Lippy Collins
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    Dec 8th 2016, 2:21 PM

    @Squarepeg01: You have the luxury of sacrificing your holiday, there’s a lot of parents out there that don’t. The Arts is for everybody and should be accessible to everybody. Every child should partake in some form of art, it plays a huge part in their development. I think it’s wonderful that they’re giving back to the kids after funding for the youths was cut stupidly during the hard times.

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    Mute Squarepeg01
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    Dec 8th 2016, 2:38 PM

    @Richard – no, the arts is not for everybody if somebody else has to pay. You don’t expect to get into the cinema for free just because the movie might have cultural significance. You cuts your cloth and you pays your way. The govt has no money of its own – it takes it by force from my pocket and from yours and I object to their being generous with it. If I want to support such a scheme I’ll voluntarily give to the approprate charity.

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    Mute Lisa Dorothy
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    Dec 8th 2016, 2:50 PM

    @Squarepeg01: Anyone can admire a painting or enjoy a piece of music, so the Arts are for everyone. I am also a taxpayer and I am delighted to see my money going to good use on educational schemes.

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    Mute Squarepeg01
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    Dec 8th 2016, 2:59 PM

    @Lisa – so who pays for the gallery or the concert hall? If you happen to agree with govt being spendthrift with your money on this occasion, fine. But there will come times when you’re not and you’ll wish there was some principle of reining them in. I’m never happy with big govt and I’m also a taxpayer.

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    Mute Vinny Clare
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    Dec 8th 2016, 7:47 PM

    Clown comments one, after another. That is all!

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    Mute Mr. Éirxit!
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    Dec 8th 2016, 12:37 PM

    Encourage Irish culture by promoting more mega American franchises to come here. Makes sense

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    Mute blatherskite
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    Dec 23rd 2016, 7:04 AM

    I’ll believe it when I see it.

    1
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