Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure Carál Ní Chuilín has cut the budget of the Arts Council by 2.1% and is to make another 2.3% cut in October. This cut has meant art and cultural groups reliant on Arts Council funding will see their budgets cut, leading to job losses and a reduction in services.
37 groups have been told that they must make cuts of 5%. The Lyric Theatre has been told to make £50,000 worth of cuts and the Belfast Circus which works with many disadvantaged young people has been told it will see a cut of £4,000. In total an additional £2million in cuts will be made to the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure following the June Monitoring Round.
All community, art and cultural groups affected should come together to oppose these cuts which will have real consequences for people involved in the arts.
Forty years ago, on Sunday 30 January 1972, members of the Parachute Regiment (the Paras) shot 27 unarmed civilians, (14 of whom died) on a protest through the barricaded Bogside area of Derry. Eight of those killed were aged under 22. Six of them were 17 year olds.