Following the proposed budget announcement made on Monday 11th January by the Finance Minister of Northern Ireland of a £367 million budget cut across government departments in April 2010, the Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure, Nelson McCausland, has indicated that the Arts Council for Northern Ireland (ACNI) should plan for a budget cut of approximately £1.1 million in 2010/11. The Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL), which is the Arts Council’s parent department, is itself set to lose £25.9 million, making it in proportional terms the second hardest hit of Northern Ireland’s government departments.

This news comes as a devastating blow, since ACNI Chairman Rosemary Kelly said they had been expecting an uplift of £1.55 million in 2010/11, based on the government’s three-year budget projections announced back in 2008. "We are of course disappointed at the prospect of this cut to the arts budget and very aware of the painful consequences that this will inevitably have for our artists, arts organisations and venues" she said.

ACNI will continue to put the case on behalf of the arts sector during the remaining six-week consultation period. However, Kelly laments that "given the political consensus already reached on the overall budget, we recognise that we must all prepare for difficult times ahead." In line with all public sector bodies, ACNI will be expected to continue to make efficiency savings (3% in their case) to its own operational costs.

The NCA has called upon all national governments in the United Kingdom to sustain arts funding, and this decision by the Northern Ireland Assembly is a disappointment. For more information on NCA’s lobbying for arts funding, see the Arts Manifesto here.