Rosin McDonough,

Chief Executive,

Arts Council Northern Ireland                                                       31 October 2017

Dear Ms McDonough,

Inquiry into non-public funding of the arts in Wales

The National Assembly’s Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee is responsible for examining legislation, and holding the Welsh Government to account, through scrutiny of expenditure, administration and policy matters concerning culture, the arts, the historic environment, the Welsh language, communications, broadcasting and the media in Wales.

The Committee is currently running an inquiry into non-public funding of the arts in Wales. The aim of the inquiry is to investigate the success of the arts sector in Wales at increasing its non-public funding, the distribution of non-public arts funding in Wales and wider models of best-practice that Wales could look to emulate in this regard. The evidence we have received to date has raised a number of questions, which we hope you may be able to help us with.

The first question relates to the Arts Council of Wales (ACW) ‘Resilience Programme’. ACW have told us that:

‘There are many ways of generating non-public funding, with some approaches more complex and speculative than others. However, there are relatively few organisations in Wales with the skills and experience to assist with this broad portfolio of potential opportunity. Through its “Resilience” programme and other business development services, the Arts Council of Wales is committed to developing a greater pool of informed, expert technical advice on a range of creative business issues.’

We would be grateful if you could provide us with information on any equivalent programme run by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland aimed at maximising the fund raising potential of arts organisations by ensuring they have access to the skills and experience necessary to access and attract funding opportunities from non-public sources. We are particularly interested in the successes and limitations of any such programme, any perceived barriers to its effectiveness and its intended duration.     

Secondly, the Committee has been told that conditions placed upon the funding distributed by the Arts Councils of UK nations mean that cross-border collaboration between organisations in receipt of such funding – in relation to fund raising – is problematic and may be under exploited. We would be grateful for any information or views you may have on this, in particular:

· Do you agree that there is potential for further collaboration?

· If so, what practical barriers are preventing or limiting this collaboration?

· Any suggestions you can offer on how these barriers might be overcome would also be gratefully received.

I am writing in similar terms to Darren Henley (Chief Executive, Arts Council England) and Janet Archer (Chief Executive, Creative Scotland) and am copying this letter for information to Nick Capaldi at ACW.

I look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely,

Bethan Jenkins AC/AM

Chair