CoC got 12% ofNI arts funding

LONDONDERRY UK City of Culture 2013 received just 12 per cent of a total £44m in arts funding rolled out across Northern Ireland over the past four years, it has been revealed.

Despite successfully bidding for and winning the UK City of Culture crown in 2010 the city has only been able to draw down £5,235,809 in funding from the Arts Council between 2009/10 and 2012/13.

Compare this with Belfast’s staggering £35,895,133 through the Arts Council’s Annual Funding Programme over the same period.

Arts Minister Carál Ní Chuilín revealed Londonderry’s 12 per cent allocation in response to an Assembly Question.

It will come as no surprise to readers of the Sentinel which has raised the arts funding disparity between Belfast and Londonderry in the past.

Former Arts Minister Nelson McCausland revealed in 2010 how a fiver per person was spent on the arts in Londonderry in 2006/7.

Data compiled by the Arts Council relating to district councils’ expenditure during the 2006 - 2007 financial year also showed that Strabane benefited from a handsome £14.68 spend per person but Limavady received just £2.11 per capita.

In Belfast, it was £28.94. Next was Cookstown with an average spend of £24.22 per person.