Council criticised over arts spending

Following the disclosure in last week's Sentinel that the Council spent just 5.84 per person in 2006/7 on the arts, compared to Strabane on 14.68 and Belfast on 28.94, there was a call for service level agreements to be revisited, particularly in light of the fact that the Council was currently bidding for Londonderry to become the UK City of Culture in 2013.

Arts providers were particularly concerned about the division of funding, with the biggest percentage going to one organisation, while the smaller grouping got roughly two per cent of the overall annual budget each - 12,000 a year.

Countering the criticism, a spokeswoman for the Council said there was a limited budget within the Development Department to fund a range of sports, arts and community facilities and services.

"Council supports a number of arts and cultural venues through service level agreements with an annual allocation of 12,000 per annum, except the Millennium Forum, which has a specific arrangement in place," she said adding that the current service level agreements were due to be renewed this year.

She added that the Council has also bid for additional revenue support for arts and cultural venues under this year's rates process, which is to be discussed this week.

Meanwhile, the Council is appealing for any groups, indviduals or organisations which would like to be involved in the UK City of Culture bid to contact them through its website

www.cityofculture2013.com/how.html.

On the website the Council notes that the city attracts over 600,000 visitors and participants in arts and cultural activity and festivals annually, which generates in excess of 11million.

"We have a very young and talented population in the city and region. The city of culture is the right way to harness this creativity and energy for the city and Northern Ireland," the Council declares, adding: "The city has a reputation as a creative and innovative place for the arts and business. This sense of creativity is a distinctiveness that we believe is essential for success."

Referring to the bid to take the UK City of Culture title, the spokesperson said the aim was to showcase local and international talent adding that a Cultural Partnership Forum had been set up.

However, those critical of the Council have called for arts groups to be given parity of treatment through the funding process to help alleviate the financial strain they currently face, and called on the Council to invest in the arts groups in the City now so that the UK bid for the culture title would succeed.