Arts & Culture Co Delivery Group 2023

Mayor’s Address
We are now 4 years into a Co Delivery process for the
DCSDC Arts & Culture Strategy. When this strategy was
first presented to Council for adoption none of us could
have foreseen the challenges ahead for the arts and
culture sector in the northwest.
After battling our way through the Covid pandemic
we have been faced with a cost-of-living crisis which
is stretching our cultural organisations and artistic
community to breaking point. Council is not immune to
the financial challenges within the wider economy, and
this has impacted on our ability to increase investment in
our cultural grant aid programmes.
However, Councils investment in Arts & Culture has, in
the main, been retained despite the financial pressures
that we face. We are aware that inflation and escalating
energy cost mean that this investment does not go as
far as in previous years. Alongside this, other funders
upon which the sector rely have reduced their levels of
grant support. Despite these coalescing pressures there
is growth within the sector which is exciting for the City
and District, but which will inevitably add further pressure
to existing resources.
In these difficult times the Co Delivery process has
proven invaluable as a means of planning and delivery
certainly, but also as a space for open and honest
conversation between the sector and statutory partners
including Council, both Members and Officers. Over the
past 4 years a true partnership has been established and
forged in the face of adversity. From this I believe that
we have better developed our willingness and capacity
for collaborative working. For sure, this brings potential
efficiencies, but it also creates new opportunities for
those committed to real and meaningful collaboration.
Amidst the challenges there have been many notable
successes. The cultural offering here is a primary
attraction in the destination marketing of the City and
District contributing, in no small part, to the significant
and ongoing growth of visitors to the region. This
success will be further built upon with the roll out of
the new cultural brand for the City and District, a brand
that has been developed in close consultation with the
cultural sector.
Working across borders has been established practice
for the cultural sector over many years. Audiences,
practitioners, and cultural programming move back and
forth between Donegal and our own Council area. The
respective Councils have worked closely over many years
on a number of cultural related projects including the NW
Audience Development programme. Designed simply to
encourage audiences to participate in arts and culture
the project has established a standardised audience
impact methodology with over 70 cultural organisations
across the NW participating in this data collection and
analysis element. This data allows us all to see who the
audiences are, what they want and how to ensure that
this is sustained and grown through strategic targeted
investment in programmes.
One of the emerging trends from the audience impact
tracking relates to participation of the pan disability
community in arts and culture. The evidence clearly
suggests that Councils Access and Inclusion Programme
has had a marked impact on the engagement of this
segment. The result of many years of investment in the
reduction of barriers to access across the sector and
testament to the dedication of our cultural partners
in pursuing accessibility as a key priority within their
respective organisations.
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