Equity yesterday delivered over one thousand postcards to the Northern Ireland Communities Minister all with one simple wish: fund the arts. Theatregoers across the nation sent the postcards with a message on why they love going to performances alongside a call for an increase in arts funding.
Equity’s Northern Ireland Official Alice Adams Lemon and Northern Ireland Councillor Marina Hampton handed over the cards to the Minister Gordon Lyons at a private meeting at Stormont on 13 February.
The postcards were filled in and posted into our special post boxes at venues across Northern Ireland last festive season. Audience members young and old sent messages, including Seren from Belfast who wrote that she loved going to shows because “it makes me feel free” and Sue from Hillsborough who wrote “it brings stories to life and feels good.” The cards were unveiled at a recent event at the MAC in Belfast that brought together performers and creatives from across Northern Ireland in a united call for arts funding to be increased in the upcoming Stormont budget.
We’re urging Stormont to imagine a future in NI where culture is at the heart of our communities, one where our homegrown talent can flourish and one where performers and creatives receive decent pay and conditions.
Alice Adams Lemon, Equity's Northern Ireland Official
Equity’s Northern Ireland Official Alice Adams Lemon says: “There is such a wealth of creative talent in Northern Ireland. With the right funding, the arts can boost the economy here, provide jobs, support mental health, physical health, social wellbeing, and community cohesion. We’re urging Stormont to imagine a future in NI where culture is at the heart of our communities, one where our homegrown talent can flourish and one where performers and creatives receive decent pay and conditions.”
Northern Ireland receives the lowest per capita investment in arts funding of all the four UK nations. At £5.07 per head, it’s half the investment seen in Scotland. The postcards are part of Equity’s Resist the Cuts campaign calling for this funding shortfall to be addressed in the upcoming Stormont budget.
