Election 2011
The Election 2011 is an ideal opportunity to make a case for the arts. We know the arts will have a
vital role to play in Ireland’s economic and social recovery. Make sure your next elected
representative knows this too.
Campaign messages
1.

The arts enrich our lives

The arts enhance Ireland’s image and reputation on the world stage

The arts are a stimulant of and contributor to the smart economy

The arts are a significant employer

The arts drive cultural tourism
The arts enrich our lives
Our artists are a celebration of our shared gift for self expression, our capacity for resilience and
reinvention, and a mechanism for us to heal and resonate, understand and connect. The artist’s
voice is woven into our national discourse, reconciling the past, imagining a future, and as important
now as at any time during our history.
“We need to listen to everyone who has something to contribute; yes the business sector and the
financial experts, but also the social entrepreneurs and innovators, the teachers who educate our
children, social workers and activists.... We should also listen to our creative artists.”
- Former President Mary Robinson at Beál na mBláth, August 2009.
2. The arts and our reputation
Every day without fail, on the world’s cinema screens, bookshelves, theatres and concert stages,
Irish artists defend and redeem our global reputation.
According to the statistics compiled from box office host venues presenting Irish work overseas, over
500,000 people worldwide attended a theatre and/or dance performance by an Irish company in
2008.
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“Most Americans encounter Ireland today through culture: whether that is Irish dance and music,
Irish film, Irish writing or an Irish play on Broadway. We have to be prepared to invest in our cultural
infrastructure here, as we do in Ireland.” — Taoiseach Brian Cowen, Spring 2009, in New York
2.
The arts and the smart economy
Since long before the term existed, the arts have been our greatest creative industry. Today the arts
brilliantly foster those attributes so important to the smart economy that is vital to our future
collective wellbeing. Lateral thinking, big ideas, resourcefulness and invention, problem solving,
vision and originality find full expression in the output of Irish artists, present and future, and their
work pervades every walk of Irish life.
“Ireland is hugely successful in the arts. Innovation is about creativity and skills, just like art is.
Princeton has decided on a drastic expansion of its arts departments. You will not be able to get a
degree in electrical engineering from Princeton without having followed a class in drama. The
reasoning is that anyone can acquire skills, but the competitive edge is in creativity. Ireland beats
Princeton hands down in the arts.” — Dr. Richard Tol, Research Professor, ESRI
3.
The arts and cultural tourism
Cultural tourism is a genuine growth industry in Ireland, and just as with our landscape and heritage,
the arts have a starring role in how we give our visitors a unique cultural experience, from our
mighty international festivals of the performing arts to our vivid traditional music by a convivial
fireside hearth. Long before they arrive, it’s our writers, filmmakers and touring performers who
whet their appetite to come.
According to Failte Ireland Survey of Overseas Travellers/CSO Travel and Tourism, Cultural Tourism is
worth over €2 billion to the economy – this includes both domestic and overseas tourism.
4.
The arts and employment
Culture and the creative sector generate nearly 100,000 jobs, a significant ratio of them in the arts,
among them practitioners, technicians, producers, curators, publishers and the other highly skilled
disciplines that work together to create art from Ireland. We are an indigenous industry, active in
every county, we are wholly Irish owned and we are exporter
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Facts and Figures

Since 2008 there has been an overall 20% reduction in funding to the arts.
Jobs

The total of direct, indirect and induced employment, supported by the arts and creative
industries, is 95,649 jobs1.

Taking into account economic multipliers, the Value Added dependent on the cultural and
creative sectors in 2008 was €11.8 billion or 7.6% of total GNP2.
Tourism

Cultural tourism is worth €5.1 billion a year to our economy

It is the only growth area of the tourism market and has real potential for more growth

Nearly 50% of total overseas visitors visited a cultural/historical attraction in 2006 – 2008. 3

Galway Arts Festival alone was worth €24.5 million to the local economy in 2008.4
Investment – The arts provide value for money

A recent study showed that public investment in the Abbey Theatre of €8.3 million brings
€40 million annually into the Irish economy5.

Total Exchequer expenditure on the cultural and creative sector in 2008 was €330 million6.
Direct Exchequer revenue from the cultural and creative sectors in 2008 was approximately
€1 billion7. We give back more than we receive.
1
Assessment of Economic Impact of the Arts in Ireland, Arts & Culture Scoping Research Project, INDECON, November
2009
2 DKM Consultants for the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, September 2009
3 Assessment of Economic Impact of the Arts in Ireland, Arts & Culture Scoping Research Project, INDECON, November
2009
4Economic Impact of the Galway Arts Festival, Orla Higgins, September 2008
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Economic impact of the Abbey Theatre by Dominic Shellard (University of Sheffield) and Derrick Elliss, Summer 2009
3

Of the €76 million that was used in the funding of arts organisations and individuals across
Ireland in 2008, €54 million was returned directly to the Exchequer in the form of income,
VAT and other taxes8.

For every €1 the Irish Film Board has invested in a film and television production, over €6
was attracted from international sources9.
The Cultural Sector and the Smart Economy

The growth rate of the creative sector in Ireland has been well above the European average,
indicating the importance of creative industries for overall Irish economic performance.

Two recent Government reports Building Ireland’s Smart Economy (Dept of An Taoiseach,
December 2008) and Making the Smart Economy Real (Dept of Communications, July 2009)
identify the key role of the creative industries as primary economic contributors in the
information and knowledge economies of the future.
Audiences
Theatre Forum’s survey of audiences10 in 49 Arts Council supported theatres and festivals in 2009
showed that:

1.8 million tickets, worth over €35 million, were sold in 2009.

More than 1 in 4 Irish households bought tickets for arts events in 2009.

Over 500,000 people worldwide attended a theatre and/or dance performance by an Irish
company in 2008. 11.
Just some of the awards for Irish arts in the last five years

1 Tony Award 2008, five nominations

3 Academy Awards and ten nominations. One nomination 2011

2 Golden Globes 2009, three nominations
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Man Booker Prize winners 2005 and 2007, short listed 2004, 2008, 2010, longlisted 2009

2 Olivier Awards 2005 and 2007, two Best New Play nominations
6
DKM Economic Consultants for the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, September 2009
DKM Economic Consultants for the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, September 2009
8 Assessment of Economic Impact of the Arts in Ireland, Arts & Culture Scoping Research Project, INDECON, November
2009
9 Irish Film Board, November 2009
10 Theatre Forum, 2010 Annual Audience Benchmarking Survey, published June 2010
11 Culture Ireland press release June 2009
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4
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8 Edinburgh Fringe Firsts for Irish theatre and dance shows over three years

Herald Angel and Carol Tambor Award in Edinburgh festivals summer 2009
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UK Mercury Music Award nominee, summer 2009 (Lisa Hannigan)
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2 Emmy Awards 2009 (Brendan Gleeson and Dearbhla Walsh)
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22 Grammy Awards won by U2 in their career – the highest Grammy Awards achievement of
any recording group or band in the world.
And we’ve had four Nobel laureates for Literature:

Séamus Heaney, Literature, 1995

Samuel Beckett, Literature, 1969
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George Bernard Shaw, Literature, 1925
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William Butler Yeats, Literature, 1923
And for news of all our successes abroad see http://www.cultureireland.gov.ie/news/index.html
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