Creative Connections: a 5 years plan for developing the arts 2007-2012 – Arts Council of Northern Ireland (2007)
Author(s): Arts Council of Northern Ireland
Organisation/Affiliation: Arts Council of Northern Ireland
Date: 2007
Our mission is to place the arts at the heart of our social, economic and creative life.
Theme 1 Art at the Heart – Promoting the Value of the Arts: Artists want to live and work in a society that recognises their skill and gives value to their art. There is a universal importance to innovative theatre, composition, writing and other forms of creativity.
Theme 2 Strengthening the Arts – Individual artists: Individual artists are at the heart of everything that arts bring to our society and Northern Ireland has been a ‘cradle of creativity’. In literature, theatre, music and the visual arts, the extraordinary quality and range of work has had a huge effect that goes beyond what might be expected of a small region with a population of 1.7 million people.
Theme 3 Growing Audiences and Increasing Participation: We want to encourage as many people as possible to enjoy and take part in arts activities. The report ‘Art and Culture in Northern Ireland’ provides an assessment of the first large-scale survey carried out in the region on participation in the arts and attitudes towards the arts. The need to better understand audiences and the communities they are based in is one of the significant challenges the creative community faces. It takes time and resources to develop an audience so this needs to be part of a long-term strategy to develop the market.
Theme 4 Improving our Performance: If we are to put art at the heart of our society, we also need to maintain our commitment to improving our performance. By learning from the findings of a recent client satisfaction survey we will continue to develop strong links with our clients, make sure our grant programmes and processes are working effectively and strengthen how we work with our partners.