Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure Michael McGimpsey is a strong advocate of partnership across the sectarian divide. He spoke to Róisín Ingle
In Last Before America, a collection of literary criticism published last year, the Belfast poet Edna Longley recalled the day in December 1999 when Michael McGimpsey of the Ulster Unionist Party became a Minister. She wrote how novelist Glenn Patterson rushed up to her and said, "Great news! The Ulster Unionists have taken culture." Longley explained that Patterson's delight stemmed from a pervasive "intellectual fear" that had nationalists commandeered the brief as expected, "a mono-cultural ideology might prevail by default".
It was this fear, the poet said, that led the UUP to target culture, determined Sinn Féin should not hold onto arguably the two most socially influential ministries, the other being Education. So Michael McGimpsey became Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure.
He is in charge of "arts and culture; sport and leisure; libraries and museums; the Armagh Planetarium; Ulster Historical Foundation; inland waterways; inland fisheries; Ordnance Survey; Public Record Office; language policy; lottery matters; millennium events and companies; visitor amenities".
The 54-year-old is sipping water at one end of a table in his Department HQ, on the edges of the Cathedral Quarter. So was this most supportive of Trimbleites, an experienced UUP councillor and one of the party's political heavy hitters disappointed to be landed with the culture brief? "Not at all, I was a volunteer," he says quickly.
In the bad old days of direct rule, arts and sport came under the Department of Education banner. "They were the lost years. The wasted years," says McGimpsey. "The arts are healthy in Northern Ireland but there is still an awful lot to do and a long way to go because they have been sadly underinvested in over 25 years of direct rule."
For a start, the budget for the Department has jumped, not dramatically, but the Minister's fuming objections to the inadequacy of the 2000/2001 allocation won him an 8 per cent increase to £80 million the following year.
The arts and sports sectors are enjoying having a Minister all to themselves but not everyone is happy. Some sensitive souls in the arts community haven't warmed to McGimpsey's sometimes brusque manner (not evident during this interview) and habit of plain speaking (which was). He lacks charisma, but say officials, he is warm, hands on and decisive.
Generally, people seem satisfied with his performance, but one source in theatre criticised the way his Department keeps funds in reserve for its own use for schemes to encourage diversity in the arts. "Not enough is being done to keep people here, there is a haemorrhaging of talent from Northern Ireland because of a policy where the real practitioner is not given the support they deserve," he said.
McGimpsey is unapologetic. "I noticed that the Arts Council are inclined to fire off all their grant money in the first week of the financial year and I think it is important to keep something in reserve for emergencies."
As for creating a climate that will encourage the brightest talent to stay at home: "We are a small country and you don't get to hold the top professionals in so many areas. It is very difficult to see how you would ever provide a career for a Ken Branagh or a Liam Neeson or a Barry Douglas, but what we can do is give support as artists develop."
McGimpsey means proud. The married father of two appears just that after two years in the job, but in a quiet, measured way. Proud of the Soccer Strategy he has initiated to revitalise a sport in crisis. "Football is the people's game, the opiate of the masses, that they talk about," says the Manchester United supporter.
He is quietly pleased too with his Unlocking Creativity project designed to encourage innovation across society.
"Everyone has an innate creativity in them," he says. "Historically the education system here trained 20 per cent of people to be white collar workers and 80 per cent to be blue collar. That did not serve our people, and it was ignoring their innate creativity."
Lately, his pride in Belfast has caused controversy. "By and large people are intensely proud of their city," he says, introducing the city's bid to be European Capital of Culture for 2008. "The international perception is a city at war with itself, so us suddenly going for this has surprised a lot of people."
His unrestrained backing of the bid - for which around £150 million worth of private and public money will have to be found - was criticised by commentators doubtful about whether culturally the city has what it takes. Writing in one newspaper, broadcaster Victor Price was scathing of the notion because the city has no permanent opera or ballet. "I never met Victor, I think his view is elitist. If you followed his criteria the title would just be a pass the parcel around an elite group of cities."
He believes one day Orange culture could become a tourist attraction instead of a turn-off. "It is already happening in Derry with the Maiden City Festival. The Apprentice Boys set out a few years ago to demonstrate their culture was not just marches and bonfires and gable wall paintings but that there was something rich and deep and undeniable there."
McGimpsey, an Irish speaker and a past visitor to the Gaeltacht in Co Donegal, has managed to keep both sides of the community on board despite being in charge of a brief that is fraught with competing sensitivities. He praises the GAA in one sentence and speaks passionately about Ulster Scots heritage the next.
The Minister says a lifetime in business and politics has given him an understanding that to deliver in his job "you require partnerships all round".