Following a slight technical delay on Friday, the Arts Council has posted details of its grant spending for next year on its website.
Following the reduction of the Arts Council's budget from €48 million to €44 million, the council has decided on its 2003 grants. The site details the proposed levels of funding for next year for production companies, resource organisations and festivals and events, and also sets out the Arts Council's analysis of trends and the rationale behind its approach to funding.
The grants are to the following areas: architecture, dance, film, literature, multi-disciplinary arts, music, opera, theatre, traditional arts and visual arts, as well as the first phase of artists' projects expenditure in 2003. The web pages setting out the allocation of grants can be found at www.artscouncil.ie/2003.
Ms Mary Cloake, development director of the Arts Council, yesterday commented that "the rationale was based on trying to prioritise the [council's] arts plan and ensure that the long-term sustainability of the arts sector would be guaranteed, and so we had to make some very painful and difficult decisions".