In March 2015 the government announced a year-long programme to mark the centenary of the 1916 Rising, the event that led to our independence just six years later.
The programme was framed as an invitation to Irish people everywhere to mark the centenary in whatever they way they might choose. It wasn’t the obvious approach to an event that still divides opinion on this island.
That simple expression of trust – the openness of the invitation to remember, reflect and reimagine –led to an extraordinary outcome. Contested histories were revealed through drama, dance and music. Historical exposition and artistic expression collided – to the benefit of both. The commemoration of a rebellion became a shared reflection on identity, citizenship and culture.
Our new citizens, from within the EU and further afield became an important part of the year. The 1916 Proclamation of the Republic was translated into Croatian, Mandarin, Arabic, Hebrew, Polish and Russian. Any fears that the centenary would plunge us into regressive nationalism proved unfounded.
Elsewhere around the world, 2016 was a difficult year. Brexit was a profound shock. We witnessed a loss of trust in democratic institutions. Fact-based evidence seemed to become irrelevant. Political discourse reached levels that made us fearful for our children’s future.
The community of democratic nations is facing real challenges. Globalisation has brought economic gains, but people feel less safe. Governments and citizens seem to be deaf to each other.
We cannot assume that Ireland is immune to these trends. But this year we discovered something that might move us in a better direction, towards individual and societal wellbeing and greater social cohesion.
Less insular
Even as we commemorated the iconic event of our modern nationhood we became more outward-looking, less insular and more compassionate. That counterintuitive outcome is entirely due to broad cultural participation being front and centre of the year.
And so when it came to thinking about the legacy of 2016 it was obvious that we should look no further than the transformative potential of arts, culture and heritage. Hence the cross-government Creative Ireland programme we announced this week.
The programme is predicated on the principle that arts, culture and heritage function as a robust social infrastructure and as a key underpinning of individual wellbeing; that the arts are of intrinsic value to individuals and to society and that the artist brings essential qualities of awareness, emotion, truth and creativity to everyday life.
Global dimension
The Creative Ireland programme is primarily about ourselves – about better outcomes for our people. There is, however, a global dimension.
We tend to think of our contribution to the world in terms of UN peacekeeping and the exceptional work of our NGOs in development and emergency response. Perhaps we have discovered something else that we can offer the world – an understanding of the power of creative and participative cultural engagement to break down barriers and lead us to a deeper sense of our shared humanity.
Creative Ireland will give us the opportunity to develop these ideas, to chart our experience as we put culture and creativity at the heart of public policy, and to share the outcomes with the world.
That would be a proud legacy of 2016.