Arts Council Closes Lottery Programme to New Applicants

• National Lottery
• Additionality

The Arts Council will permit only 9 organisation to 'apply' for funding in the 2007 to 2008 financial year - putting the scheme 'under review' for everybody else to allow these 9 organisations to bid for an additional year's funding.

Revealed in the Arts Council minutes for November 2006 the decision has been taken to permit those organisations funded for two years to extend their funding for another year.

"The Arts Council has been reviewing its Artform Policies - perhaps we should consider their approach to spending Lottery funds as an artform in itself."

Neil Irwin, NICVA Member Services Manager

When MAP was opened it permitted organisations to apply for between 2 and 3 years funding so long as the amount required was between £10,000 and £20,000/per annum. The Arts Council has now decided to allow these organisations to apply for the extra year to bring them into line with the three year run of the programme - which begs the question:

• Why did the Arts Council permit organisations to apply for two years funding in the first place if they intended it to be a three year programme?

ACNI is already planning to raise the MAP threshold to move more organisations from exchequer funding to National Lottery funding.

The Lottery Multi-Annual Arts Programme was introduced to move organisations previously funded by the exchequer funded ASOP (Annual Support of Organisations Programme) to Lottery revenue to ensure they received ongoing support. It was seen as a controversial move as it was considered by many commentators as a breach of the additionality principle of National Lottery funding to substitute exchequer finance with National Lottery funds.

The news that the scheme will remain closed for the coming year will mean that new innovative schemes that could have applied to the MAP programme will be deprived the opportunity – while no doubt being good news to the 9 organisations who will ‘apply’ for the continuation funding.

www.artscouncil-ni.org