Newtownabbey artist welcomes financial support
A Newtownabbey artist has applauded the latest £29m funding for the sector, announced by the Communities Minister.
Documentary Visual Artist, Lise McGreevy, who has had all of her solo exhibitions cancelled since the March lockdown, welcomed the money for the arts.
Lise is best known for her PEACE AND RECONCILE arts and cultural programme, which has been running since 2016.
She said: “Along with so many artists who work across Co Antrim, I am delighted to hear that £29m worth of funding is to be gained by around 1,000 NI creatives in the near future.
“It will be a life line to so many. With applications for the previous round of arts council funding in the summer, stretching three times more than previous stages, this shows the dire straits felt by our local creatives.”
She added: “Like so many businesses, sole traders in the arts were hit incredibly hard these past seven months. This has only been exacerbated with many (Public) galleries across NI now closing again through this second Covid lockdown.”
With the latest restrictions, Lise’s solo show has now also been postponed.
She was due to host on board the Belfast Barge during November. All of her proposed solo exhibitions and her peace programme’s cultural events and children’s workshops have been put on hold since March.
She said: “Putting this together with the closure of businesses that so many artists sell to, has meant that hundreds of creatives across Co Antrim have suffered great financial, emotional and mental hardships. So this funding shall be a life line to so many.
“Just like the community and business sectors; funding is vital to the arts, especially during these pandemic times.”
The Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey, Cllr Jim Montgomery, has supported Lise’s peace programme.
Cllr Montgomery said: “I strongly support our borough’s arts, and artists like Lise who are a valued part of it.
“This support package is a welcome injection by the NI Executive into the arts sector. We have seen this sector, like many others, severely hit by the pandemic.
“What is rarely recognised is that for many artists a thriving arts sector is necessary for them to earn a living.
“Unfortunately, it is likely that more financial support is needed as there is no sign of the arts sector being up and running again anytime soon.”
Lise thanked the Mayor, and the Deputy Mayor, Cllr Noreen McClelland, for being “such strong, hands on, supporters” of the arts for many years now.
She added: “The arts funding has been cut and cut again for so many years already. So before we had even heard of Covid, we as a sector had already been struggling, well out of its depth, for over a decade.
“At this stage; without more financial support, there will be many of our fabulous organisations and creatives that will not survive the storm.
“But we shall all do our best to keep things going, just as so many others in the wider NI community have to do.”
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