The Arts Council of Northern Ireland has allocated more than GB£7.1 million to 129 arts organisations across the country, representing a 24.5% increase in funding compared to last year. The grants were announced yesterday under the council’s Annual Support for Organisations Program. An extra £1.5 million has been injected into the initiative, compared to the £5.7 million spread across 113 organisations in last year's budget. Arts Council Chairman Professor Brian Walker said the remaining funds, from an overall budget this year of £10.65 million, will be distributed to other programs and initiatives to be announced later this year. ‘As well as significantly increasing funding to all our arts organisations, we have been able to direct resources to youth arts and health arts organisations which provide so many in our community with a valuable experience of performance and participation,’ he said. ‘This confirms the delivery of the council’s commitment to long-term change in arts funding.’ Yesterday’s announcement also revealed organisations in the disability arts sector will benefit from a 113% increase in funding, totalling £279,000. Meanwhile, funding for youth arts rose to £457,000 – a 63% boost. The arts council also received an additional £250,000 from the Department of Education, to fund organisations with a ‘cultural traditions’ remit. Professor Walker said the overall funding to arts organisations was geared to ‘strengthen those organisations which are the backbone of the arts’ in Northern Ireland. ‘We welcome the extra revenue from the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure, which has helped us begin to readdress years of chronic under-funding in the arts’, he said. Recently, the arts council doubled the funding available to support individual artists, from £500,000 a year to £1 million per annum. For a full list of organisations funded in this year’s budget, CLICK HERE