The Arts Council has welcomed the announcement by Minister John O’Donoghue of €500,000 additional funding earmarked for the development of traditional arts. The extra money means that the ball can start rolling earlier than planned for the Arts Council’s recently adopted three-year strategy for the traditional arts, due to commence in 2006. “From the beginning it has been the policy of this Council to put the traditional arts at the heart of its work. This was the mandate given to us in the new Arts Act,” said Olive Braiden, Chair of the Arts Council. “Since our appointment in August 2003, we have made it a priority, first to formulate policy, second to appoint a Traditional Arts Specialist and third to ensure that substantial funds are made available to enable the work to be acknowledged and developed. We had already earmarked €3m for 2006. Minister John O’Donoghue,T.D. responded to our initiative by giving us the opportunity with this additional funding to get the ball rolling this year. The traditional arts community have felt excluded from the Arts Council in the past, this will no longer be the case,” she said. The traditional arts are defined as comprising traditional music, song and dance, and oral arts such as storytelling and agallamh beirte. For further information, CLICK HERE