The National Campaign for the Arts have organised a nationwide Meet and Greet event for Monday, May 16th. The event will see 43 constituencies hosting 76 new TDs at local events. Selected hosts will engage and inform their respective TDs about the arts in their constituency and encourage them to commit continued investment in the arts.
The National Campaign for the Arts (NCFA) was officially launched in September 2009 by various Irish artists including actress and star of ‘In America’ and ‘The Tudors’, Sarah Bolger, actor and comedian Risteard Cooper; actress and novelist Amy Huberman and Oscar and IFTA winning director Neil Jordan. The group was established as the first ever umbrella organisation for the diverse arts sectors in Ireland and looks to provide a voice for the country’s artists and arts organisations.
The group’s website outlines the need for the nationwide Meet and Greet, noting that :”With the new government now in place we have a fantastic opportunity to reframe the argument and make a positive case for the arts. We need to stop talking about cuts and start talking about investment. We need to stop talking about the arts delivering value for money and simply show how the arts are valuable.”
As such various constituency hosts have been chosen to invite their TD(s) to a Meet and Greet session on Monday, May 16th. It will be the responsibility of the hosts and those present at the meetings, which are open to the public, to let their local TDs know that the Irish arts and its people are a powerful resource for Ireland.
The sessions are also to be used to find out what area of the arts the varied TDs are interested in and what their priorities are for the local area. Event hosts will also be asked to illustrate the importance of the arts in their own local areas. The key element of each of the Meet and Greet sessions is that the TDs are encouraged to engage with the arts and to support the NCFA call for sustained funding for the arts.
The Meet and Greet hosts include Nicki French Davis, founder of the Civic Trust House for Cork North Central who will host Fine Gael’s Dara Murphy; Labour’s Kathleen Lynch; Fianna Fáil’s Billy Kelleher and Sinn Fein’s Jonathan O’Brien. In Dublin Central, Fishamble’s Literary Officer, Gavin Kostick who will host Fine Gael’s Paschal Donohoe; Sinn Fein’s Mary Lou McDonald and Labour’s Joe Costelloe.
A full list of meeting locations and Meet and Greet hosts is available at www.ncfa.ie/files
Anyone looking for more information about the upcoming events should visit www.ncfa.ie.
