Arts funding in Northern Ireland has ground to a halt, Equity has learned this week. The Department for Communities, the Northern Ireland government body responsible for setting the Arts Council of Northern Ireland's (ACNI) budget, confirmed that grants to artists and arts organisations are effectively at a temporary standstill.
Earlier this month, we contacted the Department for Communities to ask about funding for the current year 2026-27. The department responded that, in the absence of an Executive budget, all arms-length bodies and third parties, including ACNI, have received an interim allocation covering the period April to June 2026. The department also confirmed that this interim allocation was for £2,573,000, which represents just 25% of last year’s (2025-26) opening allocation. This effectively means that temporary funding of arts organisations for the year 2026-7 remains the same as last year, making it a real terms cut.
The department went on to state that this money is resource funding only and that ACNI has not received a capital budget at this point.
We spoke to a handful of regularly funded organisations who have, in the past few weeks, received from ACNI the equivalent of 25% of the overall funding they received last year in 2025-26.
Earlier this week, Belfast-based Replay Theatre Company announced that it had been forced to make a “significant reduction in its services for young disabled audiences following a critical shortfall in funding”. The role of Replay’s Director of Inclusive Theatre, currently served by Equity member Andrew Stanford, has been made redundant. Despite this funding loss being from sources external to the Arts Council, no additional funding for this provision has been designated.
Alice Adams Lemon, Equity’s Northern Ireland Official, says:
“In a case of déjà vu, arts organisations and artists across Northern Ireland are again left waiting for proper investment in the arts. The delay in allocating a proper budget for this year has led to what is effectively a temporary funding standstill for the arts sector. What’s more, arts organisations and artists – who have already faced years of underfunding – are unable to plan ahead into the year, with the next quarter approaching fast and no news from the department.
“This puts the creative sector at risk of closures, reduced provision for audiences, or livelihoods not being sustained. And there have already been casualties. The union has been supporting Replay Theatre Company’s Director of Inclusive Theatre, Equity member Andrew Stanford, who has been made redundant. We are pained to hear that the company will have to significantly reduce its services for children and young people with disabilities.
“To halt further damaging outcomes and to secure provision for artists, producers, and their audiences, decision-makers need to step up and increase investment in the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. Now more than ever, Northern Ireland deserves an arts sector which can bring people together, invigorate local economies, and offer good work to all artists”
