Brexit could be a severe blow for arts in Northern Ireland
Geraldine Kendall Adams on the impact of Brexit in Northern Ireland, where the EU provides significant funds to the culture sector, and there are concerns that museums could find it hard to maintain cross-border relationships with their Irish counterparts
Despite the process of Britain leaving the EU having appeared anything but smooth so far, Conservative MP Peter Lilley recently reassured the public that Brexit would go off without a hitch. His reasoning? The precedent set by countries such as Ireland and India when they left the British empire.
Putting aside the small matter of describing India’s transition to independence as “smooth”, Lilley seems to be suffering from the same selective amnesia that has afflicted several of his colleagues when it comes to Britain’s closest neighbour.
In the run up to the referendum, amid all the talk of stopping freedom of movement and closing down the borders, quite a few Leave campaigners appeared to forget that a UK nation shared a 310-mile land frontier with an EU country. They also seemed to overlook that the most recent conflict to take place on British soil was resolved partly through a commitment to tear down checkpoints and make that border as open as possible.
The uncertainty that has taken hold since the referendum is not unique to Northern Ireland, but the province is facing its own particular set of challenges in relation to Brexit. The culture sector is far from immune to these, and there is concern about what the upcoming split from the EU will mean for Northern Ireland’s museums and other cultural and creative industries.
On a practical level, fears about the loss of EU funding are particularly pertinent in Northern Ireland. In addition to Europe-wide programmes such as Creative Europe, the Northern Irish culture sector has greatly benefited from targeted funds such as the EU’s Peace Programme, which supports reconciliation through stimulating “social and economic progress” in Northern Ireland and the border counties of the Irish Republic.
The province also receives significant funding through the Interreg scheme, which supports transnational and inter-regional cooperation between Northern Ireland, the Irish Republic and Scotland.
Since 1995, the EU has invested €1.3bn in peace-building through these programmes, which has funded new civic spaces and high-profile infrastructure projects such as Derry-Londonderry’s Peace Bridge, the symbolic landmark linking Catholic and Protestant communities that connects the two sides of the River Foyle. The EU has contributed €229m tranche to the current tranche of the programme, which runs until 2020 and has just opened applications for a €90m fund aimed at shared spaces and services for young people.
Little faith
Although the chancellor Philip Hammond has said the UK government will see these commitments through to 2020, there is little faith that the same level of funding will be maintained in the long term.
Paddy Gilmore, the director of learning and partnership at National Museums Northern Ireland, says: “The UK government doesn’t give Northern Ireland enough to begin with. If it can’t fund some of our core business, such as the NHS, do we really trust it to replace EU funding?”
Linked to the question of funding is tourism in the province, which has boomed in recent years thanks, in part, to the myriad of EU-supported regeneration projects. Since the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, Northern Ireland has successfully transformed its international image, with overnight trips to the province reaching an all-time high of 2.3 million in 2015. Eye-catching new culture and heritage venues such as the Titanic Belfast, and festivals such as Derry-Londonderry’s year as City of Culture in 2013, have played a key part in this, underlining the importance of the culture sector to the Northern Irish economy.
Unquantifiable risk
But Brexit poses an as yet unquantifiable risk to that progress. Tourism is a vitally important cross-border industry; the island has enjoyed significant success in marketing itself as a whole to overseas visitors, with no north-south divide. Arrangements such as the Common Travel Area between the UK and Ireland, and British Irish Visa Waiver Scheme, which allows non-EU nationals to travel freely between both countries, have facilitated this joined-up tourism offer, but now face an uncertain future – particularly if a hard border returns between the two countries.
There are also fears that EU citizens and visitors from Britain will be more reluctant to visit following Brexit. Economic upheaval, currency differences and entry difficulties – either perceived or real – could all play a role in putting off tourists.
Close relationship
There may also be challenges ahead in maintaining the cross-border relationships that are so important to Ireland’s cultural sector.
Even during the height of the Troubles, museums and other cultural institutions on both sides of the border enjoyed a close relationship, and that sense of partnership and cooperation has only grown in the intervening years, says Gilmore.
It reached its peak with Ireland’s Decade of Centenaries, an ongoing programme of culture and heritage events to chart the country’s journey to independence 100 years ago. This year was a particularly significant milestone in the programme, with events and exhibitions taking place across the country to commemorate the Easter Rising of 1916.
“The dialogue [between museums north and south] around the Decade of Centenaries was good,” says Gilmore. “There was a real effort to make sure we were very much in league with others around the table, and that we offered a pluralist perspective of the historical facts.”
This collaboration led to Ulster Museum submitting a joint funding bid with the National Museum of Ireland to fund two exhibitions on the Easter Rising and its wider context, with money for the project provided by the Irish government and Northern Ireland Executive.
Diverging paths
There’s no chance such relationships will be abandoned after Brexit, says Brian Crowley, the chairman of the Irish Museums Association, but they may become more challenging to maintain. “Museums have played a significant role in breaking down barriers, but we could well be going on diverging paths,” he says. “We’re not going to pull down the shutters, but it may be more difficult.”
Cross-border initiatives will continue, but could “lack the acceleration that EU funding provides”, says Crowley.
There are also questions around legislation related to cultural issues, such as intellectual property rights, which could change after Brexit. “We don’t know if there will be harmonisation around these,” Crowley adds. “Instead of coming together, we could end up in two different systems.”
Museums in the republic may also be affected by the UK’s departure in other ways, says Crowley, particularly if freedom of movement is restricted. “The Irish museum sector is quite small,” he says. “It’s beneficial that Irish people can work in Britain and bring that experience back to museums here.
We often look to the UK for examples and role models – it’s important for us to bring in initiatives from UK museums that we can learn from.”
Retrograde step
Underlying all of these practical concerns, however, is a genuine fear that Britain’s departure from the EU will be a retrograde step for the province, inflaming old tensions and divisions.
The pre-referendum campaign was divisive across the UK – but the debate in the Northern Ireland Executive was divided along old partisan lines, with Sinn Féin campaigning for Remain, and the Democratic Unionist Party supporting Leave.
Nationalist and unionist voters echoed those preferences, so the fact that Remain won the vote in Northern Ireland by 56% to 44%, and some communities feel they are being pulled out of Europe against their will, may yet prove to be a source of contention.
This could be particularly worrying if the final Brexit deal results in a hard border, says Gilmore, an outcome that he believes would play into the hands of “those who want to see a divided Ireland”.
“It’s hard to imagine now, but it happened before and it can happen again,” agrees Crowley. But he is optimistic about the culture sector’s ability to withstand these challenges.
“We’ve worked together through tough times – and a much tougher border – than we could see now,” Crowley says. “But I say that with a degree of regret, because we are rolling back progress.”
In the meantime, while the country awaits the outcome of the government’s chaotic Brexit negotiations, perhaps someone should offer Peter Lilley a history lesson.
A fund aimed at reinforcing progress towards a peaceful and stable society in Northern Ireland.
European Social Fund: €205.2m
A programme to combat poverty and enhance social inclusion by reducing economic inactivity.
European Regional Development Fund: €308m
A fund that promotes growth and jobs by investing in research and innovation.
Interreg Programme: €240.3m (joint allocation for Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and Scotland)
A programme to promote transnational and inter-regional cooperation.
Northern Ireland Rural Development Programme: €228.4m
A fund focused on supporting development in rural areas.
Putting aside the small matter of describing India’s transition to independence as “smooth”, Lilley seems to be suffering from the same selective amnesia that has afflicted several of his colleagues when it comes to Britain’s closest neighbour.
In the run up to the referendum, amid all the talk of stopping freedom of movement and closing down the borders, quite a few Leave campaigners appeared to forget that a UK nation shared a 310-mile land frontier with an EU country. They also seemed to overlook that the most recent conflict to take place on British soil was resolved partly through a commitment to tear down checkpoints and make that border as open as possible.
The uncertainty that has taken hold since the referendum is not unique to Northern Ireland, but the province is facing its own particular set of challenges in relation to Brexit. The culture sector is far from immune to these, and there is concern about what the upcoming split from the EU will mean for Northern Ireland’s museums and other cultural and creative industries.
On a practical level, fears about the loss of EU funding are particularly pertinent in Northern Ireland. In addition to Europe-wide programmes such as Creative Europe, the Northern Irish culture sector has greatly benefited from targeted funds such as the EU’s Peace Programme, which supports reconciliation through stimulating “social and economic progress” in Northern Ireland and the border counties of the Irish Republic.
The province also receives significant funding through the Interreg scheme, which supports transnational and inter-regional cooperation between Northern Ireland, the Irish Republic and Scotland.
Since 1995, the EU has invested €1.3bn in peace-building through these programmes, which has funded new civic spaces and high-profile infrastructure projects such as Derry-Londonderry’s Peace Bridge, the symbolic landmark linking Catholic and Protestant communities that connects the two sides of the River Foyle. The EU has contributed €229m tranche to the current tranche of the programme, which runs until 2020 and has just opened applications for a €90m fund aimed at shared spaces and services for young people.
Little faith
Although the chancellor Philip Hammond has said the UK government will see these commitments through to 2020, there is little faith that the same level of funding will be maintained in the long term.
Paddy Gilmore, the director of learning and partnership at National Museums Northern Ireland, says: “The UK government doesn’t give Northern Ireland enough to begin with. If it can’t fund some of our core business, such as the NHS, do we really trust it to replace EU funding?”
Linked to the question of funding is tourism in the province, which has boomed in recent years thanks, in part, to the myriad of EU-supported regeneration projects. Since the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, Northern Ireland has successfully transformed its international image, with overnight trips to the province reaching an all-time high of 2.3 million in 2015. Eye-catching new culture and heritage venues such as the Titanic Belfast, and festivals such as Derry-Londonderry’s year as City of Culture in 2013, have played a key part in this, underlining the importance of the culture sector to the Northern Irish economy.
Unquantifiable risk
But Brexit poses an as yet unquantifiable risk to that progress. Tourism is a vitally important cross-border industry; the island has enjoyed significant success in marketing itself as a whole to overseas visitors, with no north-south divide. Arrangements such as the Common Travel Area between the UK and Ireland, and British Irish Visa Waiver Scheme, which allows non-EU nationals to travel freely between both countries, have facilitated this joined-up tourism offer, but now face an uncertain future – particularly if a hard border returns between the two countries.
There are also fears that EU citizens and visitors from Britain will be more reluctant to visit following Brexit. Economic upheaval, currency differences and entry difficulties – either perceived or real – could all play a role in putting off tourists.
Close relationship
There may also be challenges ahead in maintaining the cross-border relationships that are so important to Ireland’s cultural sector.
Even during the height of the Troubles, museums and other cultural institutions on both sides of the border enjoyed a close relationship, and that sense of partnership and cooperation has only grown in the intervening years, says Gilmore.
It reached its peak with Ireland’s Decade of Centenaries, an ongoing programme of culture and heritage events to chart the country’s journey to independence 100 years ago. This year was a particularly significant milestone in the programme, with events and exhibitions taking place across the country to commemorate the Easter Rising of 1916.
“The dialogue [between museums north and south] around the Decade of Centenaries was good,” says Gilmore. “There was a real effort to make sure we were very much in league with others around the table, and that we offered a pluralist perspective of the historical facts.”
This collaboration led to Ulster Museum submitting a joint funding bid with the National Museum of Ireland to fund two exhibitions on the Easter Rising and its wider context, with money for the project provided by the Irish government and Northern Ireland Executive.
Diverging paths
There’s no chance such relationships will be abandoned after Brexit, says Brian Crowley, the chairman of the Irish Museums Association, but they may become more challenging to maintain. “Museums have played a significant role in breaking down barriers, but we could well be going on diverging paths,” he says. “We’re not going to pull down the shutters, but it may be more difficult.”
Cross-border initiatives will continue, but could “lack the acceleration that EU funding provides”, says Crowley.
There are also questions around legislation related to cultural issues, such as intellectual property rights, which could change after Brexit. “We don’t know if there will be harmonisation around these,” Crowley adds. “Instead of coming together, we could end up in two different systems.”
Museums in the republic may also be affected by the UK’s departure in other ways, says Crowley, particularly if freedom of movement is restricted. “The Irish museum sector is quite small,” he says. “It’s beneficial that Irish people can work in Britain and bring that experience back to museums here.
We often look to the UK for examples and role models – it’s important for us to bring in initiatives from UK museums that we can learn from.”
Retrograde step
Underlying all of these practical concerns, however, is a genuine fear that Britain’s departure from the EU will be a retrograde step for the province, inflaming old tensions and divisions.
The pre-referendum campaign was divisive across the UK – but the debate in the Northern Ireland Executive was divided along old partisan lines, with Sinn Féin campaigning for Remain, and the Democratic Unionist Party supporting Leave.
Nationalist and unionist voters echoed those preferences, so the fact that Remain won the vote in Northern Ireland by 56% to 44%, and some communities feel they are being pulled out of Europe against their will, may yet prove to be a source of contention.
This could be particularly worrying if the final Brexit deal results in a hard border, says Gilmore, an outcome that he believes would play into the hands of “those who want to see a divided Ireland”.
“It’s hard to imagine now, but it happened before and it can happen again,” agrees Crowley. But he is optimistic about the culture sector’s ability to withstand these challenges.
“We’ve worked together through tough times – and a much tougher border – than we could see now,” Crowley says. “But I say that with a degree of regret, because we are rolling back progress.”
In the meantime, while the country awaits the outcome of the government’s chaotic Brexit negotiations, perhaps someone should offer Peter Lilley a history lesson.
EU funding for Northern Ireland (2014-20)
Peace Programme IV: €229mA fund aimed at reinforcing progress towards a peaceful and stable society in Northern Ireland.
European Social Fund: €205.2m
A programme to combat poverty and enhance social inclusion by reducing economic inactivity.
European Regional Development Fund: €308m
A fund that promotes growth and jobs by investing in research and innovation.
Interreg Programme: €240.3m (joint allocation for Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and Scotland)
A programme to promote transnational and inter-regional cooperation.
Northern Ireland Rural Development Programme: €228.4m
A fund focused on supporting development in rural areas.