THE Economic Development Minister has committed to publishing an annual report detailing the way more than £4 million of funding is being spent on Jersey’s cultural sector.
The budget for culture rose from £4.7 to £8.7 million between 2016 and 2022, following a 2019 proposition by Deputy Montfort Tadier to set aside 1% of the overall government budget for the cultural sector. Funding had fallen in real terms from a level described in the Island’s 2005 cultural strategy as not much above “survival level”.
However, there has been no formal reporting on the detail of how that increase has been deployed across the organisations that the government supports annually – ArtHouse Jersey, the Jersey Arts Centre, the Opera House and Jersey Heritage – and others which have secured individual grants.
Responding to a written question from St Brelade Deputy Jonathan Renouf, Economic Development Minister Kirsten Morel provided a list of those which had received funding in 2023 although he did not release details of individual amounts.
However, the minister signalled his intention to provide that information in the future. “From this year I will be publishing an annual report and a new webpage detailing the way the 1% is deployed and outlining the various ongoing strategic programmes for the development of the arts and heritage sectors,” Deputy Morel said.
