Supporting the arts during Covid-19

Supporting the arts during Covid-19

Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, President Higgins has highlighted the role that culture has played in helping us all cope in these difficult times.

In June, President Higgins wrote to the heads of European institutions with an urgent call to support cultural institutions and workers. The President also hosted cultural performances at the Áras, including events marking Bloomsday, European Music Day, and New Year’s Eve.

In July, President Higgins addressed a special show, “Songs from an Empty Room”, hosted at venues across Ireland, in support of technicians and crew working in the live events industry. The coronavirus pandemic had seen their earnings decimated and President Higgins used the occasion to say that artists and those working in theatres and arts productions “need our solidarity now.”

Despite the fact that the number of visitors to Áras an Uachtaráin had to be kept to a minimum because of public health restrictions – in a normal year, more than 20,000 people come through the doors of the home of the President – the President hosted a number of performances by artists, not only to celebrate Irish talent but also to help in both a symbolic and a practical way to highlight the lack of income for so many of Ireland’s artists and workers in the cultural sector.

On Bloomsday 2020, President Higgins watches a performance by Lisa Lambe. The President hosted an online programme of performances at Áras an Uachtaráin, to highlight the need to support artists during the pandemic

President Higgins marked Culture Night 2020 with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, in a call for protection of the arts and those who work in it

In February, President Higgins donated books from his personal collection to the public library system On New Year’s Eve, President Higgins and Sabina invited Dan McCabe to perform ‘The Parting Glass’ at Áras an Uachtaráin, in honour of all those who died, or who lost a loved-one during the year

President Higgins with members of the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, September 2020