The Arts Council needs a more “fit-for-purpose board” with skills in governance, human resources and law and “not just knowledge of the arts”, an expert advisory group has recommended.
The independent review was ordered after the arts organisation’s controversial IT upgrade initiative cost the State €5.3 million before being abandoned.
Commissioned by the Department of Culture, the review made 149 recommendations after highlighting board and management failures and inexperience as well as poor departmental oversight.
It stressed the need for legislative change to allow a more diverse range of board members with skill sets other than knowledge of the arts.
The review pointed out that IT transformation projects “are notoriously difficult to successfully implement, even for large organisations”.
[ Arts Council chair vows to ‘rigorously’ pursue necessary reforms after botched IT project ]
It calls for the Government to consider establishing a “pool of expertise” that public-sector bodies could use to fill key roles to enhance their capacity “to deliver ICT/business transformation projects”.
The Art Council’s IT project began in 2018 with a €3 million budget before hitting €6.7 million when it was abandoned.
In its annual accounts filed last February the council reported an overall loss of €5.3 million as some of the work was deemed successful.
The review found the Arts Council’s business case for the project understated the costs and did not include VAT or the expense of streamlining businesses.
Oversight by the department was “too informal” and issues were not escalated to the appropriate level.
The council’s “systems of governance failed, with low senior management cohesion, an immature risk culture and limited board oversight”.
The State agency lacked IT and project management expertise, over-relied on third-party suppliers and did not properly manage contracts.
The expert advisory committee chaired by Professor Niamh Brennan and including Dr Margaret Cullen and John McCarthy also noted significant pressures elsewhere with a major growth in staff and budget between 2015 and 2023. “Managing the project through Covid was also suboptimal,” the committee found.
It noted significant changes in the project objective and scale as it developed and the Arts Council did not have a “settled sense” from the outset of what it wanted from the project.
“These deviations from the original plan were not properly considered nor adequately risk-assessed by the governance structure for the project, highlighting significant failings at below board and board level.”
For its review, the committee interviewed 41 stakeholders and considered 1,930 documents.
It said the council provided all specific documents and information requested, but was critical that “certain documents identified in the course of interviews were not provided upfront and were obtained from other parties”.
The review found a pattern of decisions not coming to the board for approval, “excessively detailed papers being submitted to the board which were difficult to interpret, and a lack of engagement at key points of the project”.
The committee believed a board with a broader range of governance skills among its members at key points “would likely have resulted in more rigorous oversight of the project”.
It noted, however, the importance of the Arts Council and “its invaluable work”, that there was a strong sense of public service among its personnel, and that since June 2024 there have been several “notable changes to board practices and procedures”.
The committee submitted the review to Minister for Culture Patrick O’Donovan on January 5th. He is expected to bring it to Cabinet on Tuesday.
The Arts Council has been contacted for comment.
Maura McGrath, who chairs the council, has previously said she would “rigorously” pursue any measures and reforms needed.