Members of National Youth Choir of Northern Ireland (NYCNI) have been told organisation will shut following the loss of its annual funding from Arts Council Northern Ireland (ACNI).
Based in County Armagh, the charity’s trustees have decided to close the choir after 26 years of operation, following an unsuccessful bid for funding from ACNI for the 2025-26 period. Previously it had been awarded a £60,797 grant from the funding body in 2024-25.
NYCNI’s most recent accounts, for the 12 months to 31 March 2024, show that before the ending of this grant, the choir “suffered a significant loss”, with its unrestricted reserves falling year-on-year from £70,357 to £16,324, below target levels.
Trustees were expecting this loss, having decided to appoint a part-time chief executive funded from reserves for the first year, but said that additional unplanned expenditure had been incurred following “a significant employee issue” resulting in salary costs, legal and professional fees.
Despite the challenges, trustees said they had a plan to rebuild reserves in the coming years and would be able to meet their liabilities for the following year, but noted “the company continues to be dependent on funding from the Arts Council NI”.
High-quality youth choral training
In a statement, ACNI said that “with disappointment” the decision not to fund the NYCNI this year had been taken and was “based on the assessment of the application against the programme criteria”.
However, the funding body noted the decision was “unrelated to funding pressures” and based on “the ability of the organisation to meet the programme’s criteria”.
ACNI said it had provided the choir with “detailed feedback” on their application, and had discussed their immediate plans and future funding opportunities, adding “decisions relating to applications for future funding are of course a matter for the NYCNI board.”
“Provision of high-quality youth choral training and development in Northern Ireland remains a priority for the arts council and we recognise the important role NYCNI has played in the same,” the spokesperson continued.
‘Huge scale and reach’
The choir delivers dozens of workshops for primary and secondary schools every year, providing pupils with the opportunity to audition for one of its five choirs, offering additional tuition, rehearsals and performances.
“We’re seeing more than 2,000 people every single year, and in our choirs this year we’ve had 360 students at the highest level,” the choir’s artistic director Andrew Nunn told the BBC.
“The organisation has huge scale and reach,” he said.
“Outreach is really important to us, so we go round all parts of Northern Ireland.”
He called on ACNI to “come to the table and work with the organisation to try and make sure that this amazing power of work that we do, the amazing artistic result that we produce, that continues”.
‘Deliberate dismantling of a vital pathway’
Social Democratic and Labour Party Councillor for Newry, Doire Finn, has also written to Communities Minister Gordon Lyons to intervene and stop the closure.
Calling the closure “devastating” and a “huge blow to the arts and cultural scene in the North”, Finn said the choir provided more than just music education.
“The choir is not only important for those who go on to successful careers in music, but for all of the young people who build confidence, develop skills and build life-long friendships through their involvement,” she said.
“The end of the choir-led workshops in our schools will end many young people’s first opportunity to engage seriously with music.”
Referencing concerns over arts funding cuts in Northern Ireland, which have seen a 53% decline since a peak in 2011-12 and is the lowest per capita of all UK nations, Finn said, “This is the latest attacks on our arts and cultural scene that has seen funding continuously eroded in recent years with the loss of many vital programmes and community groups.”
She continued: “Leaving the North as the only part of these islands without a National Youth Choir is totally unacceptable and the SDLP will do everything we can to prevent it.”
A student-led petition calling for the reversal of ACNI’s funding decision has garnered over 4,000 signatures to date.
Organised by training choir member Keeley Magill, the petition calls the withdrawal “short-sighted”, warning it will lead to the “deliberate dismantling of a vital pathway for young people in Northern Ireland to engage in transformative artistic experiences”.
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