Minister Slammed Over Art's Council Budget Cut

Communities Minister Paul Given has been slammed over cutting the Arts Council's budget by £500,000.

However, Alliance MLA Naomi Long said she is "not surprised".

She said: "The Arts play a major part in uniting our society, achieving great success despite the already limited funds invested locally compared to other parts of the UK.

"Aside from their intrinsic value - enriching life and sparking creativity - the arts are a huge contributor to our economy: creating jobs, developing skills, attracting tourism, assisting regeneration and community development and much, much more.

"In addition to making Northern Ireland a more vibrant place in which to live, work, socialise, invest and holiday, the arts sector is also one of the most integrated - bringing people together from all walks of life and all backgrounds in shared experience."

First Phase Of NI Forest Expansion Scheme Officially Opens

Farmers and landowners in Northern Ireland are to receive support after the Agriculture Minister opened the next phase of the Forest Expansion Scheme.

Minister Michelle McIlveen confirmed the first phase of the scheme last year resulted in over 180 hectares of new woodland planting.

The initiative, under the Rural Development Programme, is part financed by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.

Minister McIlveen said: "Forestry has potential to contribute to a number of the outcomes in the new draft Programme for Government. For example, the outcomes of living and working sustainably and protecting the environment are served by working in forestry, wood processing, and the small businesses that use forests for tourism and pre-school activities. Also, supplying and using wood as a substitute for fossil fuels will help reduce emissions. And taking exercise in our forests will contribute towards the outcome of living long, healthy, active lives."

Outdoor Photographic Exhibition To Open At Belfast City Hall

An outdoor photographic exhibition, 'Fields Of Battle, Lands Of Peace', contrasting the horror of war with the remedial power of nature, is to open at the City Hall next week.

The exhibition features images by Irish landscape photographer Michael St Maur Sheil, which look at how the battlefields of World War One have changed over the past 100 years.

The photographs feature the sites as they are today, capturing the scars of the Western Front but showing how the modern landscapes conceals the terror and suffering that was played out in the trenches below. They will be displayed alongside archive pictures of the battlefields during the Great War, showing how places of devastating violence have been transformed into ones of great beauty.

The exhibition will open in the City Hall grounds on Monday, 18 July, and continue until the end of August.

(CD/MH)