The Progressive Unionist Party believes that social and economic regeneration must be complemented by the articulation and creative expression of our cultural identity, and that the lives of our people ought to be enriched and enhanced by access to the Arts. In particular, the party believes in the capacity of Community Arts to help regenerate energy, pride and self-esteem in those communities which have suffered greatly as a result of the recent armed conflict, the ravages of structural unemployment and the seemingly unending cycle of violence and deprivation.
The party believes that everyone has the right to freely participate in the cultural life of the Province and to enjoy the arts, and insists that it is the duty of both central and local government to provide funding for the arts which supports both cultural infrastructures and the work of individual artists and their professional associations. In particular the party calls for a more equitable distribution of Arts Council funding with greater levels of funding being allocated for the development of the arts at community level.
Progressive Unionists believe that culture and the arts should unite rather than divide and we are opposed to all who would manipulate aspects of a common cultural heritage in the cause and furtherance of sectarian or political ideology.