Adrian Dunbar has spoken of his concern over the future of arts groups in Fermanagh due to budget cuts and the continued stalemate at Stormont.
As he prepares to star in the sixth Happy Days Festival next week the Enniskillen born actor believes the county “cannot afford to lose our arts.”
Speaking to The Impartial Reporter in between filming a new drama for TV3 called ‘Blood’ this week in Dublin, Mr. Dunbar said: “I am worried about the future of these groups because you know what? It does not take a lot of money to keep these groups going.”
The Line of Duty star’s comments come after Fermanagh dance tutor Dylan Quinn spoke out after the Arts Council of Northern Ireland announced annual funding of over £13 million representing a 4.7 per cent cut to the Annual Funding Programme (AFP). 
Mr. Quinn says the disparity between rural and urban arts funding “demonstrates a lack of care for people in rural areas.”
“In places like Fermanagh we need to be looking to tourism, we need to be looking to the arts, we need to be looking at sporting events,” said Mr. Dunbar. “Those things are important to us and to bring people to the area. We cannot afford to lose any of those and need to look after those things.”
“There are events that happen every year but the likes of Dylan Quinn… Dylan is a 12 month a year project. He really deserves our support because he is in Fermanagh, he goes out and does a lot of projects, yes, but he’s based in Fermanagh. To have a dance project that is actually based in Fermanagh is an extraordinary thing for a small county like ours, so he really needs our support.”
Mr. Dunbar says it is “a very tricky time at the moment” particularly because of Brexit and the Irish border.
“We don’t know what’s happening if there is going to be more money or less money after Brexit. 
“I think Brexit is going to be bad for the Border region. What small minded English nationalism which is waving a flag at the moment is hopeful of is that England is going to do quite well out of it and there is no doubt that the services sector and the financial sector could thrive but we are not involved in those sectors.
“It’s food, it’s agri-business, it’s tourism, it’s those things that are important to our county and I don’t think that we are going to get the upswing that some parts of the rest of the UK may get. We know what does and does not reach us in these parts, I don’t think it is going to be good for us.”
Mr. Dunbar stars in Fizzles: Number one and two by Samuel Beckett at the Crypt at St Michael’s Church in Enniskillen on August 3.
“It means a lot to me to be back involved in the Beckett festival again. There are a lot of people we can look up to but Samuel Beckett’s life was exemplary in how he took a personal stance in all circumstances, I really admire him, even beyond the fact his work is so memorable, and moving,” he said.