Behind closed doors in the theatre world

ARTSCAPE:ANOTHER HALF A million, swipe. Gone. One buried piece of news at a meeting of theatre people this week was that the Arts Council has just had another €500,000 lopped off its budget. The cut is unofficial at this stage, may apply similarly to other Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism agencies, and is apparently related to public service embargo savings. But it came after the Budget figures, so wasn't accounted for when the Council made funding decisions.

There is anger and despair, but some resolve, in the theatre sector. At a packed meeting of more than 120 arts organisations, hosted by the representative body Theatre Forum and closed to the public and press, in the NCH on Wednesday, a lot of feelings were vented about the scale of Arts Council cuts. Shock from all sectors of the arts has greeted what are by any measure harsh decisions for some State-funded bodies; already it’s clear there will be less art for Irish audiences this year – and less art promoting Ireland abroad.

In October 2008, when the Arts Council budget for 2009 got its first big Budget swipe – and things have got worse since then – the then deputy chairman Maurice Foley’s statement foretold the results: “The inevitable cuts will jeopardise much of this investment. The public can expect fewer festivals, fewer exhibitions, less theatre and less music. Individual artists can expect fewer bursaries. There are also likely to be job losses.”

And so it is, more than a year later, and galleries, music promoters, theatre companies are looking at how they can cut their cloth for what was already a skimpily clad body. Planned shows have been dropped, jobs have been lost, and more will follow as production companies, often set up after encouragement from the Arts Council some years ago to professionalise their operations, are wound up. There is bound to be less work for freelance workers – of whom the arts are full. With less creative work, venues will find it harder to source good shows and exhibitions to put on in their stages and galleries.

In December, the Arts Council received a €9 million reduction from Government, which meant it would have hard decisions to take. More than 300 organisations had their grant cut, some by up to 65 per cent, and more than 30 had their funding cut altogether.

Theatre Forum acknowledged in its statement after the meeting that while in the current difficult economic climate and reduced public spending the arts will inevitably be affected, the severity of this month’s cuts took many by surprise.

Theatre Forum apparently made an excellent presentation at the meeting, showing how theatre and other artforms have fared over the past few years, including that theatre funding overall is down 18.29 per cent since last year, and down 28 per cent over two years. A delegation from the Arts Council attended the meeting, which was addressed by its director, Mary Cloake. According to some who were there, she explained the context for the severe cuts. Following its own budget cuts for 2009 and 2010, and steadily diminishing allocations to the Arts Council over the past few years, the council appears to have decided it is no longer in a position to fund production companies in some cases, while it wants to continue to support creative artists. In answer to a question about how the cuts are affecting people’s livelihoods, the role of the council in funding art rather than having responsibility for livelihoods was pointed out.

There was some discussion of the “production hub” model, where people share administration and production resources (there was some doubt expressed about its workability), and another notion, where theatre directors would be “resident” in arts centres and theatres (although someone who was at a later meeting of venue managers said the suggestion seemed like news to them).

There was anger and disappointment at how the Arts Council had communicated its decisions, the lack of clarity about the rationale for the particularly draconian cuts, and how slow their procedures are. Many whose funding was cut drastically have been invited to apply for one-off project funding – the April application date was announced just this week . . . and so the long process drags on, as Project’s Willie White pointed out in this newspaper yesterday. It will all put pressure on the funding pot for one-off projects, and established companies that have been slashed pointed out that it will be hard for middle-ranking companies to compete.

The council was urged by many speakers to publish its official theatre policy urgently. Theatre Forum chairman Fergal McGrath urged Theatre Forum members and the Arts Council to work together to protect the performing arts for the benefit of Irish audiences – and the economy.

The meeting concluded, its statement read, with renewed commitment to the National Campaign for the Arts, and people left, it was informally said, feeling bruised and battered.