An Irish National Opera is born

ARTSCAPE: OUTGOING MINISTER for Arts Martin Cullen is expected to announce, on Monday, the foundation of the Irish National Opera (INO), based in Dublin, and the appointment of an interim board.

This major development has had a fraught and controversial journey to fruition, with conflict about whether a new national opera company should be based in Dublin or Wexford. It is expected that the first opera season of the new company will be in spring 2011.

Forged from the two State-funded companies, Opera Ireland (OI) and Opera Theatre Company (OTC), the INO will combine both their roles, performing opera of all scales in Dublin, touring nationwide, working with emerging Irish talent and running education and outreach programmes.

Former National Lottery director Ray Bates is expected to chair the interim board, which will also include Virginia Kerr (OTC chairwoman), Thomas Lynch (OI chairman) and Brian McMaster, chairman of the UK’s National Opera Studio and former Welsh National Opera managing director. They will continue to serve on the first full-term board of the INO. During the transition, until the end of June, the chief executives of OI and OTC, Niall Doyle and Kirsty Harris, will also be on the interim board for three months.

Cullen’s move to establish the new company comes in the twilight of his term, before next week’s expected Cabinet reshuffle and his retirement from public life for health reasons. He has expressed his thanks to the members of the interim board, who will operate pro bono, for the important roles they will be taking on, and says: “This single unified Irish national opera company will have the remit and responsibility of providing both the highest possible quality opera experience to Irish audiences throughout the country and maximising the resources available to develop and encourage a thriving opera sector.”

With the future direction of opera in Ireland now mapped out, it was intriguing, on Thursday night at the opening of the stunning Grand Canal Theatre, to speculate about what Irish operas may grace its stage some day.

Part of the new theatre's line-up is Scottish Opera's La Bohème, with soprano Celine Byrne, in June. Another foretaste was seen at the Abbey this week, when The Waterboys performed their magnificent Yeats-to-music show, An Appointment With Mr Yeats, which will be at the Grand Canal in November.

The new theatre’s stage is superb, a huge proscenium arch 33.5 metres wide and 10 metres high. It dwarfed owner Harry Crosbie, who slipped out between the red curtains to a standing ovation before the ballet began. He welcomed people to the theatre and called for another ovation for architect Daniel Libeskind, who was also at the buzzy opening.

Funding at standstill in North

While the recent funding decisions of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland (Acni) provoked varying degrees of disappointment and anger, the arts community in the North is largely attempting to remain philosophical about the deteriorating situation, writes Jane Coyle. And there is general relief that it has not been faced with the level of bloodletting which recently occurred in the Republic.

After a long, agonising wait, Acni’s increase from the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL) for 2010/2011 amounted to just £400,000 (€450,000) extra, despite an anticipated increase of £1.5 million (€1.7 million), based on the Northern Ireland Executive’s spending review 2008-2011.

“We believed we had been successful in securing a modest uplift, but unfortunately that has been clawed back,” says Acni chief executive Roisín McDonough. “And we learned that we’ve lost a further quarter of a million pounds from the Department of Education, which was funding activity in our traditional arts portfolio. Set against a background of chronic underfunding of the arts in Northern Ireland over many years, it’s clear that we face a very difficult set of financial circumstances.”

Applications for funding allocation under Acni’s Annual Support for Organisations Programme (Asop) totalled £13.2 million (€14.7 million), against £9.9 million (€11 million) available. Of the 118 organisations that applied, 21 were unsuccessful and 70 per cent are at a standstill.

“We understand that Acni had to make some difficult decisions, and while it is disappointing to receive standstill funding we are nevertheless grateful to be able to continue to make our work, no matter how trying the circumstances,” says Prime Cut creative director Emma Jordan.

“Opening the Arts Council letter has similar emotions to opening exam results,” says Tinderbox general manager Kerry Woods. “There was a considerably increased workload required for the application process this year as we had to submit full economic appraisals alongside the regular Asop application and it’s disappointing that this was not acknowledged with even a token uplift.”

“We are very disappointed at the Asop result,” says Rachel O’Riordan of Ransom Productions. “Effectively, we have been denied the funding needed for a viable working model for the company. It’s a huge shame, given our track record.”

Funding has been withdrawn from, among others, the Festival of Fools, Best Cellars Music Collective and the Craft and Design Collective. Significant cuts were suffered by the Nerve Centre in Derry, the Prison Arts Foundation and one of the North’s most distinguished cultural institutions, the Linen Hall Library, whose newly appointed librarian John Killen lamented: “This will have an immediate and negative affect on our ability to provide a programme of cultural events.”

“Safeguarding and damage limitation are now the overriding concerns,” said Graeme Farrow, director of the Belfast Festival at Queen’s. “It’s difficult to be strategic when the rug keeps getting pulled from under you. Small cuts are disproportionately damaging as we’re already feeding off scraps.”

Among the main beneficiaries are what might be called the big boys: the Ulster Orchestra, the Lyric Theatre and the Grand Opera House. “We’re pleased to have got an increase of £150,000 (€170,000), particularly when most theatre companies are on standstill this year,” says Lyric artistic director Richard Croxford. “However, with this being the year before we move to our new building, we had been counting on a larger grant and will now have to look at what we can cut back on.”

“Standstill funding for a second year would have been more than just worrying, so I warmly welcome the uplift,” says Ulster Orchestra’s chief executive, David Byers. “This has been a difficult round for the Arts Council. The arts in Northern Ireland are at a crossroads. The award is unlikely to resolve our pay issues – we are at the bottom of the salary league for the UK’s contract orchestras – but it ensures that we can deliver our 2010/2011 season.”