Key arts group seeks meeting

Art ScapeWith the Government finally getting its feet under the table, top people in the arts world are hoping that Minister for Arts Séamus Brennan will engage urgently with some of the pressing issues facing them.

Feeling is running so high that a group letter, under the aegis of Theatre Forum, has been sent to the Minister seeking a meeting with a small delegation this month. The letter says they would like to discuss issues of concern, particularly "a pressing difficulty arising out of the Arts Council's annual budget".

The letter continues: "The Arts Plan 'Partnership for the Arts 2006-2008' was adopted after widespread consultation with the sector, and endorsed by both the previous government and the Minister. This included the commitment to 'strengthen and make more secure a group of key arts organisations. The council will emphasise ongoing stability from year to year for organisations undertaking strategically important activities'.

"The Fianna Fáil arts manifesto, which was launched by the Taoiseach and the previous minister for arts, John O'Donoghue, two months ago, also made a very welcome commitment to provide multi-annual funding to the Arts Council for the important areas of development and sustainability to key organisations. This was confirmed in the arts chapter of the Programme for Government, agreed in June.

"We represent organisations that the Arts Council itself has identified as strategically important. They include the major theatre, opera and dance companies, literature, film and music organisations, festivals, galleries and multidisciplinary arts centres in the country.

"Recently each of our organisations submitted comprehensive three-year plans to the Arts Council. In the absence of sufficient resources, the council is not in a position to respond in a meaningful way to a single one of our organisations.

"Most of the key organisations have been offered less than an inflationary increase for next year.

"The vision behind the multi-annual commitment is most welcome. If it is not to be seen as an empty promise, we believe that it is essential that multi-annual funding is provided to the Arts Council, and that the council's budget be increased to €100 million in 2008. The funding increase in global terms is very small; the flourishing of creativity and output it would release, with all the benefits that would accrue for the country as a whole, is incalculable.

"We welcome the recent increased funding to the Abbey Theatre, and the addition of the traditional arts, circus and spectacle to the Arts Council areas of responsibility. We accept and are willing to play our role in the National Development Plan by committing to touring; likewise we will play our role in supporting cultural tourism and adding great value on the international stage by working with Culture Ireland.

"None of these targets is attainable by any of organisations if we are not allowed the basic capacity to plan in advance. It is our strong belief, however, that failure to implement such measures will result in a collapse of faith within the arts sector as to the Government's intention to deliver on its own Arts Plan and along with it our plans and visions for the future.

"Implementing the Programme for Government and supporting the Arts Council's bid for €100 million for 2008 will provide much-needed resources to ensure the continued success of Ireland's cultural industries. It is our strong belief however that failure to implement such measures will result in a collapse of faith within the arts sector as to the government's intention to deliver on its own Arts Plan and along with it our plans and visions for the future."

The letter, which pulls no punches, was signed by 53 of the top operators in arts and culture in Ireland, across art forms, which is surely unprecedented. While they've had a standard acknowledgment, there has been no response from the Minister's department.

The letter followed a July meeting of the key arts bodies in the country, where there was horror at the 3.4 per cent across-the-board funding increase, which is below the rate of inflation, and therefore in effect a cut.

While the council is looking for a catch-up funding increase this year of €20 million, there is fear that the arts - small fry in budgetary terms, but vulnerable to even small budget cuts - may lose out.

Over the past few years there has been an attempt to restore some stability to the arts sector. O'Donoghue made huge strides with the arts, and Fianna Fáil, before the election, pledged to continue to honour its commitments.It is clear the new Minister has an opportunity to build on that success and make his own mark. He could make an impact, even in a short time, if he wishes to, in areas like children and the arts, which could have a profound effect on the future of this country. Moving closer to multi-annual funding for the bigger arts bodies in the country is achievable, working with the Arts Council and sticking with agreed strategy. Amending the new rules on VAT on foreign artists, which is crippling festivals particularly, is also, surely, achievable - after all, the money at issue is relatively small.

Theatre Forum is pleased that so many arts organisations signed the letter, and its chief executive, Tania Banotti, says it's an indication of the strength of feeling and unanimity of the arts sector, which doing good work, but can't do it on 3.4 per cent. The signatories want to make their case with the Minister this month, before the business of Estimates gets further along.

• "What has Iraq become?" asked playwright Jawad al-Assadi, explaining his absence from the 10th British Council Edinburgh Showcase seminar on Arab theatre last week, writes Mary Leland. His brother and teenage nephew had been murdered by Sunni extremists near Baghdad a few days before, their deaths a tragic example of life imitating art.

Al-Assadi was in Cork during the Midsummer Festival for the European premiere of his play The Bath of Baghdad, about two brothers seeking shelter from bombs and bullets in a bathhouse. In between explosions, the men, both bus-drivers on the road from Baghdad to Damascus, exchange stories of their strategies for survival.

Hussein al-Assadi and his son Irtiqa were both bus drivers and, like the characters in the play, used two different passports to make their way through Sunni or Shia strongholds. But this time they offered Shia passports to disguised Sunni militia. "My brother and nephew were kidnapped, interrogated and tortured for days," al-Assadi said in a statement read to the seminar. "Then they endured a surreal trial with a mock judge, who asked the kidnapped to pray because their death at dawn was inevitable. Irtiqa al-Assadi, who had hardly reached his teens, was slaughtered in front of his father."

William Galinsky, director of the Cork Midsummer Festival, spoke of the deep sadness of all who had worked with Jawad al-Assadi in Cork, where his play had been a high point of the festival. "I am sure that all those who saw this amazing performance and were privileged enough to come into contact with Jawad's work will be as deeply shocked as the festival was to learn of this terrible tragedy."

• The Arts Council's Touring Experiment took its time in getting around to music. But the scheme has delivered what must be the largest touring project handled by an independent promoter with the support of Arts Council funding, writes Michael Dervan. The Church Classics series, devised by Galway-based Madeleine Flanagan, will by early December have clocked up 30 concerts. That's just above the number of classical concerts in Music Network's main spring and autumn touring schedule.

There are five Church Classics tours, each visiting six churches: St George's, Carrick-on-Shannon; St Mary's Cathedral, Tuam; St James's Church of Ireland, Mallow; St Multose, Kinsale; St Carthage's Cathedral, Lismore; and Old St Mary's, Clonmel. In the second tour, violinist Elizabeth Cooney and pianist Finghin Collins hit the road this month, and, in October, the Hunka Quartet, which draws its members from the ranks of the Irish Chamber Orchestra. Flautist William Dowdall is joined by Andreja Malir on harp and David Adams on piano in November. And the final tour brings together soprano Sylvia O'Brien, baritone Roland Wood, and pianist David Barnard in December. Season tickets are €60. Details: 091-799258, www.classicallinks.ie.