One of the more curious aspects of the Celtic Tiger is an inability to spend our new-found wealth. Year after year we are producing budget surpluses but we seem incapable of spending this money on the many social, cultural and infrastructural deficits in our society.
The latest casualty is the Irish Academy for the Performing Arts, which has effectively been put on hold by the Royal Irish Academy of Music's (RIAM) decision to withdraw from the Government-led plan. The RIAM and its director John O'Conor were major players in the formation of the new national academy and without them it faces an uncertain future.
The Renshaw Report - the blueprint for the new academy - is being implemented by a Planning and Steering Group, which is awaiting submissions on specific issues concerning the IAPA. Although the closing date for these submissions is next Monday, the RIAM's withdrawal means that the group's work would seem to have become irrelevant, since it is not in a position to proceed with its terms of reference. Reaction to this news will be mixed. Clearly those most closely associated with IAPA will be disappointed, but others will point to a flawed process of consultation mixed with political opportunism, which has led to the current crisis.
The notion of an academy has been around arts education circles for some time but it only entered the political realm in 1997, when John O'Conor made a proposal to the recently appointed Minister of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Sile de Valera, to house an academy beside the National Concert Hall in Earlsfort Terrace. The proposal received the support of the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, in a speech at the RIAM's 150th anniversary celebrations. A Working Group was subsequently formed by de Valera's department and the Department of Education and Science. The Working Group published an interim report in July 1998 recommending Earlsfort Terrace as the most suitable site for the new academy, in spite of an offer of the Dublin City University (DCU) campus by its president Danny O'Hare.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern favoured DCU, which is in his constituency, and in 1999 John O'Conor and Patrick Sutton - director of the Gaiety School of Acting as well as Ahern's voice coach - and three dance educators commissioned a report from Deloitte & Touche. The study, recommended DCU as the best location for a new academy. At a meeting between the two relevant ministers and the Taoiseach, it was agreed that an independent assessment should be undertaken, and Peter Renshaw from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London was appointed to carry it out.
Renshaw completed his report without comprehensive consultation and seemed to rely heavily on the Deloitte & Touche report and the submissions made to the original Working Party in 1998. His report, and the Deloitte & Touche study, met immediate criticism. Some statements in the Deloitte & Touche report appear partisan ("The Gaiety School of Acting is recognised as Ireland's premier drama school") while others are questionable ("Ireland has produced some of the most exciting and innovative dancers this century"). Renshaw's findings are both incomplete and badly informed. He met six individuals from the Irish World Music Centre but never consulted the music or drama departments at Trinity College, while in the report itself he suggests that the RIAM should consider developing post-graduate programmes in piano when, in fact, they already do so.
Renshaw recommended a "nodal" model whereby DCU would be the centre, housing the Gaiety School of Acting and the RIAM, and the University of Limerick and Firkin Crane in Cork would offer post-graduate degrees and undergraduate dance training respectively. In spite of its faults, the Renshaw Report was adopted and a Planning and Steering Group was hastily formed to implement its findings.
But there was unhappiness in the RIAM at Renshaw's model. The IAPA would acquire the RIAM's BA in Music Performance and Bachelor of Music Education degrees, relegating the RIAM to a junior school, effectively feeding students to the new academy. This was obviously of little benefit to the RIAM, and the perceived weakness of Renshaw's Report further undermined attempts at its adoption.
Dissatisfaction was also brewing elsewhere. A report by Eibhlin Ni Ruairc in the spring issue of Irish Theatre Magazine questioned the exclusion of the Dublin Institute of Technology and Trinity College from the drama provision: "While the [Gaiety School of Acting's] reputation is high and its faculty impressive, it is fundamentally a private, profit-making enterprise that offers a Diploma in Acting to its two-year students. Trinity College, which has a three-year Bachelor of Theatre Studies, is the only institution in the Republic which currently offers a degree in acting. The TCD course was established in 1996 and is run in conjunction with the Abbey Theatre. DIT has offered a three-year diploma in acting since 1983 and is currently seeking to develop a four-year degree."
In dance, a wide range of individuals attended meetings hosted by the Association of Professional Dancers in Ireland and voiced disquiet over the dance proposals. A broad base of dance practitioners, teachers and choreographers questioned many aspects of Renshaw's dance plans. Most anger was expressed at the fact that the IAPA had advanced so far without public dialogue and that there was no consultation with the dance community at an appropriate time, or at an appropriate level.
Consultation had been promised last January by Minister de Valera. When the Association of Irish Composers questioned IAPA's policy and commitment to music composition in December last year, it was assured by the Minister's department that no definitive decisions had yet been taken and that "many areas will require further consideration including courses and their content". However, it was not until June 26th that a call for submissions finally appeared from the Planning and Steering Group.
Rather than addressing course content or policy, these submissions had to be limited to issues relating to formal structure, legalities, accreditation and "a longer-term possibility of transferring elements of other educational bodies in the fields of music and drama to the IAPA". A spokesperson in the Department of Education and Science claimed last week that the group's terms of reference prevented it from discussing IAPA's content or policy, yet assurances were given to the dance community in June that the group would welcome submissions on any aspect of the new plan.
Meanwhile the group had tried to pave the way for appointing a director and a governing authority in an effort to consolidate the plan: once the legal framework was decided and put in place it would be very difficult to stop the momentum. Yet they were unable to devise a director's job description because the discussion raised so many other issues relating to the position. Other problems relating to the University of Limerick's official relationship with DCU in the new structure also had to be addressed.
But the RIAM's latest decision is a potentially fatal setback. The official line from the Department of Education is that "issues have arisen", but the Renshaw report is proceeding, and a resolution is being sought "within the context of Renshaw". The last statement is puzzling. It would seem that any possible renegotiation between the RIAM and the Planning and Steering Group would, by its very nature, alter the report. The department nevertheless remains hopeful of a resolution, and the RIAM's director John O'Conor has remained a member of the group. Individual members of the group were privately suggesting the possibility of Dublin Institute of Technology replacing the RIAM in a direct swap.
The current crisis might provide the opportunity to revisit the essential issues and bring about active dialogue, rather than passive consultation. What is striking is the widespread dismay expressed by those on the periphery. These are not just begrudgers or "NIMBYs" but professionals with an indirect interest in the plans: dance or theatre company directors, orchestra conductors and associations such as the Association of Irish Composers. Many have grave concerns about the nodal model, and think separating the disciplines eliminates possibilities for interaction and cross-fertilisation.
This would seem even more crucial when we look ahead to 2009, when the first graduates will begin looking for work. Artistic directors of opera, dance and theatre companies are already looking for performers with a broad range of skills across different disciplines. Dancers need to act, and actors need to dance. Musicians are being released from the pit and blended into dance and theatre productions.
Riverdance recently advertised for orchestral musicians for a new project that will begin "workshopping" in September and emerge with a format that will surely demand a broader range of skills than traditional orchestral playing.
The next step is unclear. But wrestling the debate back from the hands of politicians mightn't be easy, and with £35 million on offer to invest in tomorrow's performers, it is essential to safeguard how that money is spent.
