The Arts Council's decision to end its funding of the Institute for Choreography and Dance was unexpected, writes Michael Seaver
Last September the Arts Council hosted representatives from seven European dance houses at the Institute for Choreography and Dance in Cork, as a new European network of dance houses, that included ICD, was unveiled for the first time. Catherine Boothman, from the council's Cultural Contact Point, sat alongside the guests and she used the network - Initiatives in Dance through European Exchange (IDEE) - as an example of a successful European partnership. Afterward, wine and finger-food were served, again courtesy of the Arts Council. Four months later, the Arts Council discontinued funding to ICD, claiming that it was over-ambitious in its programming.
One hundred and thirty-one other companies were also refused revenue funding for 2006 by the Arts Council, but ICD is probably the biggest casualty. Its programme of choreographic research and practice through performances, workshops, seminars and publications is of strategic importance in the dance sector. If the decision to discontinue funding was surprising, what was more startling was the announcement by the Arts Council inviting tenders from other Irish dance organisations for the provision of choreographic research and practice, the very programme that ICD has developed for more than 10 years.
"It came as a complete surprise," says Pat Dawson, chairman of ICD, describing the decision to cut funding, for which there was no prior discussion or warning. Apart from kind words and canapés at the IDEE launch, ICD had other reasons to believe it was in good standing with the council. At the council's suggestion it undertook a re-examination of its programme and presented the report to the council late last year. Yet in January its funding was completely cut and, according to Pat Dawson there is nothing else that might have initiated the funding cut, such as financial mismanagement.
"We thought we were undergoing a joint exploration with the council," says Dawson, "but I don't think they engaged with us the way we engaged with them. In the end we were told that the reason for the cut was that there seemed to be a credibility problem that we couldn't deliver the ambitious programme that we had planned." As a result it has been confirmed that the board have terminated that programme, including the IDEE project, and made Mary Brady (artistic director) and Mowbray Bates (managing director) redundant.
News was slow to emerge. When ICD's name didn't appear on the list of offers published on January 27th, many presumed that it was because the review was undertaken just a few months previously and so the revenue application was being given longer consideration. The board of ICD also didn't make any public statement at the time, even though it had already begun the process of winding down. Instead it agreed a joint statement with the Arts Council would be issued on February 16th.
The press statement that was finally issued the following day was solely from the Arts Council and didn't mention the funding cut to ICD. Under the heading "Arts Council plans new initiatives for dance", it announced that it was to invite tenders for choreographic research and practice, exactly the work undertaken by ICD. Alongside this, the council intends to "commission a study of the building-based needs of dance in Cork city and environs". The ICD board have yet to release a statement, but intend to make the building available for rent.
Apart from IDEE project, other aspects of the defunct programme have received praise. Last week Mary Brady, artistic director of ICD, was due to travel to Sardinia to talk about the centre's work, as it was seen as an ideal model for a dance house within a small population. "We have been very impressed with the work that ICD did, particularly Fête de la Danse [ an annual Francophone dance festival] and the standard of international work that was brought to Cork," says Liz Meany, arts officer with Cork City Council, adding that it demonstrated there was an audience for contemporary dance in Cork.
"Who gave Michael Keegan Dolan [ artistic director of Fabulous Beast] his first break?" asks Anica Louw of LD Dance Trust/Shawbrook in Co Longford. "Mary Brady did. I will ever forget seeing Fabulous Beast's Sunday Lunch for the first time at ICD. Where did we see NDT3 first [ in Ireland]? In Cork. And having sat through my share of high-brow conferences, I can say that ICD's symposia were always very enjoyable and I made excellent contacts."
First appearances suggest the same "let's start again" approach that has historically been a feature of Arts Council dance policy. When it cut funding to Irish National Ballet and Dublin Contemporary Dance Theatre in 1989, there was to be a redeployment of its dance resources into grassroots development. But that redistribution didn't take place: in 1989 the dance sector received only 51 per cent of what it was awarded in 1988.
What is unprecedented about the ICD decision is that the Arts Council is not deploying resources into another area. It still wants to support choreographic research, but because it didn't like the details of ICD's programme, it has decided to offer the brief to anyone else who wants it.
So who could take up the offer? The obvious candidates are the two other dance resource organisations in the country, Shawbrook/LD Dance Trust in Longford, and the Association of Professional Dancers in Ireland. With accommodation and studio space, Shawbrook is rented as a research and retreat centre for choreographers and has supported companies such as Fabulous Beast, Fidget Feet and Marguerite Donlon.
The APDI, soon to be renamed Dance Ireland, has already been successful with Arts Council tenders in winning the contract to manage the new studio complex in Foley Street in Dublin. Consequently, it received a 75 per cent increase in funding this year, along with a glowing report card. In offering the funding, the council expressed its "belief in APDI's potential as both a national organisation dedicated to the development of dance . . . [ and] the expansion of APDI's national remit in terms of education, outreach and partnership-building at local level."
But the new premises, as a recent advertisement for a managing director outlines, maintains the APDI's ethos as an organisation led by dance artists, for dance artists. Although its new venue will be called DanceHouse, it remains more of a representative organisation than a independent development agency like the other European dance houses.
What's most disquieting is the lack of outrage within the broader Irish dance community. Although APDI knew unofficially about ICD's predicament for more than two weeks, it has not planned a lobbying campaign as it did when ballet companies were cut in 2003. In light of the announcement of a study into the building-based needs for dance in Cork, the arts office of Cork County Council would offer no further comment on the ICD decision. In the meantime, ICD's European colleagues in the IDEE network have been active. E-mails to the Arts Council seeking clarification went unanswered all last week, but they have proceeded to send details of the council's actions to lawyers at the European Commission to prevent jeopardising the project's €1.5 million funding.
A chain e-mail addressed to the Minister of Arts and the Arts Programme Director of the Arts Council denouncing the decision and seeking clarity, has also been initiated. It reads: "We don't agree with the destruction of existing structures for contemporary dance without a discussion on future perspectives for dance in Ireland." When questioned, an Arts Council spokesperson said the council was happy with how it has dealt with the matter.
