THE ABBEY Theatre's funding has been cut by 16 per cent for next year, from €10 million this year to €8.35 million in 2009.
In July the theatre was told its funding next year would be €9.2 million, and this week it learned it would now in fact be €8.35 million. Director of the theatre Fiach Mac Conghail said: "The Abbey Theatre accepts and acknowledges that in the current economic climate the Arts Council had to make tough decisions, and that includes reducing the Abbey's 2009 revenue funding."
Mr Mac Conghail opened the door to the theatre community working together and said the Abbey "takes its National Theatre responsibilities seriously and calls for an open and imaginative debate amongst Irish theatre-makers and companies to see how we might co-operate in order to sustain and develop Irish theatre over the next couple of years".
Following its financial crisis some years ago, and changes in structures, the Abbey had a revenue grant over three years (2006-2008) totalling €25.7 million. The Arts Council is this week informing its clients what levels of investment in the arts will be made next year, following a council meeting last Friday.
Many in the arts sector were expecting cuts following the councils cut in the Budget; this year the Arts Council had €85 million to spend, and in 2009 it will have €76 million. But as news leaked out yesterday of the scale of cutbacks, it became clear that some organisations are being cut back very severely. Some are likely to cease to exist, and jobs will be lost.
The Abbey is the council's largest recipient of funding, by a long way. It is understood funding to a handful of theatre companies has been cut back by about 20 per cent. One of those is Red Kettle in Waterford, where the incoming chairwoman of the Arts Council, Pat Moylan, was chairwoman until a couple of weeks ago.
Artistic director Ben Hennessy confirmed the company's funding of €226,000 this year will be cut to €180,000 next year, which brings the company back to pre-1996 levels.
Funding to Theatre Forum, the representative body for theatre in Ireland, has also been cut by 20 per cent and its funding is now at 2004 levels.
At least one organisation, the Dublin Writers' Centre on Parnell Square, the national development centre for writers in Ireland, has this week had its annual funding cut altogether.
This year it received €200,000 from the Arts Council (a cut from €217,000 the previous year) and had been told in November to expect a cut of €30,000, leaving it €170,000 for 2009. However, the funding has been cut to zero.
Not everybody lost out so severely. The Gate Theatre is to lose only €5,000 of its €1.1 million 2009 budget.