Artscape: In March this year, Amnesty International opened the Art for Amnesty office in Dublin, and next Thursday, former Czech president and playwright, Vaclav Havel, will be honoured as its inaugural Ambassador of Conscience at a ceremony in Dublin's Abbey Theatre, writes Rosita Boland.
"Havel is the most obvious embodiment of what the award is about," Vanessa Moss, projects manager said. Nobel laureate poet Seamus Heaney will present to Havel the award which takes the form of a scroll by Czech artist Peter Sís of Heaney's poem, 'The Republic of Conscience', and a pin designed by famous Czech jeweller, Eva Eisler. Actress Vanessa Redgrave will host proceedings. There will also be a gala performance of Brian Friel's play, Aristocrats, with proceeds going to the fund. Tickets, ranging from €75 to €250, are still available. Amnesty is hoping to raise €50,000 on the night.
Although the office is based in Ireland, Art for Amnesty is an international fund-raising project. Artists in every discipline are being encouraged to get involved. "We want to start as many arts-based initiatives as possible," Moss said. An Irish art sale for next spring, in association with the Irish Museum of Modern Art, is already well into the planning stage. Some 100 contemporary Irish artists have agreed to donate a piece of art for the sale. The majority of the proceeds which will go to Amnesty.
[ www.artforamnesty.orgOpens in new window ]
Prepare to rejoice
Between now and next June, James Joyce is probably going to be mentioned more or less daily (2004 is the centenary of the famous Bloomsday celebrated in Ulysses) and Dublin, in particular, is gearing up for the cultural tourism bonanza this will bring, writes Rosita Boland. A Bloomsday Centenary Committee has been established, with Laura Weldon as its national co-ordinator. Bloomsday itself in is June 16th, but in our elastic Irish way, the festival will run from 1 April 1st to August 31st. Perhaps the most ambitious event is a free traditional Bloomsday breakfast for 10,000 people on O'Connell Street on June 13th. Given that at present there is scarcely enough room for the traffic on that unfortunate street, it's difficult to contemplate the logistics of serving a breakfast of fried kidneys to the multitude.
Other events over the five months include guided tours of 15 Usher's Island, the house on the Dublin quays which was the setting for the classic short story, 'The Dead'. From February 2nd, RTÉ Radio will present Reading Ulysses, a 20-part series, with a 45-minute chapter-by-chapter guide to Ulysses broadcast each week. There will be a series of workshops and Joyce lectures in selected schools, and a winner will be chosen for the Bloomsday Literary Prize, sponsored by Davy Byrne's, with a €20,000 first prize to the best short story by a citizen or resident of the island of Ireland. Entry is now open for the competition. Details of events are at www.rejoycedublin2004.com
Macnas back on the streets
Banshees, ghouls, Catalan demons and Arawn, the god of the Otherworld, rose up and out of St Nicholas's church yard, Shop Street and High Street in Galway on the eve of Halloween, while the Mill Street Garda Station team stood idly by. Well, not quite, writes Lorna Siggins. The men and women in blue would have taken as much pleasure as most out of the demonic antics - for this was a long-lost Macnas returning to its roots.
Yes, says John Ashton, the street theatre company's new manager. "Macnas is determined to get back on to Galway's streets." Two years and two arts festivals have passed with no parade, as the company focused on large scale theatre productions - Granuaile in 2002, and this year's highly ambitious co-production with the Belgrade Theatre Company, The Mysteries.
The large community cast in The Mysteries was forced to battle against drenching rain during their one-week run in NUI, Galway's tennis courts. When the production reached Coventry, the weather was just "blissful" sunshine, Ashton says. With no regrets, and lots of new energy and enthusiasm, the company is expected to return to its street beat next July.
Ashton cautions that discussions have to take place with Galway Arts Festival, and final decisions will also be subject to the funding allocations next year for both the festival and Macnas respectively. Macnas took a 16 per cent cut in last year's allocation. Fortunately, it will have a community employment scheme for next year, but the manager is aware that the future looks bleak for this highly valuable initiative.
Ashton, who hails from Cornwall, succeeded Declan Gibbons several weeks ago, having worked with Macnas as production manager since 1996. Previously, he worked on a freelance basis for the company, and was manager when Macnas joined U2's Zooropa tour in 1993.
He has a wealth of experience, as technical manager, and subsequently production manager, with Druid in Galway. He also worked as assistant technical manager at the Edinburgh International Festival, and was production manager with the Galway Arts Festival, with I Teatranti in Italy and with the O'Casey Theatre Company in Northern Ireland and the US.
Good news from Cork
The two-fold news from University College, Cork, this week is that Fiona Kearney has been appointed director of the Lewis Glucksman Gallery (still under construction, with a completion date of autumn, 2004) and James Elkins of the Art Institute of Chicago has been confirmed as the incoming Professor of Art History at the university, writes Mary Leland.
As visual arts officer at UCC for the last four years, Kearney has been involved in the conception and development of the gallery which will house the university's contemporary art collection and stage major national and international exhibitions. She also contributed to the introduction of the history of art undergraduate degree course, where the inaugural programme was directed by Prof Alastair Rowan, former president of Edinburgh College of Art. Now Rowan has retired; a message to this effect greets telephone callers to the department, who are advised: "in the meantime no messages to this number will be taken". Some of the callers might be inquiring about the matter of Elkins's salary, alleged to be €100,000 per annum, although it is understood it will be sourced outside normal UCC payroll budgets. Elkins is a charismatic figure in US art circles and is married to art historian, Margaret McNamee.
Fiona Kearney is a graduate of UCC and TCD, worked as programme co-ordinator at the National Sculpture Factory and then as director of visual arts at the Triskel Arts Centre; her academic career included a five-year stint as lecturer at the Crawford College of Art and Design, and she currently lectures in UCC. She has published widely on contemporary art and is the recipient of several distinguished awards, including the NUI Prix d'Honneur from the French Government and a Fulbright scholarship. The three-year contract at the Glucksman Gallery - named after its major benefactor - carries a salary of between €60,000 and €72,000. Loretta Brennan Glucksman is chair of gallery board of directors, while the management board includes Prof G.T.Wrixon, president of UCC, Ciaran Benson, former chairman of the Arts Council and artist Hughie O'Donoghue.
Short Cuts
Calipo Theatre Company has just been awarded a substantial EU grant - nearly €300,000, by the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation 2000-2006 - for a large-scale cross-Border community film production project called Sharp-Focus, which involves a number of writers and directors. The Drogheda-based Calipo Theatre and Picture Company project will work with disadvantaged young people from north and south of the Border, and culminates in two film festivals next year. The directors and writers involved in the project include John Breen (writer/director of Alone it Stands), Barry Dignam (award-winning films Dream Kitchen and Chicken among others); Audrey O'Reilly, another award-winning film-maker, and Darren Thornton (artistic director of Calipo); writers Christian O'Reilly (The Good Father), Don McCamphill, Kate Perry and Barbara Bergin. They will collaborate with young people with no experience in film or the professional arts, from four youth organisations from socially disadvantaged areas (two North, two South): Shankill Young Women's Project (Calipo's cross-Border partner); Ionad na Nog, Clones; Bosco Drama Group, Newry, and Sligo Youthreach will work with a film production team on four original short films exploring themes of community and identity - cultural identity, equality, conflict and reconciliation. The resulting two film festivals in May 2004 will take place in the north and south.
Opera 2005, the Cork-based opera company formed in partnership with Cork Opera House, is holding open auditions for an opera chorus next Wednesday, November 12th, at Cork Opera House between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. Further information from Eithne Egan, general administrator, Opera 2005, 021-4274308 or 087-7796000 or e-mail eegan@corkoperahouse.ie