ArtScape:Imagine announcing your 21st birthday party - not once, but twice - and then opting not to turn up. At least not yet. That's how the recent decision by street theatre company Macnas to postpone plans for its Halloween parade is seen by some Galwegians, writes Lorna Siggins.
The development comes just months after the company almost missed celebrating its coming of age at the 30th Galway Arts Festival. At the time, it said its budget could not stretch to two events, and that it would focus on Halloween.
After a public outcry and a late but successful appeal by the festival to Galway City Council for some additional grant aid, Macnas changed its mind. Now funding has been cited as the reason for the Halloween postponement.
"We rely 100 per cent on sponsorship, we don't sell tickets, so we don't have any income," general manager John Ashton explains. The available resources were generated for the summer festival, which starred Cryptosporidium the Parasite.
But the company does have some plans. It hopes to open an exhibition marking its 21st birthday on October 10th in Galway Arts Centre, and a book is being compiled on its history for publication at the end of the year, according to Ashton. The community, education outreach and training work, which "doesn't attract so much media attention", is continuing, he emphasises. Earlier this year, Macnas separated from its corporate wing, MacTeo, when the latter was bought out and renamed Arcana by former Saw Doctors drummer Johnny Donnelly.
Gary McMahon, formerly with Macnas, questions the volume of work being created with the €400,000 in annual funding.
"Macnas changed the face of parades in Ireland, infused all sorts of groups with ideas, has some very good people, but has it lost its way," he says, speaking in a personal capacity. "It has been waiting for an artistic director for seven or eight years, and has been sustained this year by its 21st anniversary. But maybe this lap of honour is the final one? The notion of fun on a grand scale, as quoted back at the inception in 1986, just isn't there any more."
The man for the Everyman
There seems to be as much drama in the offices of Cork's Everyman Palace Theatre as there is on stage, writes Brian O'Connell. Last month, Patrick Talbot announced his decision to step down as artistic director of the venue following six years at the helm, "having achieved what set out to achieve".
Talbot said he wanted to return to producing mainstream theatre for the Irish and UK markets, and his post was advertised nationally and a shortlist drawn up. But before proceeding to interviews, the Everyman Palace board asked Talbot to remain at the helm for the foreseeable future. The official line is that the request was made in light of the decision by the theatre's general manager, Ciara Ni Shuilleabháin, to move to Mary Immaculate College in Limerick as marketing and PR officer in November.
Yet board chairman Michael White hints that the change of plan may have had more to do with the lack of suitable applicants, than with internal staff issues.
"We had 10 applicants for the position, perhaps not as many as we would have hoped for," explains White. "I don't think the theatre could have coped with the loss of two senior members of staff in such a short space of time, so we asked Pat to reconsider - and we're delighted he has. There is a bigger issue here, that nationwide theatre is seen as a poor relation of the arts in terms of financing or funding. Certainly there is a lack of a wide pool of talented artistic directors out there able to take on a venue the size of the Everyman."
Speaking of his decision to stay, Talbot said: "While contractual discussions have to be completed, I have agreed in principle to do this and anticipate remaining here for most of 2008, when we will complete additional refurbishments of the theatre."
Festivals young and older
The 30th Clifden Community Arts Week (CCAW) has just kicked off, with a line-up that includes film, music, comedy and theatre. Tomorrow, poet Cathal Ó Searcaigh honours poet Richard Murphy, Dordan and Philip Fogarty perform concerts, and Bas Oilean (Death of an Island), a film about Inishark, will be shown. On Monday, there's a Cherish the Ladies concert and a performance of Conor McPherson's The Good Thief with actor Conor Lovett.
Later in the week, pianist John O'Conor performs with the Royal Irish Academy of Music Chamber Orchestra, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra performs with Altan, and there is more music from the Dublin Welsh Male Voice Choir, the Armoniosa Quartet and the Irish Chamber Orchestra.
There are also readings by Colm Tóibín, John Montague, John Waters and Joseph O'Connor, a John Moriarty book launch, and theatre from the Fidget Feet company. Other Clifden-bound artists include Christy Moore, The Dubliners and Saw Doctors.
CCAW began as a celebration of the arts for the children of Clifden Community School and, while it has expanded greatly from that, there is an extensive schools programme at the heart of the festival. Founder and festival director Brendan Flynn has talked about the fondness many of the featured artists have for the event, which leads them to return year after year. He emphasises the inclusive nature of the line-up, catering for a range of tastes, particularly in the literature and visual arts programmes.
The arts week runs until Sunday, September 30th. For details, see www.clifdenartsweek.ie, or telephone the festival box office (1850-357035) or Clifden Tourist Information Office (095-21163).
If Clifden is a fully-fledged adult heading towards middle age, the Ranelagh Arts Festival is a toddler taking firm steps. The third festival, which draws strength from the many artists and writers that live in the area, starts on Wednesday and runs until Sunday. It includes Celebrating Anthony Cronin, a conversation with the Irish poet; the Abstract and Almost art exhibition; The Tradition Flourishing, featuring Phádraigín Ní Uallacháin; an old-time céilí with special guest Maura O'Connell; a rock'n'roll ball led by John Keogh; a presentation of Vivaldi's Gloria; Bockety Pub Theatre in various
Ranelagh venues; and What's Another Year: Chinese Karaoke Night. Garret FitzGerald will open the exhibition, A History of Ranelagh in Photographs, in Scoil Bhríde on Oakley Road next Friday, and there's a family open day at Ranelagh Gardens on the afternoon of Sunday, September 30th.
While lots of events are free, others require a ticket purchase. Tickets are available from the box office at Smyth's pub, Main Street, Ranelagh, and from the festival website, www.ranelagharts.org.
Also in the greater Dublin area, even if it's in a neighbouring county, Mermaid Arts Centre in Bray cut the cake on Thursday for its fifth birthday. To celebrate, artistic director Maureen Kennelly has put together a mini-festival of events this weekend, most of them free, including (today) specially commissioned performances and video works curated by artists Aideen Barry and Pauline Cummins. There's also street theatre, music, dance, drawing, pottery and a Co Wicklow film programme which includes (tomorrow) John Boorman introducing his film, Excalibur. Mundy plays tomorrow as well.
Kennelly says the Mermaid hopes "to make the whole of the Civic Centre into a venue and to excite our local public with some unusual events in unexpected places. We are making a significant investment in a varied programme of almost entirely free events for all of the family." The Mermaid seems so well-established that it's hard to believe it's been around only since August 2002. Details of Mermaid's birthday programme from 01-2724030 or www.mermaidartscentre.ie.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council's arts office has been busy of late, and on Friday it's hosting a symposium on public art, A Cultural Force: Practices and Possibilities in Public Art, at the Mill Theatre, Dundrum, linked to the council's first major Per Cent for Art programme. The symposium is free, but booking is essential.
By pooling funding from environment and housing capital projects, the council has more than €500,000 for the public arts programme, with six artists' residencies and two one-off projects.
The council has is also reminding mid-career playwrights and fiction, TV and film writers that the closing date for applications for the Hugh Leonard Writer's Bursary (maximum award €10,000) is next Thursday, September 27th. Details from Claire Power (cpower@dlrcoco.ie), from www.dlrcoco.ie/arts or 01-2719531.
This year's recipient of the €7,000 Lennox Robinson Bursary Award was Suse Reibisch (25), for researching the design and construction of puppets and masks, and the role of both in Irish drama.