Promises, promises from all parties

ArtScape:Even allowing for pre-electionitis, it's worth noting that most of the parties are agreed on some aspects of arts policy.

At a Q&A session on Wednesday, the arts spokesmen and women of the main political parties said they were in favour of a return to multi-annual funding, agreed that €100 million in funding for the Arts Council next year is achievable and feasible, and would hope to find a way to remove the 21 per cent VAT on fees for non-resident artists performing here - a huge cost for festivals.

It was, as chairwoman Una Carmody said, a bitter-sweet event at Andrew's Lane Theatre, as the theatre will soon be no more. The Theatre Forum-initiated event (along with Visual Artists Ireland, the Irish Writers' Centre and Music Network) attracted a healthy cross-section of about 75 arts people, and it was interesting to see how the future of the arts is viewed by each of the parties - bar the PDs, as Fiona O'Malley was absent. Jimmy Deenihan (FG) packed a number of priorities into his opening address, committing his party to continuing current Government policy in relocating the Abbey and developing the National Concert Hall (NCH), and saying they would look seriously at a "synergy" between the Royal Irish Academy of Music and the NCH on the Earlsfort Terrace site. His priorities included support for local education partnerships, art therapy for those with disabilities or mental health problems, promoting touring in a big way, young people in the arts, policy co-ordination at national level between agencies and departments, and the establishment of a national music forum, to include RTÉ, Ibec's music section and others.

Paul Gogarty (Greens) looked at the arts from a financial point of view, and said the way to argue for more funding in the arts was to prove the financial savings, via the education benefits, health benefits and other benefits from the arts. "If you talk about the intrinsic artistic merit you will be patronised and you won't necessarily get the readies."

He also stressed the need for joined-up thinking and permanent links, possibly through a committee chairperson with whom the buck would stop, between arts, health and education. He promised an additional €10 million for educational artistic projects and said money is available for targeted projects (whatever about their intrinsic merit) where there is a payback to the taxpayer.

John O'Donoghue (FF), clearly on top of his brief after several years as Minister for Arts, outlined the considerable policy and financial achievements of his tenure, including the Arts Act, establishment of Culture Ireland, traditional arts, capital investment and funding increases. For the future he stressed the importance of arts in education, the continuation of the artists' exemption, and the need for a strong public architectural statement.

Jack Wall (Labour) emphasised the importance of the arts as means of recreation, and stressed the four-pronged approach of the party's Art 4 All policy, in terms of the development of community, of youth, of professional artists and of the interlinking role of government.

Asked about the appropriate level of Arts Council funding for the next three years, all four seemed to agree with the council's own target of €100 million. The Minister mentioned the importance of multi-annual funding, saying the Abbey mightn't have got into difficulties if it had been able to plan ahead, and with regard to bringing it back, he said, "I don't think we can continue to drift along".

The other three were generally supportive of it, too. VAT on visiting artists' fees was unanimously seen as regressive and its elimination supported, but a way for Revenue to do it (if it wants to) is still elusive. There were questions about multiculturalism, and concern about ongoing funding to support national touring around the extensive infrastructure of venues, which, without productions to fill them, are in danger of becoming white elephants.

It will be interesting to know if the varying concerns, attitudes and commitments that came out of the session go back to the parties and bear fruit. It is far from clear whether one of the politicians who took part will become Minister for Arts after the election.

So while there was general support for the arts as a good thing (along with motherhood and apple pie), and agreement on some issues, the future is unknown territory.

It looked like a fantastic opportunity for emerging Irish playwrights when it was announced this time last year, and now the inaugural Yale Drama Series, one of the world's most lucrative playwriting competitions, has been won by a Dublin writer, writes Belinda McKeon.

John Connolly - not the crime novelist, but a retired child psychologist who has turned his attention to theatre - was awarded the $10,000 (€7,350) David C Horn Award (the series is funded by the Horn Foundation) at a ceremony in the Lincoln Center, New York.

The competition, which is open to playwrights from the US, Canada, the UK and Ireland, was judged by Edward Albee, so winning it was no mean feat, and Connolly's play, The Boys from Siam, which is about the lives of the original Siamese twins and is the first of a trilogy, won against more than 500 entries. It will be published by Yale University Press and given a staged reading at the prestigious Yale Repertory Theatre. It is believed there is already some interest, with a view to a full production, from a theatre on this side of the Atlantic. Connolly's success should be a boost to Irish writers considering their chances for next year's Yale Award, the deadline for which is August 15th. Albee will judge once again. See http:// yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/drama.asp.

The Contemporary Music Centre is to take to the road next week seeking the views of composers, musicians and music lovers in Ireland to develop a strategy covering the next five years. Meetings will be held in Galway on Monday, Dublin on Tuesday, Cork on Wednesday, Limerick on Thursday and Belfast on Friday, chaired by Andrew Conlan-Trant of Aspect One Consultants.

At the meetings, clients of CMC and others can express their views on its proposed strategic direction, with possibilities including expanding the centre into the national authority on the music of Ireland. The centre also invites feedback, by May 18th, on its statement of intent (see www.cmc.ie), by e-mail or online. For information or to book contact Sinead O'Sullivan, Contemporary Music Centre, 19 Fishamble Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 8. 01-6731922, sosullivan@cmc.ie.

SubUrban to SuperRural, Ireland's entry in last year's Venice Architecture Biennale, which looks ahead 25 years at our pre-occupation with living on the land beyond the city's hold, is to tour Ireland this year, at the Ormeau Baths Gallery in Belfast till May 12th before travelling to Cork, Limerick and Dublin, and possibly elsewhere, later in the year.

The exhibition, curated by FKL Architects, highlights Ireland as a global case study in extreme suburbanisation, looks at what an alternative Ireland might look like in 2030 - seaside holiday villages that are only visible when occupied, floating cities complete with shopping and leisure amenities, and an efficient railway infrastructure that will halve the commuting time across the country are some of ideas from nine Irish architectural practices. www.architecturefoundation.ie.

Julian Gough, who won the National Short Story Prize in London this week, is living in east Berlin these days, and he says it is "like Galway in the 1980s but on a stupendous scale. There's 17 per cent unemployment, it's bankrupt, full of derelict buildings, and €60 billion in debt".

The Irish writer, who grew up in Nenagh and lived for years in Galway, where he was in the cult band Toasted Heretic in the late 1980s and 1990s, emigrated with his true love to "the most affordable nice city in Europe, where everyone's an artist" for €1 each, with Ryanair luggage restrictions.

The Arts Council has announced the recipients of funding in the second round of its two-year Touring Experiment, including six art forms: music, visual arts, literature, traditional arts, dance and theatre. After more than 70 expressions of interest, 39 proposals were considered and more than €1.2 million has been offered to 26 companies and artists. This brings the total allocated to touring to more than €1.8 million. See www.thetouringexperiment.ie.