The outlook is grim for next year's culture

ARTSCAPE: THEATRE COMPANIES, festivals, galleries, music - some of the key arts companies in Ireland, including the Abbey Theatre, which understood they had a secure level of funding for 2009, are this week waiting to learn what next year holds, and what culture and entertainment plans will have to be curtailed, writes Deirdre Falvey

White smoke with regard to arts funding decisions, if not about the composition of the Arts Council itself, is about to emerge, and the outlook is grim. The Arts Council is still stuck in a ridiculous limbo, with more than half of its places having lain vacant for four months, and no sign of the appointment of a chairperson or six other members this side of Christmas. The department and Minister for Arts, Martin Cullen, dragged their heels initially in making appointments that were well signalled in advance, and now seem caught in the ever-escalating crises besetting the State, from the tottering banking system to the current pork pie. Piggy in the middle, indeed.

Imminent crises in arts organisations are less visible, but a Budget cut that threatens to destabilise funding and a barely quorate Arts Council that has long-fingered funding decisions have made the entire arts sector apprehensive about creative work next year. But the attitude among many is that, while bad news is coming, arts organisations will make the most of it and try to find creative ways to deal with recession.

This week, at last, the reduced-calorie council, operating under deputy chairman Maurice Foley, had a grants committee meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday to decide on two big categories of grants, Annual Programming and Annual Funding. Decisions then went to yesterday's plenary session, comprising effectively the same people, given that less than half the council exists, to make final decisions. But as well as those decisions, funding already committed earlier this year, to regularly funded organisations (RFOs) - which are the larger, higher-profile companies, in all the art forms - are being re-examined. Earlier this year, before the world economy started to collapse, RFOs were given minimum funding commitments for 2009. In the event, the Arts Council's budget was actually cut by €9 million, and although some cutbacks are expected within the council itself, clients have been told that everything is back on the table. Decisions on most types of funding will be communicated next week.

And grants for smaller one-off projects (decisions were originally due in October; surely many of the applications are time-sensitive and have now missed the boat altogether), won't be announced until the middle or end of January.

But regarding the delayed appointments, one thing that would surely put a bomb under things is the resignation of one or two members of the remaining Arts Council, which would render the State agency non-quorate. Now that would force the hand, but is not something that anyone would wish.

Panto season is well upon us, but alternative seasonal entertainment is also out there. While the Peter Pan panto opens at the Tivoli next week (moving from Liberty Hall), a new Irish theatre version of the classic is at the Source in Thurles, and opens at Dún Laoghaire's Pavilion on December 26th. And The Nativity . . . What the Donkey Saw, from Lane Productions, opens at the Mill in Dundrum on Tuesday. Directed by Peter Sheridan, this is not a children's show but is described as for ages 12 and up, for anyone who has a sense of humour. It was on in the Lyric some years ago (with the two authors, Conor Grimes and Alan McKee, in the cast) but the script has changed since, and Lane's producers Pat Moylan and Breda Cashe, (I, Keano and Alone It Stands), have

wanted to do What the Donkey Saw for some time.

This production stars Michael Hayes (presenter of RTÉ's How Low Can You Go?, but originally an actor). Grimes' and McKee's alternative Christmas shows at the Lyric, which have included Plucked and Stuffed, Santa Claus . . . What the Reindeer Saw and Bah, Humbug! - attract a big following.

Barabbas, Dublin Fringe Festival, Fishamble Theatre Company, Galway Arts Festival and Prime Cut Productions were among an Irish Theatre Institute delegation, led by Jane Daly and Jen Coppinger, at the international arts exchange, CINARS 2008, in Montreal. The Culture Ireland-supported trip was apparently successful for the Irish, who forged contacts with international producers and presenters as well as the Canadian venues and festivals; plans were also put in train for a playwright exchange between Ireland and Canada for 2010.

Next year's AXA Dublin International Piano Competition gets into gear next Saturday, with an Irish qualifying round in the Royal Irish Academy of Music, where the five Irish candidates will be chosen by a jury. The selected pianists benefit from the Foley Bursary scheme for tuition and a recital in the NCH John Field Room, as well as regional engagements. This is the first step in the international competition, which sees some of the world's most ambitious and talented young pianists in Dublin every three years for the well regarded international competition, which is ranked among the top five piano contests. The eighth Dublin International Piano Competition, which takes place between May 1st and 15th next year, sees young Irish performers pitting their skills against the cream of international talent on home ground. So far almost 150 applications have come in from 34 countries, with China, Japan, Korea, the US and Europe the best represented. Ireland will have five competitors, and the first qualifying round, next Saturday from 10.30am, is open to the public.