The announcement by the Arts Council that it is about to implement a process of consultation - "public meetings, themed regional seminars and focus groups" - with the wider arts community in advance of a new Arts Plan may in some quarters have induced a wearisome sense of deja-vu. However, it does afford a welcome opportunity to those in the sector, who felt that the Arts Plan 2002-2006 did not belong to them, to ensure that the next one does.
Before the consultative dialogue begins, the council will, presumably, have appointed its new director. The vision of that individual - whether it is someone from the present executive or an outsider - will be hugely influential on the future relationship between the council and its clients. In a sense, that appointment is almost of greater importance than the plan.
The provision of resources to match the ambitions of any plan that is finally agreed will emerge as a central issue. What many in the sector continue to bemoan is the failure to sustain and expand the availability of multi-annual funding - an innovation that was seen as essential to forward planning and security, a prerequisite for any organisation.
It was not the council's fault that this laudable experiment was a casualty of the economic downturn that led to uncertainty about primary funding from the State, but the council and the Minister's department have to seek some way to restore the comfort zone of having assurance on future funding. In the meantime, it must be welcome news to those working in the sector that the council's approach to spending decisions for next year will be made public in July - the current system of informing clients of their grant allocation in December is far too late.
Although the council has "set aside" the existing plan, it does not envisage publication of its replacement until the summer of 2005. Its implementation, therefore, is unlikely to take place until much later. So according to what guiding scheme is it operating in the meantime? Integrated plans can sound and look wonderful but there are major issues on the ground that need to be addressed far more urgently than the proposed timescale will allow. One of them is touring and the problem of supplying venues around the country with productions and events. A more proactive initiative by the council is needed to ensure that producers of theatre, music, dance and other art forms can bring their work to the regions. It comes down to easing the economic burden, for producers and venues, of participating in this important aspect of audience development.