Sir, – The tone of Rosita Boland’s article and the range of her analysis (Weekend Review, February 8th) do not actually inform the public about this affiliation of artists. Nonetheless it’s a welcome piece because many people are rightly curious and interested and want to know just what Aosdána “does”.
First, it is an affiliation of peer-elected artists. Its purpose was not to provide what some refer to as a “pension” (only half the members receive the cnuas), but to provide State recognition of the role of the artist in our society. To that end, the best people have largely been gathered together, ie elected, since its inception in the early 1980s. It is not designed to assist people starting out. It is not a beginners club that provides a financial lift-off to artists trying to make their mark. Instead, those who are members have already achieved a significant body of work. Some members would, however, be supported by social welfare if they were not receiving the cnuas. People have no problem contributing taxes to social welfare, yet there is an apparent cause of concern if those same taxes are diverted via the Arts Council and contribute to the cnuas.
Aosdána is not a cabal that excludes journalists and the public from its considerations. Does it go out and share its practice with others, for very low and sometimes no pay? Sometimes. Some other artists choose not to share their practice, believing their role is to work for themselves and their art, all the time. And perhaps that is a subject for another debate. But artists work, usually all the time, just like other working members of society.
The difference is that some of what we work with – words, paint, musical notation, choreography – is difficult to measure in terms that satisfy the debit and credit method of accountability with which many in Ireland are understandably preoccupied now.
If a society truly believes in the value of art, it is in a society’s interest to invest in its best artists by recognising their role as honourable ones, which can make a difference to how we perceive ourselves and how we may move forward in the unmeasurable collective meditation of who we are and what we want.
If everything is measured according to Rosita Boland’s “accountability’ gauge, then I fear we really do live in a place where everybody knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing. – Yours, etc,
MARY O’DONNELL,
Member of Aosdána,
Newtownmacabe,
Maynooth, Co Kildare.