Our top-heavy Arts Council - Village Magazine

54February 2015

HE  Arts Act established

the Arts Council and charged it

with stimulating public inter-

est; with promoting knowledge,

appreciation and practice; and

with assisting in improving standards in

the arts.

It is a voluntary body of  members

and a chair, appointed by the Minister

for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht for

a term of ﬁve years. The ongoing work of

the Arts Council is delivered by the exec-

utive. In addition to the Director, a staﬀ

of  full-time equivalents carries out

the daily functions of the organisation.

Arts advisers, who provide additional

expertise and strategic advice on diﬀer-

ent aspects of the arts, are retained on a

consultancy basis.

The  Arts Act developed that role,

particularly by increasing public access

and engagement. The  Arts Act

reiterated the three key purposes of the

Arts Council and re-calibrated the rela-

tionship between it and Government. It

underlined the autonomy of the Council

as the expert body for funding the arts,

steering their development, and oﬀering

advice on arts and cultural matters. Its

mission is to promote and develop the arts

in Ireland. It does this by: Supporting art-

ists to make work of excellence; Enabling

people to experience the arts; Working

with partners and stakeholders; Advising

and advocating In , the Arts Council

commissioned an independent Steering

Group to examine how it currently

addresses its role and remit. It has just

embarked on a process to develop a new

strategy for the arts in .

The Arts Council’s current Strategic

Statement  continues to guide the

work and policies of the Arts Council. An

interview in the Irish Times last year of

Sheila Pratschke, Arts Council chairper-

son, suggests an awareness of a need to

change though cynics may ﬁnd the lan-

guage suspiciously lacking in passion or

innovation . “We need to conceive of our

activities in a diﬀerent way. We can’t keep

shrinking to ﬁt the budget. We have to be

more imaginative and proactive. I would

say that all of us in the arts sector have

been talking to each other too much. We

need to turn outwards, towards the citi-

zen and the taxpayers, be more conscious

of audiences and families”.

Most of the companies and organ-

isations who receive funding are

urban-based, with more than  in

Dublin city and county,  in Galway city,

 in Cork city and nine in Limerick. Most

smaller arts organisations get funding

through their local county council.

Funding for national cultural institu-

tions. such as the National Museum and

the National Library, is allocated sepa-

rately and directly by the Department

of Arts.

The Oireachtas grant to the Arts

Council in  was £m, latterly sup-

plemented by lottery funding and steadily

increased from £.million in  to

£m by . In , it was €m

with increased staﬀ levels and adminis-

tration costs. In  it was €m. An

Bord Snip Nua proposed in  that

“substantial reductions in expenditure

on arts and culture were warranted given

the large increases in recent years”.

Reﬂecting this philistinism, between

 and  the Arts Council lost 

staﬀ , down from  to . In  the

funding had been €m but by  it

was down to €m.

In  for the ﬁrst time in six years

the Council did not suﬀer a cut in funding,

most organisations have received similar

amounts to  from the council which

is being allocated €. million. In a typi-

cally artistically promiscuous and tiring

statement the council said it was “mind-

ful in its allocations to help position the

arts to beneﬁt from, and play a full part

in, the national recovery”.

There is a sense that funding is

awarded to the same old faces. When

cuts were implemented it tended to be

on the smaller, more precarious opera-

tions. Sheila Pratschke recognises this.

“We give % in recurring funding and

% in non-recurring funding. I’m sure

the strategic review is going to challenge

us with that almost autopilot recurring

funding”.

For , the Abbey Theatre gets €.

million, a decrease of €, on last

Our top-

heavy

Arts Council

Too long under strategic review by

administrators for any good it does

By Kevin Kiely

Humphreys

replied,

“Members

of the Arts

Council

are being

remunerated

because new

members

get the same

as the old

members”.

This is neither

credible nor

true

“

CULTURE ARTS COUNCIL

February 2015 55

aﬀect the publishing of indigenous chil-

dren’s books as well as titles under its

literary ﬁction imprint, Brandon. Several

Irish authors have written to the Arts

Council asking that the cut in funds be

reconsidered. Funding under this scheme

is decided on by an independent panel,

not by the Arts Council itself. Ms McBride

said perhaps tellingly that the council is

currently in “strategy mode” and that a

full review of its operations is expected

to be concluded by the summer.

There is a perception that discrepan-

cies in grant allocations are the norm,

particularly for smaller organisations.

There is no complaint procedure except to

the Council as Big Brother. Complainers

are not encouraged. Those who ben-

eﬁt from funding keep their mouths

shut. The Council ‘deals’ with well over

, people across the arts spec-

trum. Discrepancies in funding are the

Council’s method for controlling indi-

viduals and groups who petition them for

grants. The problem is most insidious at

the county council level where counties

get lump sums even though they are also

receiving separate festival, arts-centre

and theatre-company grants.

Unsurprisingly, speciﬁc problems

surface regularly. Last summer, singer

Patricia Flynn was due to get the €,

‘Deis’ grant for folk and traditional sing-

ing initiatives. However, following an

internal review launched amid concerns

of a conﬂict of interest it was not paid.

The singer’s son Paul Flynn is head of tra-

ditional arts at the Arts Council. While

he was not involved in approving the

grant, he contributed to the selection of

the panel that did. The grant was to be

put towards the creation of a multime-

dia archive.

Then-Arts Minister, Jimmy Deenihan,

said at the time that the chairwoman of

the Arts Council, Sheila Pratschke, had

undertaken to “review issues of conﬂict

of interest to ensure that there would not

be a recurrence”.

The Council often comes under politi-

cal pressure. In , Director Orlaith

McBride was forwarded a letter via

Deenihan from Brendan Howlin, on

Department of Public Expenditure and

Reform headed note paper on behalf of

Bui Bolg Productions. McBride replied

perfectly properly to Howlin: “It is with

regret that the grant to Bui Bolg was

reduced but this is due to the level of the

Arts Council’s cumulative funding reduc-

tions over the last number of years”.

In  Bui Bolg was successful under

year, after recording a proﬁt of over

€, for  and a likely proﬁt for

. The Gate’s funding is €,,

down from €, in . The the-

atre made a proﬁt of €, in 

and abridged accounts show a surplus

for .

Most of the major companies and

organisations will be satisﬁed with their

funding oﬀers. Druid Theatre maintained

its allocation of €,. Project Arts

Centre in Dublin retained €,

and Macnas saw a cut from €,

in  to €, this year. Opera

Theatre Company saw an increase from

€, to €,. Rough Magic

has taken a cut, down to €, from

€, previously.

Nearly all festivals saw their oﬀers

remain at the same level for .

Galway Arts Festival has been given

€,; Kilkenny Arts Festival has

been oﬀered €,; and the Tiger

Dublin Fringe has got €,. Dublin

Theatre Festival has beneﬁted from a rare

increase, up from €, in  to

€, in . Wexford Festival

Opera also saw its allocation rise by

€, to €. million for .

Every local authority in the State, along

with Ealaín na Gaeltachta, will receive

funding directly from the Arts Council,

a combined total of € million. Many will

also receive further support through the

funding of local authority-owned venues,

with funding to all venues for  total-

ling €. million.

While many of the organisations

oﬀered funding will bring their work

‘on the road’ over the course of the year,

the Arts Council will also invest an addi-

tional €. million in touring in .

This will see some  extra perform-

ances, exhibitions and arts events being

brought to  million people across the

entire island of Ireland.

Throughout the year, the Arts Council

will make further investment in the arts,

including bursaries for individual artists,

projects and awards. The Aosdána cnuas

has been maintained at last year’s level of

€, per annum.

It has been Council policy to keep

Lilliput Press, New Island, Gallery

Press, Dedalus and Salmon on substan-

tial grant-aid since the s. Gallery,

Dedalus and Salmon exclusively publish

poetry, largely by the rareﬁed members

of Aosdána.

The O’Brien Press which has a  year-

track record in imaginative publishing

will have its annual grant slashed this

year, by % from €, to €,,

under the new Title-by-Title Scheme

introduced in . The Arts Council is

now funding individual titles instead of

the publisher as a whole. Orlaith McBride

told RTÉ that this is being done to create

more opportunities for literary publish-

ers. Michael O’Brien said the change will

There is a

sense that

funding is

awarded to

the same old

faces. When

cuts were

implemented

it tended to

be on the

smaller, more

precarious

operations

“