Push to set up reporting agency for harmful workplace behaviour in arts

An independent facility for the anonymous disclosure of harmful workplace behaviours across the arts should be established by the department, a report from the cross-party Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media has urged.

On publication of its Report on Safe and Respectful Working Conditions in the Arts, committee chairwoman Niamh Smyth said every artist deserved to work safely and be “treated with the utmost dignity and respect. No matter the art form or practice space, this should be the baseline standard — not a special request.”

The report calls for stricter public funding regimes, with strong prerequisites for all public arts funding, commissioning and procurement. It says funding recipients should have to adhere to anti-harassment and dignity-in-the-workplace initiatives, declare any allegations and upheld allegations of harmful workplace behaviour, provide training on gender-based harassment and abuse, report on gender balance and policies and have compliance checks.

The report follows written submissions from a range of stakeholders, and three public oral hearings where witnesses included singer Dr Karan Casey, founder of FairPlé; Anna Ní Nualláin of Mise Fosta; and Siobhán Ní Chonaráin of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann; as well as the Irish Theatre Institute, the Arts Council, Safe Arts of Ireland and Minister for the Arts Catherine Martin. Many stakeholders attended the report briefing in Leinster House.

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The committee was following up on Speak Up, an Irish Theatre Institute report highlighting the breadth and extent of harassment and abuse across the cultural sector, particularly for women, as well as work on reform by Ms Martin, the Arts Council and Screen Ireland.

The committee recommends sanctions for not adhering to prerequisites for funding, and says funding to cultural, sports, arts and media organisations should be contingent on 30 per cent representation of women, and of men, on governing bodies by 2025 (and 40 per cent by 2030), plus publishing plans and reports on advancing gender equality in their organisations. It suggests a review of boards and leadership structures for balance, and of arts- and music-based further and higher education programmes.

It also suggests establishing a working group to implement actions and long-term recommendations to enable safe and respectful working environments in the arts. It recommends further research, particularly on those from varying socioeconomic backgrounds, women and LGBTQIA+, disabled, and racially- and ethnically-diverse people. The report specifically recommends resolving issues arising when disabled workers risk losing social protection when they receive arts funding.

Fianna Fáil TD Christopher O’Sullivan said in the hearing with MiseFosta and FairPlé, which campaign for fairness in music, “We heard testimonies from women of some harrowing experiences of sexual harassment and gender-based violence. Descriptions of awful, awful experiences that they should never have gone through.”

He said: “We vowed to listen to their testimony and turn that into a report and recommendations that will make a difference.”

Witnesses said that “when something awful happened, they had nowhere to go, nowhere to turn to, nowhere to report incidents, no one that would listen”, he noted. “I truly hope the reporting facility is followed through. There are groups and organisations where this type of behaviour was endemic but they received massive funding from the State,” and the committee hopes that will be addressed, so “they don’t get a single cent from Government coffers”.

In discussion afterwards, stakeholders said those drawing attention to harassment are often blacklisted from future employment and also that arts which are not publicly funded, from music to comedy, would be harder to reform, without the sanction of loss of funding. The inclusion of issues affecting those with a disability and from diverse backgrounds was welcomed.

Senator Fintan Warfield hoped the report went some way towards Speak Up’s recommendations, and pointed out it was important for men to come to the table as well.

Senator Malcolm Byrne noted the strength of the personal testimonies to the committee, and how people’s own experiences had a powerful impact, following the Speak Up report’s analysis of the power dynamic, which is challenging for new and emerging artists. He hoped action would “ensure the arts are a safe, fun and enjoyable area to work”.