Arts Council job a `poisoned chalice'?

AS you read this column today, some brace soul is facing interrogation for the position of Director of the Arts Council/Comhairle Ealaion. Following this week's preliminary interviews, those shortlisted will face the entire council on September 28th a fair test, you might say, of their ability to handle a sometimes unwieldy and awkward coalition of cultural interests.

There are, however, rather fewer applicants than you might expect and several of the names which passed through the rumour mill, on Adrian Munnelly's surprise resignation earlier this summer have not, we understand, gone forward. These include Jerome Hynes, Martin Drury, Fiach MacConghail, Doireann Ni Bhriain and Emer McNamara. If we were talking American politics here, each of these excellent potential candidates might have been drafted by a significant sector of the arts constituency.

They will each have their own reasons for not throwing their hats in the ring. But more than one of them has cited the unresolved relationship between the Arts Council and the Department of Arts and Culture as a strong motive for abstention in this race. It is a strange situation when one of the top arts jobs, in the country is regarded, quite widely, as a poisoned chalice. Another factor, which may have deterred some high flyers, is that the job is not well paid, relative to its level of responsibility - it is advertised in the region of £43,000, Principal Officer grade in the Civil Service.

Among those who appear undeterred by the difficult challenges currently offered by the job is Patricia Quinn, currently Cultural Director of Temple Bar Properties. Her track record there, and as Music Officer with the Arts Council, would put her on most people's shortlists. So would that of Dr Brian Kennedy, Deputy Director of the National Gallery and author of a number of art books. Kennedy knows the council's history better than most, as the author of Dreams and Responsibilities, an excellent history of the relationship between the State and the arts in Ireland.

If these two are the likely leaders in the field, their main competition will probably come from a dark horse, a woman with wide experience in arts administration in Britain, though of Irish origin. There are also believed to be applicants from among the council's existing staff.