Doing it for themselves

ACCORDING to Monica Corcoran, arts officer with the National Youth Council of Ireland, the number of young people involved with the arts is steadily increasing, and a large proportion of these are initiators of their own projects.

No longer intimidated by the chorus of careers guidance officers saying that jobs in the arts are less common than dodos, young people are taking the reins into their own hands and setting up theatre companies, arts magazines, exhibitions and countless other arts projects often with startling success. Funding is of course a problem but Gaye Tanham, Youth Officer at the Arts Council, points out that young people are increasingly finding their way to the Council and make up a large proportion of the individual project bursaries. Meanwhile the Arts Plan 95-99 has a target of 1 per cent of its annual resources committed to developing the role of children and young people in the arts.

But even should funding not be available, or even applicable, all is not lost. Ms. Tanham points out that the main feature of young people currently active in the arts is initiative. There is talk of exhaustive sponsorship and advertising campaigns that would probably fund a six man trip up Everest, as well as part-time jobs and the old reliable dole for self-maintenance.

Although there is still reliance on formalised training in universities and arts schools, a lack of actual experience or knowledge is not deemed essential. The age-old method of learning on your feet and through mistakes is common currency even if being out of pocket and not a little humiliated is the result.

FAS's arts-based community employment schemes are generally recognised as a good idea. As Redmond Cabot, a photographer, bluntly puts it: "They get you out there, give you a little bit more than the dole and let you learn what to do." Ms Corcoran also welcomes the FAS contribution to the arts, seeing the CES's as a springboard for young people with traditionally no access to the arts.

Not so unanimously acclaimed are other government-funded cultural projects like Arthouse and the Photographic Centre in Temple Bar. There is a widespread fogginess as to their actual function and a disbelief that they are in fact accessible to the fledgling artist. Many are also suspicious of what Paul O'Connor terms `the centralising impulse' of Temple Bar Properties, claiming that "a lot of energy comes from less formal organisation."

So are we seeing the start of halcyon days for the arts world, with jobs and opportunities for all? Ms Corcoran sees immense possibilities in the arts and claims it is an area full of untapped opportunities for young people, citing audio-visual arts as an area that is burgeoning in on the continent but as yet not fully explored by young people in Ireland. She is anxious to see a continuing growth in youth initiative in the arts, as the experience is "broad in its impact", giving confidence and entrepreneurial skills.

Ironically, it is the people involved in the initiatives of today who are gloomy. Although most express a desire to stay in Ireland, there is still an anxiety as to whether it will be financially possible. It is an attitude summed up by David Wheatley: "To say I want to be a poetry impresario; it's like saying I want to be a eunuch Casanova, because there's no money in it for anyone.