Frankfurt: chance to shine shadowed by funding doubts

DOUBT still hangs over the extent of Ireland's participation in October's Frankfurt Book Fair. This year, Ireland is scheduled to provide the local theme" of the fair, in the shape of "Ireland and Its Diaspora", a festival within a festival celebrating Irish writing, music, film architecture, painting and theatre.

While most Irish publishers attend the fair as a matter of course, this special event should provide a major and prestigious platform for the country's artists . . . but the funds secured to pay for the special events involved continue to fall well short of what is needed.

What is in the balance is a festival which offers a unique opportunity to push Irish writers and Irish culture in general deep into the consciousness of Germany, and publishers worldwide. A great circular pavilion built for Austria last year would host a 600 square foot exhibition on Ireland and emigration as reflected in her literature, from the illuminated manuscripts on. This would be complemented by an exhibition of 300 books from Ireland and her emigrant communities. A theatre would host readings (Seamus Heaney has agreed in principle to participate), debates and discussions, and a radio station would broadcast highlights of the event. As many as 320,000 visitors and 9,500 accredited journalists are expected to come to Frankfurt, and a good number of these might be expected to help disseminate the story of Irish writing and other cultural media all over the world.

But some of the events originally planned will have to be greatly scaled down or dropped altogether unless further private sponsorship can be found at this late stage, to reach a minimum target of £500,000.

The core of the problem may be the lack of an effective agency to promote the Irish arts abroad, as noted in the Arts Council's Arts Plan 1995-97.

The Frankfurt programme has been developed by a board set up by the already chronically understaffed Arts Council, with some support from the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht. The Cultural Relations Committee of the Department of Foreign Affairs, within whose brief this festival might have been expected to fall, is currently in limbo, awaiting the appointment of a new committee. Even when it is functioning, the CRC's budget, at £400,000 per annum for all Irish cultural ventures abroad, is now, more than ever, clearly inadequate for its brief.

The crucial aspect of the Frankfurt Book Fair for Irish publishers, according to Jo O'Donoghue, vice president of Cle, the Irish Book Publishers Association, is that it allows them to sell rights. Selling rights for the United States, for co editions and for translation allows publishers to boost their slim sales margins. The fair has the added bonus of allowing publishers to scout around for foreign rights they might like to buy for Ireland.

"Even though Irish publishers also go to the ABA (American Booksellers' Association), the London Book Fair and the Bologna Children's Book Fair, Frankfurt is the one everyone goes to except a few well known British cranks and poseurs," O'Donoghue says.

Despite the prestige of the event, it has proved difficult to gather evidence of firm progress on funding the Irish focal theme programme.

It had been understood that a major sponsor was to be confirmed at the end of last week. But when a meeting between the Arts Council Literature Officer, Lar Cassidy (currently on secondment as director of the Frankfurt programme), and The Irish Times scheduled for last Friday was called off, indications did not seem to be good.

However, a spokesperson for the council later telephoned to say the project has been assured "a very significant donation" to the overall fund. The spokesperson was not at liberty to say who the sponsor was, or what sum of money was involved and said it would be "some time" before either of these details could be announced.

The cost of Ireland's involvement in the festival was originally estimated to be a minimum of £900,000, of which the board established by the Arts Council estimated it could raise around £450,000. Originally, the board believed this money could be matched elsewhere. Now they are saying that they can still mount a credible event for £500,000. However, the shortfall in their own fond raising to date still leaves them with about £250,000 to find to reach this new, reduced target at least until last week's mystery sponsor came on board. Ciaran Benson, chairman of the Arts Council, said this week he was very confident" this goal could be reached.

The other money raised includes a contribution, possibly repayable, from the Arts Council's own funds. There was also an initial grant of £50,000 from the Arts Department, and £100,000 has been allocated by German sponsors such as the magazine Ireland Journal and a travel firm, Gaeltacht Reisen, while US donations are in the region of £20,000.

According to a spokesman for the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, when the Arts Council informed the Department of Ireland's designation as focal theme for the Frankfurt Book Fair "it was indicated that it was not the intention to seek funding from the Department because of its commitment already in 1996 to the L'Imaginaire Irlandais project". This other promotion of Irish arts, scheduled for France later, in the year, has secured Irish government funding to the tune of £1.5 million.

Adrian Munnelly, director of the Arts Council and chair of the festival board, said last week he would have preferred if the initiative around the Frankfurt Book Fair had not overlapped with L'Imaginaire Irlandais. "In fact, we made efforts to get 1997 for Frankfurt, but unfortunately it wasn't possible for the fair to shift Ireland into 1997, because others had already taken it. Clearly, it would be easier for everybody, all round, to have L'Imaginaire in 1996 and Frankfurt in 1997. We had to take the opportunity as it arose but I do believe that what both festivals demonstrate that there is huge opportunity," Munnelly said last week.

"We knew there would be a shortage of funding because of L'Imaginaire, so, it was a worry," says Hilary Kennedy, administrator of Cle and a member of the festival board. "But when the fair authorities were so sure that they wanted a scaled down focal theme that they didn't want the brouhaha that went before we said we'd go with it and told them that it would be on a lower key and a smaller scale altogether." Kennedy says the difficulties involved in securing funding were easy to anticipate. "It has not been more difficult than we thought it would be just what we expected," she says.

It is planned to hold a number of separate events under the banner of the "Ireland and Its Diaspora" festival. The major events announced by the festival board are a large historical exhibition concerning Ireland and its diaspora daily street performances from Galway theatre troupe, Macnas a retrospective of the work of Sean Scully an exhibition of art from Northern Ireland a season of Irish film an exhibition of Irish 20th century architecture and a "Day of Irish Life" a day of mini festivals and Irish focused events in September.

It is estimated that Austria, last years' focal theme nation, spent around £7 million. But this figure included the cost of building a new pavilion at the fair's site. A previous Brazilian presence at the event is said to have cost £4 million.

According to the organisers of the Netherlands' focal theme project in 1993 the budget which was in the region of £2.5 million was in place some 18 months before the event.

"The Dutch were very lucky to have their funding in place well in advance, but we aren't that lucky. It is an unfortunate thing that the Irish Government with a 12 per cent growth rate was not able to spit out more money, but there you are," said Marianne McGeehan, chair of the German Organising Committee for the "Ireland and Its Diaspora" festival.

UNTIL such time as I have funds for each particular project in place, and a sponsor agreed," Munnelly said last week, "it would be unfair to sponsors to mention figures."

Figures do indeed seem to have been responsible for leaving some people reticent about their involvement with the project. The figure sought by the Irish organisers for a space at the main exhibit ion, a round £50,000, gave at least one potential sponsor pause for thought. "Given the size of the space, and the amount of time the exhibition will run, I could not understand the cost they were asking for sponsoring a section of the exhibition," said the potential sponsor so we're looking them over carefully . .

Events such as "The Day of Irish Life" will, according to Ms McGeehan, be sponsored by German concerns. An exhibition of 20th century Irish architecture will be sponsored and hosted by the Architectural Museum of Frankfurt. The retrospective exhibition by Sean Scully has been confirmed for the Schirn Gallery in Frankfurt, under the auspices of the festival Scully is already a major figure on the international art scene, and this part of the festival has been organised by the gallery itself.

According to Munnelly, the sums spent by countries in previous years would reflect "the size of the countries involved and the strength of their economy.

It would not reflect, in my view strength of their culture. In our case to where we win. We have an exceptionally strong culture. It's extremely respected in Europe. In fact, Ireland is something of a flavour of the month in Europe right now."

"There is a lot more empathy in Germany towards the Irish focal theme than there has been before," says Marianne McGeehan. On the German side, she has found no shortage of willing sponsors "I mean, they couldn't give a damn about the Austrian focal theme last year, but this year everybody wants to be part of it."

Hopefully, despite the lateness of the hour and the shortfall in funding, we will do ourselves justice and not disappoint such enthusiasts. But, when such an opportunity arises again, we should ensure we have the structures in place to exploit to the full.