We all have short-hand for reading other cultures, and this is evident in the New York Times's response to four Irish art exhibitions running as an "Irish arts celebration". Roberta Smith makes the point that Ireland's "towering contribution to 20th-century literature . . . far outstrips its contribution on the visual front" but she is interested by the picture given of the country's "intensely troubled history". The exhibitions in question are When Time Began to Rant and Rage: Figurative Painting From 20th Century Ireland which is at the Grey Art Gallery; A Measured Quietude: Contemporary Irish Drawings which is at the Drawing Centre; 0044: Contemporary Irish Art in Britain, which is at the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Centre and Such Friends: The Work of W.B. Yeats which is at New York Public Library.

Smith thinks the Grey Art Gallery show of figurative art contemporaneous with Yeats and Joyce is highly derivative, but she sees an interesting distance between the artists who were taking on continental styles and subjects (such as William Leech) and those who determinedly focused on Irish themes (such as Sean Keating). She does reserve a few kind words for Jack Yeats and Gerard Dillon. The work from the 1980s is described as "mawkishly political" and Neo-Expressionist, and could she says, "squelch any interest in Irish art".

Peter Murray of the Crawford has curated the contemporary show of Irish artists based in London at the PS.1, and while Willie Doherty, Paul Graham and Paul Seawright are favourably mentioned, the best critical response is reserved for women. Frances Hegarty, Liadin Cooke, Tina O'Connell, Daphne Wright and Kathy Prendergast are well reviewed. John Kindness's work also comes in for particular praise in the Drawing Center show, particularly his fresco of a Belfast youth on the mean streets.

For a long time in the RTE music department, the pattern of appointments was one of promotion from within. Over the last 10 years and more, key posts - head of music, head of orchestras and performing groups, and leader of the NSO, among them - have even been filled without the benefit of open competition. The arrival of RTE outsider Niall Doyle as director of music a year ago changed the pattern, and Doyle's first key appointment, of Martyn Westerman as general manager of the NSO, is in the new style rather than the old.

Westerman comes to RTE from the BBC, where, as commissioning editor for live music, he dealt with the wide range of music broadcast on Radio 3, negotiating both inside and outside the BBC. Given the poor artistic planning shown by RTE in recent years, his special skills and experience may be just what the orchestra needs. He doesn't take up his new post until September. So the big question will be how much he can mould the shape of the next subscription series in the time available to him.

Another recent change in RTE sees the music department's, PR and promotions executive, Laurie Cearr, taking 11 months secondment, to work as marketing projects manager for the National Millennium Committee. This means that she will be away from the music department when another key appointment is made, that of general manager of communications and marketing. An announcement in this regard is expected shortly.

The first New York production of Brian Friel's The Freedom of the City in 1974 closed in a week, having been considered almost a political pamphlet for the IRA. The Abbey's production, running as part of the Lincoln Centre Festival, is set fair to be better understood. The New York Times's Wilborn Hampton admits that the play doesn't quite avoid being a political sermon, but sees the characterisation as saving the day. Gerard Crossan, Michael Colgan and Sorcha Cusack are well reviewed, directed by Conall Morrison, who is described as "deftly moving the story along with the tautness of a well-edited television documentary."

Peter Marks, at the same paper, finds the Gate Theatre's production of Uncle Vanya, in a version by Brian Friel, which is at the La Guardia theatre, too delicately drawn by its director Ben Barnes, although Susannah Harker's Yelena is described as the "clarifying presence" in the production, while Niall Buggy as Vanya is described as giving the play "its most affecting moments."

Joyce would have been astonished. Belvedere College, his old alma mater, is building a 400-seat theatre in the old school yard. The theatre, on the corner of Denmark Street and Temple Street on the northside of Dublin city centre, is set to open in September. Although predominantly for school events, it will be available to rent as well, which will surely come as a boon in a city with a dearth of mid-range venues.