ARTISTS ARE among the most vulnerable people in Irish society at present and are not appreciated for their contribution, actor Bryan Murray has said.
Speaking in support of the National Day of Action for the Arts which took place yesterday, Mr Murray (61) said he had been able as a young actor to buy a house, service a mortgage and raise a family solely by working in the theatre, an aspiration which was beyond young actors today.
He said: “Work is in short supply, the work that is in supply, the money is hardly there at all. Culture in Ireland is appreciated, but there is a feeling that the people who work on it on a daily basis feel very vulnerable and let down by successive governments.”
Mr Murray, who is currently rehearsing for a new play at the Gate Theatre, said others of his age would have a pension, a lump sum of money and be looking forward to old age with a degree of security.
“I don’t have these things, neither do the vast majority of my colleagues. Our terms and conditions would not be tolerated in any other job,” he said.
Mr Murray attended the laying of a wreath at the Garden of Remembrance in Parnell Square to commemorate the dead generations of writers who contributed to the creation of the state.
The chairman of the Irish Writers’ Centre Jack Harte said artists were not engaged in some “utopian unreality” but were reminding the public that while those who had “fumbled in the greasy till” had made Ireland an object of derision, the country’s reputation was still elevated because of the achievements of its artists.
Poet Liam Mac Uistin read from the poem he wrote 34 years ago which is inscribed on the walls of the garden in Irish, English and French and begins, “In the darkness of despair we saw a vision/We lit the lamp of hope”.
Mr Mac Uistin, now 81, said the poem had contemporary resonances: “At the end of the day without hope, a nation is banjaxed”.
A dance mob was organised outside Government Buildings where groups including the Machusla Dance Group and Ballet Ireland among others staged a performance to Horslips’ Dearg Doom.
Those involved in the arts engaged with 80 different politicians to remind them of arts and culture to Ireland.
Among them was the Taoiseach Brian Cowen and Fine Gael’s Olwyn Enright who met members of Offaly’s artistic community.
Mr Cowen heard from John Beesley (87) who attends the Clara Day Care centre. He said his participation in art through the centre has “given me a new lease of life”.
Describing the meeting as “wonderful”, Mr Beesley said, “I expressed how things are going in Clara and how much it meant to a person like myself having had a stroke.”
Mr Beesley said Mr Cowen was “very genuine” and had “acknowledged the importance” of arts in society.
Chairwoman of Birr Theatre and Arts Centre Marcella Corcoran Kennedy said: “The message that we brought to the Taoiseach was two-fold. One was the national issue. We wanted to lobby to ensure that there would be no further cuts to the arts . . . We also brought a local message was that we want continued funding for all of the arts projects in the county.”
Tania Banotti, the secretary of the campaign and a long-time opponent of cuts to the arts budget, said the national day was not meant as a political event. However, the arts communities were becoming “less apologetic” in their demands not to have bear the brunt of cutbacks. “We are of value to the country, we employ 90,000 people, for €1 you get €3 back,” she said.