Arts organisations, theatre companies and cultural venues around the country are this weekend awaiting news of their funding allocations, due to be posted on the Arts Council's website (www.artscouncil.ie/2003).
The funding details were due on the site yesterday. However, a delay meant that most of the organisations had to bear with a further tense period of waiting, which began following the Budget announcement earlier this month of a cut of almost €4 million on last year's grant-in-aid to the council.
Outlining the budgetary priorities for 2003, Arts Council director Ms Patricia Quinn said the reduction in council funding would have an impact, to differing degrees, on four individual programmes of expenditure: resource organisations, venues, production companies and events and festivals.
Coming as the arts were braced for large cutbacks, the council's recent appointment of a number of new staff members has caused some dismay and confusion.
Ms Quinn said that while the council's administration and staffing costs would "increase marginally", it would remain "among the lowest" in the Irish public service, at 5 per cent of its budget of €44 million.
Ms Quinn pointed out that the announcement of this year's Arts Council figures had been processed over a 6½-week period since the council learned of its reduced funding, and that organisations would know their 2003 funding earlier than in previous years.
However, there was confusion again yesterday as it emerged that some organisations had received letters or phone calls about the funding decisions while others had not, even as the council prepared to post figures on its website.
In line with the emphasis of the current Arts Plan on increased professionalism in the arts, the cutbacks point to a favouring of efficient administrative structure over artistic activity, and an emphasis on resource provision and education over production.
Across the board, funding to production companies fell by 18 per cent, although in some cases the difference was much greater.
Mr John Scott, director of Irish Modern Dance Theatre, spoke of his shock at the "phenomenally savage cut" which saw the company receive €150,000 less than the €250,000 which, Scott said, was "guaranteed" to it under the council's multi-annual funding agreement.
Other recipients of multi- annual funding received similar shocks: the Waterford-based Red Kettle theatre company was "devastated" to learn of a 35 per cent fall in funding from last year's €380,000 to €200,000.
Director Mr Ben Hennessy explained that the administrative costs of running the company would leave approximately €50,000 for production activity.
Mr Alan Stanford, director of Second Age theatre company, found the decrease of 25 per cent on the €157,000 received by his company in 2002 "morally repugnant" and strongly criticised the council for improving its own administrative base at the expense of its "statutory obligation" to creative artists.
Although cutting funding for production companies severely, the council attempted to prioritise funding of individual artists and projects, and funding decisions on this were also due to be posted on the website last night.
Some smaller theatre companies had funding withdrawn, and some organisations were funded for the first time.
A small number of companies, including music organisations, were pleasantly surprised by marginal increases in funding, while Rough Magic theatre company was "delighted and relieved" by the figures, which granted them the same amount - €320,000 - they received in 2002.
Others, including the director of the Dublin Theatre Festival, Mr Fergus Linehan, and the director of Upstate Theatre Company, Mr Declan O'Gorman, had mixed feelings about receiving "standstill" amounts.
Meanwhile, a relatively small cut of 8 per cent to the projected budget of the Galway Arts Festival, also a recipient of multi-annual funding, lent weight to the commitment to events and festivals laid down in the council's list of priorities, with a cut of 5 per cent overall.
Acting director of the Gallery of Photography, Ms Trish Lambe, was stoical in the face of a 15 per cent cut but expressed disappointment that the gallery had been considered as a venue rather than a resource centre; the latter fared better in this Budget as a whole, with venues funding overall cut by 13 per cent.
The director of Druid Theatre Company, Mr Fergal McGrath, said he was worried many venues would be "empty" in 2003. "We have venues screaming at us to tour," he said, but like many others, he envisioned a year of severely clipped activity in the arts."This is the human face of the Government cuts," he said. "Less work for artists, less product to view."