The Arts Council is undertaking a major review of the last four years of arts development as it completes its current term.
This entails research, consultation and submissions from interested bodies in relation to the next Arts Plan. Commissioned from the Arts Council in 1994 by the former Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Mr Michael D. Higgins, and adopted as Government policy in 1995, The Arts Plan was the first national plan for the arts in the history of the State.
It attempted to delineate the needs and objectives of the sector and to develop strategies in a cohesive way. The Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms Sile de Valera, who adopted the plan on taking office, has now commissioned an independent review of it from consultants Indecon/Coopers and Lybrand. This review process is to be completed by September. Friday's forum, at the Grand Hotel, Malahide, was an information-gathering exercise on the part of the Arts Council, "informed", as its director, Ms Patricia Quinn, put it, "by a spirit of inquiry" - focusing on areas that needed further study and on some of the fundamental strategic assumptions of the Arts Plan. Clearly, attitudes to the plan among members of the arts community varied hugely between individuals and sectors: from a "blueprint" to an "albatross", an "enabling" and "empowering" document to a "catastrophe". Some artists, such as those in the Cork Artists' Development Committee, had met every week to pore over the document, while others, such as poet Cathal O Searcaigh, admitted that he had skimmed through it for the first time the previous evening.
International Dimension
The need for increased co-ordinated support for the participation of Irish artists (individuals and organisations) in festivals abroad, and the active promotion of Irish artists in the international scene were key areas of concern. Many participants advocated the establishment of a new rapid response cultural agency devoted to this to replace the Cultural Relations Committee, currently under the aegis of the Department of Foreign Affairs. The need for a planned, structured approach and the establishment of a consultative forum at which all the artists' resource bodies would be represented were urged, and there was some concern that some discussions had already been taking place without sufficient consultation. Patricia Quinn responded that such discussions had been very informal, and acknowledged that substantial further work was needed.
The session on the report of the Arts Council's internal opera development group raised major issues which will need to be decided on in the lifetime of the next Arts Plan, such as: the lack of training for all opera practitioners, not just singers; the lack of support for contemporary opera; the absence of any plan for the creation of a national opera company; the need for a new centre for performing arts, including opera; the need to increase access to opera; the scarcity of resources available to such an intrinsically expensive art form; the need for a dedicated opera chorus rather than the use of the chamber choir.
Publishing
The finding of the independent Coopers and Lybrand report on the industry was broadly welcomed. But much remained to be done: the continuing drain of Irish fiction writers to British publishers was recognised as a problem that needed to be addressed by Irish fiction publishers as a group; an alliance between the publishing and film industries was proposed; the industry needed to outline its priorities to the Arts Council and develop an overall strategy; improvements in the position of Irish publishing in the international market were needed.
The recently published independent report commissioned from Erika E. King Associates, Film In Ireland: the role of the Arts Council was the focus of the discussion, at which a lot of dissatisfaction was expressed about the perceived lack of consultation with film-makers and film distributors before that report was written. There were many criticisms: the role of the Arts Council in the promotion of the Irish film sector was not sufficiently clear from the report; the overall film budget was unfairly limited; more complementarity between the various film agencies was needed. Because so many questions still need to be addressed in response to the report, the Irish Film Institute will host another discussion forum on June 6th (IFC, Dublin) to which all film-makers and industry participants are invited.
The second of two forum meetings takes place at the University of Limerick on June 19th, at which the discussions will be advanced. Given the time constraints, Patricia Quinn said, comprehensive consultation with everyone was not possible.