ArtScape: Minister for Arts John O'Donoghue is firmly behind the retention of the tax-exemption scheme for artists in its present form, without capping or amendment.
"I consider this scheme to be extremely beneficial for the arts in Ireland," he writes in a letter to Brian Cowan, prefacing the Arts Council's submission to the Department of Finance. "It would be gravely mistaken to judge the scheme on the basis of perceived benefits to a very small number of high earners. Most of those benefiting from the scheme are on very modest incomes. Further, we have good reason to believe that terminating or even capping the scheme is more likely to result in high earners leaving the jurisdiction or structuring their earnings in a way that avoids or greatly reduces any tax liability. I believe that the benefits of the scheme to the artistic life of the State far outweigh any costs arising and it should be retained in its existing form."
These are strong and unequivocal words, so spare a moment and take a look at the Department of Finance's website (www.finance.gov.ie), especially if you're tax-exempt on your artistic earnings. On the home page, under "Latest documents published on the site", you'll find "Review of reliefs index page", which has the submissions received under the Department of Finance's public consultation process on various tax reliefs. Among the submissions are quite a few on the artist's exemption, including, at No 77, that from O'Donoghue and the Arts Council.
It is interesting to read the submission. The research the council commissioned from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) into the actual effects of the relief was a welcome and cool antidote to the rantings in some quarters about artists who sponge off the State. Research into the facts led the council to argue for the retention of the exemption as it stands, and this research, along with communications O'Donoghue had from individual artists, presumably persuaded him of the case.
Although the official date for submissions has passed, anyone who is affected by the exemption, or who has strong feelings about it, would do well to write to O'Donoghue even now, as all information strengthens his hand.
Following the quantitative research behind the report, PWC is now doing some additional qualititative research for the council. Between now and September it is talking to a small number of individual artists about how the scheme has affected their careers. All this leads up to the Book of Estimates in November and the Budget, when decisions on tax exemptions will be made known.
More traditional arts funds
Traditional arts were always the bridesmaid - or never at the wedding party at all - until recently. But, of late, recognition and funding of the sector is going from strength to strength. At the end of May the Arts Council announced funding of €3 million to fund its three-year strategy for the traditional arts, starting in 2006. And now this week, a further €500,000 has been found by the department to get the ball rolling this year. The extra funding follows the mandate for traditional arts in the new Arts Act, the publication of the council's Towards a Policy for the Traditional Arts in autumn 2004, and the council's appointment of Dr Liz Doherty as traditional arts specialist in March of this year. The council is attempting to correct imbalances in how it recognises and funds traditional arts, which it defines as "traditional music, song and dance, and oral arts such as storytelling and agallamh beirte". Chairwoman of the Arts Council Olive Braiden commented this week: "The traditional arts community has felt excluded from the Arts Council in the past; this will no longer be the case."
In the coming weeks the council plans to announce the specifics of how it will spend the further €500,000 on the traditional arts this year.
Coincidentally with May's announcement of the €3 million Arts Council package for traditional arts, The Irish Times learned, from documents released under freedom of information rules, of planned capital funding of €500,000 for Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann's "development of facilities". The grant was to come directly from the Department of Arts, rather than through the Arts Council, and the funds were transferred to the department by the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Eamon Ó Cuiv, following representations by Comhaltas's Ard Stiúrthóir, Fianna Fáil Senator Labhrás Ó Murchú, to the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, last October. Contacts between Comhaltas and the department on these funds are apparently ongoing to clarify their purpose, and O'Donoghue hopes to be in a position to authorise their release in the near future.
Dalal at the Junction
Bob Geldof's gargantuan efforts on behalf of Africa will doubtless dominate the music scene this weekend - and rightly so. But other musicians also do their bit for particular corners of the world on an ongoing, and often unheralded, basis, writes Arminta Wallace.
The Israeli oud player, composer and fiddler, Yair Dalal, is a case in point. His family emigrated to Israel from Baghdad, and his music fuses the traditions of Iraqi and Jewish Arabic music with influences which range from the Balkans to India.
A tireless peace activist, whose musical philosophy is based on the premise that both classical and modern Jewish music owe much to Arabic music and musicians, and vice versa, Dalal has tried to turn his small studio-cum-café in the historic Israeli port of Jaffa into a place where Jewish and Arab musicians can mingle without fear. He has also toured Europe with a Palestinian ensemble from Bethlehem - a project as courageous as it is ironic given that, as an Israeli passport-holder, he is unofficially banned from performing in Muslim countries.
In the coming week, he will be in Ireland for another innovative collaboration, this time with Irish traditional musicians, courtesy of Clonmel's Junction Festival, which starts today. Dalal will spend a week working with fiddler Cathal Hayden, accordionist Máirtín O'Connor and singers Iarla O'Lionaird and Karan Casey. All five will take part in Timothy O'Grady's I Could Read The Sky at White Memorial Theatre, Clonmel, on Wednesday and Thursday, while the festival finale will offer a fusion of Celtic and Middle Eastern music from Dalal, Hayden and O'Connor in Old St Mary's Church on Saturday. Meanwhile, those who wish to hear Dalal's own desert-soaked sound can do so when he performs at the Main Guard on Tuesday. All gigs start at 8.30pm.
Carlow goes large
The news that a joint meeting of Carlow county and town councils has given the green flag to plans for the long-awaited Visual National Centre for Contemporary Art in the centre of Carlow town has so far passed without much comment, writes Aidan Dunne.
It may be that everyone assumed it was just another municipal arts centre (ie, a theatre with a foyer optimistically called a "gallery"), but that is not the case, as Visual will actually provide the largest single exhibition space in the country among its three galleries. Perhaps the new development is a polite way of pointing out the unsuitability of Imma for certain large-scale installations.
The whole Visual project comes in at an expansive 3,600 square metres, with a budget of €11.6 million, including a construction budget of €8.5 million. ACCESS funding of €3.17 million has been assigned by the Department of Arts.
The Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland organised a competition, attracting 119 entries, and the winning design for the project is by Terry Pawson Architects, London.
Encouraged by the success of Carlow's arts festival, Éigse, the project has been ambitious from the start. The calculation is that a venue offering ample space and meeting exacting international conservation standards will put Carlow on the contemporary art map and attract visitors from around Ireland and abroad, not just on a county basis. It is hoped that a primeexhibition space might also attract existing art collections. There is also provision for artists' studios and ancillary activities as well as a performing arts space capable of seating audiences of 350.
The site for the centre was given by St Patrick's College and it is in a prime location, looking on to the green in front of the college. The Carlow County Council arts office has been running a programme of visual arts events, Visualise Carlow, as a primer for the centre, and that programme continues this year.