Opera Northern Ireland to lose grant

Opera Northern Ireland has lost its grant from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. In a development which may have major implications for several of the company's activities, the council announced it would cease funding from the end of September.

As the council's major opera client, ONI receives an annual grant of £410,000 sterling. The company has also had the benefit of the services of the Ulster Orchestra, estimated to be worth about £200,000 sterling.

The company's September production of Mozart' Magic Flute is unaffected, but the only ongoing aspect of the company's work to be spared will be its education and outreach programme.

In making its decision, ACNI is implementing one of the major recommendations of the opera review group it set up earlier this year. The report recommends that future opera provision in Northern Ireland be through a new, all-Ireland company. In the interim, it proposes a contractual arrangement be set up with either Welsh National Opera or Leeds-based Opera North to provide full-scale opera in the Grand Opera House, Belfast, and that tours of Castleward Opera's summer productions be undertaken to Derry and Enniskillen. It also recommends extra funds for the improvement of standards at Castleward, and suggests that an unsuccessful grant application for touring by the Dublin-based Opera Theatre Company be reconsidered.

The full set of recommendations will be the focus of a consultative process over the next four weeks. A new, all-Ireland opera company would have major implications for the Arts Council in Dublin and Opera Ireland.