Reading between the lines

ArtScape: It has been a tricky fortnight for the Abbey and the Arts Council, with a bit of posturing among the reactions to the KPMG report on the theatre's finances.

The board said last week that it would be standing down and that the Abbey's corporate structure would be changing. But the council's statement after Monday's marathon meeting insisted the National Theatre Society commit to dissolving itself at its forthcoming egm, as if to say, "Yes, but you really must stand down and re-form, really. Or we won't give you any more money. Really."

The Arts Council's statement seemed to serve two purposes. Firstly, to pre-empt any grand-standing from shareholders or advisory council members who might be thinking about not voting themselves out of their roles in the Abbey. Secondly, there may also be an element of the council defending its position as the major funder and overseer of the financial structures of the Abbey. The council's own role has been quite proactive of late, but the problems date back years when the board and management of the theatre, and the Arts Council, presided over what was clearly a shambolic set-up.

The Abbey wouldn't comment on the council's statement; indeed, a spokeswoman said on Tuesday morning that it had not heard officially from the council at all. But sensitivities within the theatre have to be bruised by what it must see as unhelpful comments from the council, coming at a time when it is struggling to finally change its set-up (albeit after being forced into it), get into its stride under new director Fiach MacConghail, and pick morale up from the floor.

It must have been difficult for those working at the theatre, where the mess was not of their making, in the run-up to Wednesday night's opening of The Importance of Being Earnest (see OnTheTown, above). For the audience there was a different tension: would Abbey board chairwoman Eithne Healy run into Arts Council chairwoman Olive Braiden? (I didn't see it if they did). But the cameras snapped as MacConghail, charming and affable, greeted Braiden.

There is a feeling that this is all a game of cat and mouse. Show us the report - No, no, okay so, here it is - Shocking stuff! - Give us some money please - No, no, okay so, here's a bit - We're sorting it all out, honest - Okay, here's a bit more, but no more sweets until you've had your dinner - (They wouldn't really deny us sweets, would they?).

It remains to be seen how the corporate restructuring will proceed in what is quite a short time frame. Will there be a difference of emphasis in the models preferred by the Minister, the Abbey and the Arts Council? Will the Abbey's advisory board and shareholders go along with it at the egm on August 20th? And who will appoint the board?

The amounts of money at issue in terms of Abbey State funding - despite being the largest block of Arts Council funds - are very small, both in terms of funding a national theatre and in national terms. The Abbey is far from being alone in having massive budget over-runs. And while its unbelievably lax financial reporting has got unprecedented coverage, the issue of poor financial management is said to be rife in smaller arts organisations. It's a chicken and egg situation: if you operate on a shoestring you may not have the time or money to do it all efficiently.

Belfast festival hits trouble

As Féile an Phobail, the west Belfast festival, get underway this weekend, organisers are continuing to lobby the UK government to rescind the refusal of its embassy in Jordan to refuse a visa to Leila Khaled, writes John O'Farrell. The former hijacker and poster girl for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine was billed as star speaker at the festival, and organisers are "determined" that she will address an audience next Tuesday in St Mary's College on the Falls Road, on the subject of Palestine Today: the Peace Process and Hopes for the Future.

Khaled became famous for her involvement in two hijackings in 1969 and 1970, and remained allied with a hardline faction of the PLO lead by George Habash. She is a harsh critic of the Oslo peace process and has defended the use of suicide bombings in Israel, according to the pro-Israeli Middle East Media Research Institute. However, her defenders point out that she is no Islamist: "She was a member of the secular PFLP, rejected the patriarchal restrictions of Arab society and asserted the role of women in activism and leadership." Furthermore, she condemned the 9/11 atrocity and contrasted the motivation and tactics of her hijackings: "We said why we were doing the operation. Those who killed themselves and others in New York had no cause." Khaled spoke in Westminster in January 2001 and addressed a rally in London in May 2003. It seems likely, therefore, that she would not have been refused a visa by the UK embassy prior to the 7/7 bombs in London.

Also, Maryam Rajavi, a Paris-based secular Iranian opponent of the Tehran regime, was invited to give the annual Frank Cahill lecture at the festival next Monday. For unclear reasons, she is not allowed to leave France for other EU states, but again the festival is determined that her voice will be heard, if even only by video link. The same medium will be used to transmit the words of Leila Khaled from Jordan if her visa problems are not overcome.

Kilkenny City Council chambers, with the last of the evening sun streaming in the windows, was the setting for a mayoral reception on Wednesday night to mark children's theatre company Barnstorm's trip to Japan next week to represent Ireland at the EU Theatre Arts for Children and Young People Festival. The Japanese ambassador Takeshi Kagami joined Mayor Marie Fitzpatrick and Barnstorm's friends, board, designers and artists to wish them well in presenting The Elves and the Shoemakers by Mike Kenny in Tokyo, Tottori and Hokkaido. A visual and musical production for four- to seven-year-olds, with puppetry, song and live performance, it should be be an ideal show for young Japanese audiences. The ambassador wished the company success: "I know the Japanese children will enjoy your show." The festival aims to promote greater mutual understanding and exchange between Japan and Europe and 18 European children's theatre companies were selected to come to the festival. The company is travelling with help from Culture Ireland and the Ireland Fund of Japan.

It's Barnstorm's first time to bring work overseas, and chairman Paul Cuddihy called it "a milestone for Barnstorm". Artistic director Philip Hardy said it was "amazing that Barnstorm is going to Japan. I remember our very first production back in 1991 was with a group of teenagers in a show called Cumalagh. It's a huge step from 25 teenagers performing in a park to this festival in Japan. It's very emotional."

Business2Arts's National Arts Sponsorship Survey is sitting on desks around Ireland, seeking to get a picture of what kind of business support is out there for the arts. The current information is pretty dated: business sponsorship of the arts in 1999 was €13.71 million, and the average amount of sponsorship per arts organisation was €50,213. This survey, in association with Amárach Consulting and Onside Sponsorship Survey Report, will be published in the autumn and should be a useful tool for arts professionals planning programmes. It will give a picture of the level of funding coming from the corporate world and a breakdown of which business sectors are providing the most support. The closing date for questionnaires is Wednesday, August 10th. For information or the questionnaire, contact Business2Arts at 01-6725336, e-mail: info@business2arts.ie

At €15,000, the RDS Taylor Art Award is now a significant prize, attracting more than 400 entries from art colleges throughout the country this year, writes Aidan Dunne. Eighty-six of those pieces will be exhibited at the RDS during the 2005 Fáilte Ireland Dublin Horse Show (August 3rd-7th. The award went to Maria McKinney of the University of Ulster for her conceptual drawing Relative Perspective. Aidan O'Sullivan of the Limerick School of Art won the Lewis Crosby Award for Painting, worth €3,000; Sinéad Cahalan of the Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology won the James White Arts Award worth €2,850; the NCAD's Caroline Donohue won the RDS Printmaking Award also worth €2,850 and the inaugural Freyer Award, worth €1,500, went to Laura Fitzgerald of the NCAD. With a high level of competitiveness, the standard of work by graduating students at art colleges is now generally high, and the RDS Art Students Awards show provides a useful showcase for emerging talent. While the run at the RDS is quite limited, the show will travel on to the Axis Arts Centre in Ballymun and the Custom House Gallery in Westport.