A chara, - The promotion of alcohol through sport has been highlighted by Dr Michael Loftus, county coroner for Mayo, in a number of recent statements. His remarks on sports sponsorship could be applied with equal force to the arts, now widely used to promote the sale of alcohol.
An arts organisation in receipt of very heavy state subsidies has been central to a campaign targeted at creating interest among the young in a well-known alcohol product. Many arts festivals feel they have no option but to accept the sponsorship offered by drinks companies, given that this is likely to exceed that offered by less manipulative organisations. Indeed arts festivals are often judged by the income they generate for publicans in host towns and cities, rather than on artistic criteria.
It is surely rather pathetic that much of this income is generated for publicans by young people on arts schemes funded by FAS. A particularly cynical use of the arts by drinks companies has been the sponsorship of what might be termed "turf-war" festivals where heavy sponsorship is given by companies to a festival held in the home town of a rival.
Both sport and the arts contribute to personal and physical fulfilment in unique ways. It is surely deplorable that state agencies should collude in the invasion of these spaces by the pinstriped dealers of the drinks industry. - Beir beannacht,
Gallows Hill,
Kilkenny.