Madam, - I welcome your article "A word in your ear, Minister" (Arts, May 15th), and I welcome Martin Cullen as Minister for the Arts.
I believe the challenge to fund the Arts Council at €100 million is both achievable and imperative. No cooling of the economy should be allowed to be used as a reason not to achieve this goal. Society more than ever requires that the arts do their job and hold the mirror up to nature.
In an ever changing Ireland the argument for increased support for the arts is clear. A nation that is unable to express itself, to challenge, to provoke, to celebrate what it stands for through its arts is a nation that stumbles towards the dark.
May I also express my surprise at Michael Colgan's mild amnesia? For the man who established the Gate Theatre Award, which he presented for many years to an outstanding actor graduating from The Gaiety School of Acting, and for a man who regularly employs our well-trained actors in leading roles at the Gate Theatre, his comment that "we are not training our actors" was odd. The theatre industry has clearly acknowledged the short-sightedness of Trinity College, Dublin in closing its actor-training programme. The fact that the same university then established a forum on actor training could well be seen as a cynical PR attempt to save face.
I await with interest the deliberations of this forum, which I assume will include our plans to proceed with our partners DCU in delivering a three-year intensive actor-training degree programme in 2009, as a part of the Smock Alley Theatre complex. Having been at the very forefront of actor training since Joe Dowling established the Gaiety School of Acting in 1986 we were surprised that we were not invited by the Trinity forum to be a part of its discussions. - Yours, etc,
PATRICK SUTTON, Director, The Gaiety School of Acting, Sycamore Street, Dublin 2.
Madam, - The notion that the appointment of Michael Mansergh as a Minister of State to assist Martin Cullen in handling the Arts portfolio is somehow "a comedy of errors" (The Irish Times, May 16th) is at some remove from the reaction within the Arts community.
For the first time it seems to signal that the Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism is being seen as a huge area of responsibility - and that the Arts is a substantial brief in itself, enough to warrant a specific focus at Government level.
This is to be welcomed. Martin Cullen recently gave an impressive indication of his commitment to theatre and the arts in general; it is to his credit, and that of the new administration, that they have had the vision to harness the interest and skills of Michael Mansergh across all art forms.
The arts in Ireland have long awaited this kind of attention. Given our contribution to the life of the nation it is only fitting that Government takes us seriously. We wish both Ministers well. - Yours, etc,
LYNNE PARKER, Artistic Director, Rough Magic Theatre Company, South Great Georges Street, Dublin 2.