Sir, - The arts planning process of recent years and the presence of an Arts minister at cabinet has served to keep governments reminded that they are obliged by statute to provide properly for a full cultural life for all the citizens. Living artists at last are understood to be essential to modern democratic society, converting this cultural and civil right into a living reality. Professional arts organisations work at the front line along with educationalists, community activists and support organisations for amateur arts activity, ensuring on behalf of the modern State that the arts are experienced and belong in a meaningful way to all sectors of society. The responsibility for providing appropriate protection and development mechanisms for the artists and arts groups who carry out this fundamental work lies with the Arts Council.
Two factors distinguish the appointment of the latest Arts Council from any before. One is the climate of dialogue that now exists between the Arts Council as institution and the arts community. The other is the primacy of policy and the evolving tradition of policy-making by dialogue.
Against this background, the kinds of fears raised by Medb Ruane in her article on the appointment of the new Council seem outmoded (June 20th). She hints at the danger of new members pushing through personal agendas. But the benchmark of policy protects the arts from any such eclecticism. She also reports concerns about the prevalence of amateur practitioners on the Council, suggesting that this will create new pressures, when, in fact, the issue of supports for amateur practice has already been addressed, notably in the consultation-based drama policy document "Going On". The fact that a respected amateur practitioner might be among those charged with implementing this policy and with mediating the broader policy and revenue considerations governing drama in Ireland as a whole is to be welcomed, not sniffed at.
This having been said, the manner of the appointment of Arts Councils has long been a matter of concern. A sudden and seismic shift in the make-up of such a large and important body every five years disrupts operational continuity. The fact that appointments are by ministerial decree without any known system of prior reference to the arts community sits uneasily with the new culture of transparency and dialogue. This is something which the sector might well raise as a political issue with the Minister over the coming years. It is a structural question, however, not a personality issue.
There are also concerns about the Arts Council's independence to pursue a confident, holistic agenda for arts development in light of the prioritisation by Minister DeValera of certain valid but highly specific social questions as they relate to arts access and distribution.
Until structural reforms are introduced, the greatest safeguard of the arts in modern Ireland is the confidence and increasing level of collective organisation within the arts sector itself. We look forward to an era of dynamic partnership between artists and an informed new Arts Council in which we shall see the modern principles of public policy-making, initiated under the outgoing Council, consolidated and further developed. - Yours, etc., Declan Gorman, Artistic Director, Upstate Theatre Project,
Drogheda, Co. Louth.