Sir, - The proposal to establish a Performing Arts Academy is, I am sure, universally welcomed in a country which produces an enormous amount of artistic talent.
However, Prof O'Brien (The Irish Times, December 16th) cannot be the only person dismayed at some of the plans for the academy. Does anybody have any better proposal for the use of the magnificent building at Earlsfort Terrace other than to house this academy? Where better to situate it than next door to the National Concert Hall? Why is the obvious, straightforward decision difficult for the planners to make?
I am also dismayed at the decision to split the academy into different geographical areas - music in Dublin, dance in Cork, etc. This surely flies in the face of the idea of a cross-fertilisation, where all disciplines are informing and challenging each other, to achieve the artistic development, creativity and pursuit of excellence which would be the aims, one would hope, of an academy.
There is now the political will to make this academy a reality. Let's get it right from the beginning. - Yours, etc.,
Ingrid Nachstern, Eglinton Road, Donnybrook, Dublin 4.