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AN CHOMHAIRLE EALAÍON An Dara Tuarascáil Bhliantúil is Fiche, maille le Cuntais ó lú Aibreán, 1973 go 31ú Márta, 1974. Tíolacadh don Rialtas agus leagadh faoi bhráid gach Tí den Oireachtas de bhun Altanna 6(3) agus 7 (1) den Acht Ealaíon, 1951. Twenty-second Annual Report and Accounts from 1st April, 1973 to 31st March, 1974. Presented to the Government and laid before each House of the Oireachtas pursuant to Sections 6 (3) and 7 (1) of the Arts Act, 1951. AN CHOMHAIRLE EALAÍON Na Comhaltaí/Members Professor Geoffrey Hand, Chairman Miss Kathleen Barrington Mr. John Behan Dr. Brian Boydell Mr. Tom Caldwell Mr. George Collie Dr. Máire de Paor Mr. Andrew Devane Mr. Séamus Heaney Mr. John B. Keane Dr. Séamus Murphy Mrs. Éilis Mercier (Éilis Dillon) Professor Seán Ó Tuama Mr. Brian Quinn Mr. Richard Stokes Dr. T. J. Walsh Mr. James White AN CHOMHAIRLE EALAÍON An Dara Tuarascáil Bhliantúil is Fiche, maille le Cuntais ó lú Aibreán, 1973 go 31ú Márta, 1974. Don Rialtas: De bhun Altanna 6 (3) agus 7 (1) den Acht Ealaíon, 1951, tíolacann An Chomhairle Ealaíon Tuarascáil agus Cuntais na Comhairle don bhliain lú Aibreán, 1973, go 31ú Márta, 1974. Is í an Chomhairle Ealaíon an comhlucht a bunaíodh de bharr Achtanna Ealaíon 1951 agus 1973, agus tá sí comhdhéanta de Chathaoirleach agus, ar a mhéid, sé chomhalta dhéag eile arna gceapadh ag an Taoiseach. Is iad feidhmeanna na Comhairle Ealaíon: (1) suim an phobail sna healaíona a spreagadh, (2) eolas, dea-mheas agus cleacht ar na healaíona a chur chun cinn, (3) cabhrú le caighdeáin na n-ealaíon d'fheabhsú, (4) taispeántais (sa Stát nó lasmuigh den Stát) d'oibreacha ealaíon agus de cheardaíocht ealaíonta d'eagrú, nó cabhrú lena n-eagrú, (5) comhairle a thabhairt don Rialtas, nó d'aon chomhalta den Rialtas, i dtaobh aon ní (is ní dá bhfónann eolas agus taithí ar na healaíona) a n-iarrfar comhairle orthu ina thaobh, (6) comhoibriú agus cabhrú le haon daoine eile ag a bhfuil baint, go díreach nó go neamhdhíreach, le nithe a bhaineas leis na healaíona. Is féidir don Chomhairle, faoi choinníollacha oiriúnacha, a n-aire a dhíriú ar imeachtaí lasmuigh den Stát. Ins na hAchtanna Ealaíon, ciallaíonn an abairt `na healaíona' péintéireacht, snoíodóireacht, ailtireacht, ceol, drámaíocht, litríocht, dearthóireacht tionscail, scannánaíocht, agus na mín-ealaíona agus na healaíona feidhmeacha i gcoitinne. Twenty-second Annual Report and Accounts from 1st April, 1973 to 31st March, 1974. To the Government: Pursuant to Sections 6 (3) and 7 (1) of the Arts Act, 1951, An Chomhairle Ealaíon presents the Report and Accounts of the Council for the year 1st April, 1973 to 31st March, 1974. An Chomhairle Ealaíon is the body established by the Arts Acts 1951 and 1973 and consists of a chairman and not more than sixteen other members, appointed by the Taoiseach. The functions of An Chomhairle Ealaíon are: (1) to stimulate public interest in the arts, (2) to promote the knowledge, appreciation and practice of the arts, (3) to assist in improving the standards of the arts, (4) to organise or assist in the organising of exhibitions (within or without the State) of works of art and artistic craftsmanship, (5) to advise the Government or a member of the Government on any matter (being a matter on which knowledge and experience of the arts has a bearing) on which their advice is requested, (6) to co-operate with and assist other persons concerned directly or indirectly with matters relating to the arts. The Council may in appropriate circumstances extend their activities outside the State. In the Arts Acts, the expression 'the arts' means painting, sculpture, architecture, music, the drama, literature, design in industry, the cinema and the fine arts and applied arts generally. INTRODUCTION THE Report which follows covers a year of major importance in the history of An Chomhairle Ealaíon. In addition to increasing the powers of the Council in certain respects, the Arts Act 1973 enlarged its membership and altered its administrative structure. On 1st January 1974 the first Council under the terms of the new legislation took office. But the full impact of the new provisions had yet to be felt by the end of the year with which this Report deals and in particular the key new office of Director had not been filled. Those new to membership of An Chomhairle Ealaíon have been greatly aided by the accumulation of knowledge and precedent by their predecessors, some of whom had given distinguished service since the early days of the Council. Tribute is above all to be paid to the last (1960-1973) holder of the office of Director under the previous (1951) legislation. Though Father Donal O'Sullivan, S.J., preferred to be unobtrusive in his guidance of the Council's development, he nevertheless quietly achieved much of enduring value. His particular contribution is to be found in the Council's Collection and in the stimulus given during his Directorship to contemporary work in the visual arts. Past and present members of the Council will wish him well. Since taking office the members of the present Council have been anxious to develop lines of policy but, despite one long meeting solely devoted to such matters, the task has not been easy. Comparison with the role of the Arts Councils in Britain and Northern Ireland and examination of our own previous history have only again brought out the dilemma, to quote from the 1972-73 Report of Cyngor Celfyddydau Cymru, the Welsh Arts Council, of 'spreading the arts widely or concentrating on the narrow front of high quality, professional arts, or attempting to do both'. Whichever path is chosen—and the choice is especially painful in its clarity in our case because of the limitations on the available resources—criticism may be confidently expected. However, the policy of An Chomhairle Ealaíon has remained broadly that enunciated in a minute as far back as 1957 'while not failing to encourage local enterprise (to) insist on high standards'. Excellence and enthusiasm both merit support; but if the standard of excellence is not clearly set, enthusiasm may not arrive at self-fulfilment. Some particular policy decisions have been made. The Council is determined to pay particular attention to the educational aspect of its work and to explore ways of encouraging creative artists through the establishment of machinery, appropriate to the needs and existing structures in particular arts, for providing direct assistance. It has been decided not to allow increases (other than those necessary to counter inflation) to operatic seasons and performances until effective changes can be made in the organisation of opera in Ireland. In the actual working of An Chomhairle, to use the phrase of a speaker during the Oireachtas debates on the Arts Bill, 'dictation by the postman' is an ever-present threat. (Here it is right to record that at an early stage each member of the present Council received a full set of the relevant debates and found the contributions of deputies and senators thoughtful and enlightening on many points). What is meant is that the Agenda is easily dominated by the input of requests for funds, so that there is rarely an opportunity to sit back and reflect on an entire field. The Advisory Committees which the Council is enabled to establish under Section 11 of the 1973 Act may well prove to relieve this situation and the Council is experimenting with other forms of consultation away from the full meetings. To express a personal view from the Chair, it can be contended that a change in financial policy should ease this problem. Hitherto An Chomhairle Ealaíon has found it practically impossible to plan a year's allocations in advance. But advance planning would bring policy more closely to bear upon the month-to-month task of deciding upon subventions. Though such a change would mean a difficult period of transition from both an administrative and a financial point of view, it may well be the key to really effective use of the state support made available through the Council. Unhappily, many of the clamant needs for finance in the Arts have to remain unmet or inadequately served. Determined both to maintain established traditions of support and to assist at least some of the most deserving new applicants, the Council in 1973-74 authorised allocations which have, frankly, prejudiced the future. From the body of the Report it will be seen that grants and guarantees totalled almost £91,700. Expenditure on Council Exhibitions, purchases of works of art and on administration amounted to £37,300, giving a total expenditure of £129,000— almost 30% in excess of the relevant Government grant. By the end of March 1974 the Council not only had outstanding commitments in respect of 1973-74 and earlier years amounting to £44,223, but it had also commitments already in respect of future financial years to the extent of £81,891. The Estimates for the truncated 1974 financial year showed a notable increase of 50% in the rate of state support to An Chomhairle Ealaion and for this a very genuine gratitude is expressed. Yet even the new figure is modest when set beside, for example, the funds available to the Arts Council of Northern Ireland (even after the major responsibilities of that Council in the fields of orchestra and drama, which are separately dealt with in the Republic, have been discounted). On a per capita basis the Northern figures are more than double those for the Republic. It is hoped that the present serious position of the Council's finances will not be interpreted as bad stewardship but as an expression of trust on the part of the members that the Irish people, acting through its public representatives and Government, accepts and appreciates the role of the Arts in our life and will face the expenditure needed for that role to be fulfilled.