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Dreams and Responsibilities Dreams and Responsibilities The State and the Arts in Independent Ireland Brian P Kennedy ISBN 0 906627 32 X © Brian P. Kennedy All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Design: Bill Murphy Cover: Lagganstown Panorama 11 (1995 monoprint) by Cork-based artist, Brian Kennedy Cover Design: Boyle Design Group Printed in Ireland by Criterion Press, Dublin Published by The Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon Re-printed: 1998 First printed: Dublin 1990 The Arts Council gratefully acknowledges the generous financial support of : The Electricity Supply Board and Coopers and Lybrand towards the publication of this book CONTENTS PLATES vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix ABBREVIATIONS xi INTRODUCTION xiii CHAPTER 1 The State and the Arts: Some Preliminary Observations 1 CHAPTER 2 False Starts: 1922–32 5 CHAPTER 3 Private Initiatives and Official Pipedreams 29 CHAPTER4 Cautious Beginnings — The Seeds of Progress: 1940–8 45 CHAPTER 5 The Bodkin Report and the Formation of ‘An Chomhairle Ealaíon’: 1948–51 65 CHAPTER 6 Limited Means and Ambitious Ends: 1951–6 95 CHAPTER 7 All Changed, Changed Utterly: 1956–66 119 CHAPTER 8 Patronage Under Fire: 1967–73 149 CHAPTER 9 Expansion and Development: 1973–82 179 CHAPTER 10 Epilogue 209 CONCLUSION 225 NOTES 227 APPENDIX A The Arts Act, 1951 251 APPENDIX B The Arts Act, 1973 257 APPENDIX C Government Grants to the Arts Council: 1951–88 264 APPENDIX D List of Directors/Chairmen, Members and Secretaries/Directors of the Arts Council: 1951– 265 NOTE ON SOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY 267 INDEX 281 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study was commissioned by the Arts Council whose Chairman, Professor Colm O hEocha, members and staff gave me every assistance in bringing it to completion. I owe particular thanks to Mairtín McCullough, former Chairman, for trusting me with the task, for allowing me latitude to interpret the theme of the study and for giving me adequate time to complete it. I asked for and received total independence and, therefore, I accept responsibility for all the contents. The Director of the Arts Council, Adrian Munnelly, showed himself to be a firm believer in open access and could not have been more helpful to me. David McConnell, the Arts Council’s Finance Officer, provided useful suggestions by virtue of his admirable knowledge of the contents of old files. I wish to acknowledge the assistance of University College, Dublin; Trinity College, Dublin; the State Paper Office; the Department of Finance; the National Gallery; and the National Library; in making files available for examination. Ms Catríona MacLeod and Professor Geoffrey Hand also provided important primary material. Special thanks is due to those who agreed to be interviewed. They accepted my detailed questioning patiently and generously. The Arts Council of Great Britain (Rod Fisher), the Welsh Arts Council (Tom Owen), the Scottish Arts Council (Tim Mason), and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland (Kenneth Jamison), provided helpful comparative material about their respective policies. Professor Donal McCartney deserves my sincere thanks for his advice and support. Mr Seán Cromien, Secretary, Department of Finance, took a keen interest in my work and provided helpful comments. The following provided encouragement and/or assistance: Professor Kevin Cathcart, Dr Raymond Gillespie, Ms Anne Kelly, Mr Patrick Long, Dr Eamonn McKee, Dr Brian Murphy, Mr Seán Oliver, Mr Richard Pine, Mrs Ann Reihill and Professor Alistair Rowan. I am indebted to Professor Ronan Fanning for suggesting that I should undertake this study. I dedicate this work to my parents, Gerald and Anne, with thanks for their constant support for my academic endeavours and to my wife, Mary, for her generosity in allowing me time to devote myself to what she called ‘my second wife’. ABBREVIATIONS Bodkin Papers Thomas Bodkin Papers, Trinity College, Dublin. CAB Cabinet (Government). C.E. Comhairle Ealaíon (Arts Council), Merrion Square, Dublin. C.B.L. Chester Beatty Library, Ballsbridge, Dublin. Dáil Debates Parliamentary Debates of Dáil Eireann. D/Finance Department of Finance, Merrion Street, Dublin. Little Papers Papers of Patrick Little (in possession of Ms Catríona MacLeod). McGreevy Papers Papers of Thomas McGreevy, Trinity College, Dublin. McGilligan Papers Papers of Patrick McGilligan, University College, Dublin, Archives Department. M.P. Member of Parliament, House of Commons, Westminster. N.G.I. National Gallery of Ireland, Merrion Square, Dublin. S Provisional Government, Executive Council and Cabinet files. Seanad Debates Parliamentary Debates of Seanad Eireann. S.P.O. State Paper Office, Dublin Castle. T.C.D. Trinity College, Dublin. T.D. Teachta Dála (member of Dáil Eireann). U.C.D.A. University College, Dublin, Archives Department. INTRODUCTION This study seeks to trace the development of official arts policy in independent Ireland and, thereby, demonstrates that this development has been marked more by a tendency to implement grand gestures towards the arts than to realise a comprehensive and cogent arts policy. Despite this, the courage and vision of some politicians, civil and public servants, and a dedicated group of private individuals has helped to establish the arts as an essential part of Irish government policy. It has not been possible in this study to cover all aspects of the State’s involvement with the arts in Ireland. But it is hoped that a reasonable attempt has been made to open up the area of arts policy to close public scrutiny and to encourage further contributions from historians. CHAPTER ONE THE STATE AND THE ARTS: SOME PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS Art is, after all, a delicate plant which thrives only in certain soil. It needs culture, attention, enlightenment, and without these things it wilts and dies. J.J. ROBINSON If the roots of a national culture are in the soil, they flower at the top, in the arts, which in turn shower down seeds a hundredfold. CECIL FFRENCH SALKELD This study presents a history of the development of official arts policy in independent Ireland. Its preparation involved the examination of government files, the archives of the Arts Council - An Chomhairle Ealaíon - and the private correspondence of some of the major contributors to the shaping of Irish arts policy. The material reveals that the arts have most often been an interesting but peripheral part of government policy. But the arts have attracted greater attention from Irish Governments since the second world war. Rapid industrialisation, urbanisation, the arrival of a consumer-orientated society, and increased leisure time have all contributed to a change in attitudes to the arts. Irish arts administrators and former Arts Council officials have not1 yet followed the example of their counterparts in Great Britain by publishing books about arts policy. It is safe to predict, however, that such a book would be well received by the Irish public. This was not the case during the first decades following independence. The arts were regarded as a luxury, an unnecessary expense. The title of this study is The State and the Arts. By ‘The State’ is meant the government and all organisations and institutions wholly subsidised from public funds. ‘The Arts’ is a more difficult term to define. The Arts include all those skilful activities requiring creativity and intelligence which seek to represent and respond to human experience. This open-ended definition clearly makes the arts difficult to pin down from a legislative point of view. There has been a tendency to confine the legal definition of art to the so-called fine arts - painting, sculpture, literature, music and architecture. It has become accepted that a distinction should be made between the heritage arts (conservation of past creativity and its dissemination)2 and the living arts (contemporary creative and performance arts). It is obvious that the Irish State is involved in subsidising both the heritage (through support for a broad range of national institutions such as the museum, library and gallery) and the living arts (via the Arts Council, local authorities and other agencies). The growth of involvement by the State in the subsidy of arts-related activities arose from an acceptance in Ireland of some of the basic tenets of the Welfare State philosophy. Just as health, education and social welfare services were to be open to all irrespective of the ability to pay for them, the arts became an essential service too. Another influence in Ireland was the adoption of what became known in the 1970s as QUANGOS - quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations. The basic principle underlying the establishment3 of the Arts Council in 1951 was the need to keep the arts ‘at arm’s4 length’ from political interference. In recent years this principle has come under sustained attack. With the growth of rigid expenditure control in most advanced economies, it has become necessary to exact a greater degree of public accountability from the administrators of QUANGOS. It has also raised the wider issue of state funding of the arts. Sir Roy Shaw, former Secretary General of the Arts Council of Great Britain, has put it thus: Why should public money be spent on subsidising the arts when people are dying for want of kidney machines? This is a question which must be answered and rarely is. Most defenders of the arts simply 5 assume that they are ‘a good thing’ and cannot understand why this is not obvious to everyone. It is not the purpose of this study to justify State support for the arts. Nevertheless, the following are among the most oft-cited reasons why the State should subsidise the arts: to safeguard the artistic heritage, to encourage creativity, to ensure equal access for all, and6 to make available an environment which enhances the quality of life.
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