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An Chomhaırle Ealaíon An Chéad Tuarascáil Bhliantúil is Triócha maille le Cuntaís don bhliain dar chríoch 31ú Nollaig 1982. Tíolacadh don Rialtas agus leagadh faoi bhráid gach Tí den Oireachtas de bhun Altanna 6(3) agus 7(1) den Acht Ealaíon 1951 (PI. 1872). Thirty-first Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31st December 1982. 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. ISBN 0 906627 03 6 ISSN 0790-1573 Cover: Photograph by Patricia Langlois of "Molly's Room" by Helen Comer ford from the Bloomsday 1982 — James Joyce Centenary Exhibition at the Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin. Members James White, Chairman Robert Ballagh (from June) Kathleen Barrington Brian Boydell Máire de Paor Andrew Devane Bridget Doolan (until September) Brian Friel (from June) Arthur Gibney (from December) Dr J. B. Kearney Proinsias Mac Aonghusa (from June) Patrick J. Murphy (from June) Donald Potter Nóra Relihan Michael Scott Richard Stokes Dr T. J. Walsh James Warwick Staff Director Colm Ó Briain Drama and Dance Officer Arthur Lappin Opera and Music Officer Marion Creely Traditional Music and Regional Development Officer Paddy Glackin Education and Community Arts Officer Adrian Munnelly Literature and Combined Arts Officer Laurence Cassidy Visual Arts Officer/Grants Medb Ruane Visual Arts Officer/Exhibitions Patrick Murphy Finance Officer David McConnell Administration, Research and Film Officer David Kavanagh (until November) Administrative Assistant Nuala O'Byrne Secretarial Assistants Veronica Barker Patricia Callaly Antoinette Dawson Sheilah Harris Kevin Healy Bernadette O'Leary Suzanne Quinn Receptionist Kathryn Cahille 70 Merrion Square, Dublin 2. Tel: (01) 764685 An Chomhaırle Ealaíon An Chomhairle Ealaíon/The Arts Council is an independent organisation set up under the Arts Acts 1951 and 1973 to promote the arts. It operates through a wide-ranging programme of financial assistance and special services, offered to both individuals and organisations. The Council also acts as an adviser on artistic matters to the Government and Government Departments and is one of four bodies which have a statutory right to make representations to planning authorities in connection with applications for planning permission in areas of special amenity throughout the country. The Council consists of a board of not more than seventeen members appointed by the Taoiseach. The present board was appointed in December 1978 and its term of office will expire in 1983. The board meets about ten times a year to set Council policies and make decisions within the terms of the Arts Acts. These policies and decisions are implemented by a staff headed by a Director, appointed by the Council. The Council reports to the Oireachtas through the Taoiseach and its accounts are audited by the Auditor General. Annual grants from the Oireachtas are the Council's main source of income. These grants are supplemented by income from local authorities and private organisations and the Council also administers a number of trust funds, set up privately for specific purposes. The arts are defined in the Arts Acts and include: The Visual Arts (painting, photography, sculpture, architecture, print- making, design); The Performing Arts (theatre, dance, music, opera); Literature; Film; Crafts. Contents Page Chairman's Introduction 5 Artists Programmes 7 Awards to Individuals 7 Literature 8 Visual Arts 11 Drama 15 Dance 18 Traditional Music 19 Opera 20 Music 21 Film 23 Arts Centres and Festivals 24 Community Arts 25 Education 26 The Regions 29 Capital 31 Accounts 33 Chairman's Introduction The year was marked by stresses and strains not only on the Council's budgets but also on the Council's role as the statutory body with responsibility for promoting and assisting the arts. The initial grant-in-aid was increased by 2.4% over the previous year and although a supplementary grant of £242,000 was received later in the year to meet pay increases in certain subvented organisations, due to the limited funds available, the Council faced 1982 with a number of stark choices. As a result of the controversies that followed during the year it became very clear that the constraints on the Arts Council were not understood and appreciated either by arts organisations or by the public at large. In so far as there was any debate on the Council's role it centred on individual organisations aggrieved by an unfavourable decision of the Council. Attention was not focused on the overall issues affecting the arts in Ireland or on the Council's priorities in seeking to address these. Discussion was restricted to the consideration of those individual cases which had become a casualty of the Council's policies and little or no effort was made to assess these organisations in terms of their place in the overall arts "scene" on the one hand, and the limited resources available to the Council, on the other. The Council recognises that it must accept responsibility itself for the fact that its role was so widely misunderstood and will, in future, seek to establish conditions which will lead to an informed debate on the merits and demerits of the Council's policies. This Report is intended to explain the background to some of the controversies that arose during the year in order to clarify the issues which were being addressed by the Council. 1982 marked the centenary of the birth of James Joyce. Arts organisations acknowledged this great artist by arranging special events or by including a Joycean dimension in their programmes. The Council decided on a number of initiatives as a contribution to the centenary year. Five artists were invited to devise a poster for international distribution and the proposals of Charles Tyrrell and Patrick Hickey were selected. Their posters were published in cooperation with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Bord Fáilte and were widely circulated. A special exhibition at the Douglas Hyde Gallery was arranged for the month of June. For this exhibition six artists received grants to execute a painting, sculpture or installation inspired by the work of Joyce. One of these is featured on the cover of this Report. A jazz suite to give musical expression to some of the ideas and events in "Ulysses" was commissioned from Louis Stewart and it received its first performance at the Cork Jazz Festival. A suitable literary acknowledgement of this great writer was embodied in the James Joyce Fiction Prize for which writers were invited to compete on an anonymous basis and the Council was honoured that Francis Stuart, Jennifer Johnston and John Banville agreed to adjudicate. (The prize was not, in fact, awarded as the adjudicators did not feel that the works submitted merited this accolade). The Council's programme to honour the life and work of James Joyce concentrated on the creative artist in modern Ireland. The memory of one of Ireland's greatest artists was provided as an inspiration to his fellow artists working in Ireland a hundred years after his birth. The emphasis which the Council has given in previous years to the place of the artist in our society was continued in 1982 as support to members of Aosdána came on stream. By the end of the year the Council had awarded a Cnuas — the annual grant of £4,000 paid for a five year term — to forty-four of the ninety-six members. A Cnuas is available to those members of Aosdána who wish to devote their energies on a fulltime basis to their art and whose financial circumstances are such that this can only be achieved by benefiting from a Cnuas. Aosdána acknowledges achievement and distinction by creative artists. The outstanding contribution which performing artists have made to the arts in Ireland will, it is hoped, be recognised by the Council through a parallel scheme which is only in the early stages of discussion. The circumstances of a particular person who has made an important contribution to the performing arts became known to the Council and a Minimum Income Guarantee was devised by the Council as a measure to assist a continuing involvement in the performing arts by the recipient. The Minimum Income Guarantee assures a basic level of income during a given year; if the performing artist achieves a higher income no grant is paid, but if a lower income is earned, then that is supplemented in order to increase it to be minimum level. The Minimum Income Guarantee will be a component of the Council's scheme to honour outstanding achievement in the performing arts. It is now an established practice to meet annually with the Arts Council of Northern Ireland in joint session. The 1982 joint meeting took place in Dublin and both Councils considered the possible response of the arts to the problems of a society which will experience unemployment or underemployment on a wide scale. It was agreed that arts programmes could play a vital role in assisting individuals and communities through a period of major social readjustment. However, the scale of funding required for such programmes is such as to virtually exclude either Arts Council from a funding role and both Councils determined to enter into discussions with their respective Government departments and agencies towards the provision of an arts dimension in all job creation, adult education and recreation programmes. At the very end of the year, the change of Government saw the appointment of a Minister of State for Arts and Culture at the Department of the Taoiseach. There had been speculation during the year that such a development was under consideration. In so far as it was being suggested that this might limit the independence of- the Arts Council, concern was expressed by members of the Council.