INTERVIEW:Pat Moylan is on a mission to show just what the arts can do for the Government

YOU COULD forgive Pat Moylan for regretting the timing of her appointment as chairwoman of the Arts Council. Appointed in late 2008 by then minister for arts Martin Cullen, Moylan took on the role just as the council’s funding was being slashed.

Responsible for funding and developing the arts in Ireland, the council’s coffers had edged up every year. For 2008, it had been proposed that the budget be raised to € 100 million – but then things changed. As the government till, once greased by building boom taxes, started to ring hollow, budget cuts were swift and ruthless. “Since 2008, our funding has reduced by 30 per cent,” says Moylan. “When I came here, we were getting € 85 million. That’s now reduced to € 65 million and who knows what’s going to happen in the coming months.”

But instead of complaining about what the Government is going to do for the arts, Moylan is on a mission to show what the arts can do for Government. With the sector supporting 30,000 jobs and contributing € 350 million a year in taxes, it’s one of the most productive and innovative in the domestic economy – yet Moylan thinks it’s potential to stimulate our economic recovery is going untapped.

Writing to the heads of IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, Shannon Development and others this week, she wants to explore how the council can collaborate to develop investment and job opportunities to benefit not just the arts, but the wider economy.

“I’m asking them to meet so that I can ask, ‘how can we help you in a way that helps us?’ With regard to the IDA, one of the things we’ve identified is gaming.” With the IDA projecting that the gaming sector will grow by 50 per cent over the next three years, Moylan says the job potential for arts workers, such as graphic designers, copywriters, voice-over artists and musicians, is enormous. “We need to look at giving gaming companies something like the section 481 break that the film industry gets. Let’s get the gaming companies to come and produce their games here – budgets for films are reducing all the time while gaming budgets are increasing.”

Another area where she thinks the Arts Council can play a specific role is in attracting inward investment. Of the plethora of multinationals located in Galway, she says their choice of location is no surprise. Citing the region’s vibrant arts scene, “the Druid, the Galway Arts Festival and the traditional music”, she says the power of this kind of cultural richness in swaying the decision of top execs on where to locate shouldn’t be underestimated.

“If you are trying to attract an investor to Monaghan, as part of your brochure the Arts Council can help you show what’s happening there artistically.”

Moylan says the council’s new Culturefox smartphone app is another way not only to stimulate tourism but also drive audiences to the arts. Developed in conjunction with Fáilte Ireland, it provides an instant map of cultural events and festivals wherever you are in the State. “There were seven million visitors to Ireland last year and many of them came because of our culture. Many would have wanted to experience a cultural event while they were here. This [App] is an ideal way for arts organisations to tap into that market and find a way of getting tourists to come to their events.”

While Moylan has one eye on reaching out to other organisations to drive economic recovery, she keeps the other on her own patch. Impacting support to cultural events, arts organisations, bursaries and projects, she says the cuts to council funding have hurt. “Of course it has had an effect. People have lost jobs. The Celtic Tiger never really affected the arts community . . . they never had the company cars, the big pensions or the flash holidays. So when you are cutting the arts, you are cutting to the very bone. These are real people with mortgages and children and all the requirements we all have.”

If the council needed someone with the skills to achieve much with diminishing resources, Moylan fits the bill. The artistic director of Andrews Lane Theatre for 18 years and a producer of commercial successes such as Stones in His Pockets, I Keano and Alone it Stands, she knows a thing or two about the business of the arts.

“I was an independent theatre producer. I didn’t have any funding from the Arts Council so I had to find audiences because that’s the only way I would make ends meet,” she says.

While Ireland’s economic reputation may have taken a battering, our cultural reputation burns bright. Our place on Booker prize, Oscar and Grammy nomination lists, she says, we almost take for granted. “How many countries can say that? We expect it, we’re there and we’re world class.”