`Art, art, art, this is an Arts Council." Martin Drury of the Ark Children's Cultural Centre sounded the keynote for the at times frustrating, but often very interesting Arts Council's Consultative Forum at the University of Limerick last Friday. The first themed discussion of the day, a "Discussion of the Domain of the next Arts Plan", had two speakers, Maureen Gilbert of the National Rehabilitation Board, who spoke on the theme of the arts and disability, and Philip King of Hummingbird Films, who spoke on the arts and the Irish language.

Through no fault of the speakers, it all seemed so needlessly specific. There were over 200 delegates in the room and the issue was the nature of arts planning into the next millennium - why was the discussion being limited to these issues, which are two of the three stated priorities for arts policy of the Minister, Sile de Valera? "Why is the debate being driven by statements made by the Minister?" asked Johnny Hanrahan of Meridian Theatre Company, while Declan Gorman of Upstate Theatre Project said: "Instead of being politically correct, let's just be modern about the world around us."

At the breakfast meeting with the Minister the next morning Martin Drury developed these arguments into a passionate plea that she should not be deflected by "para-arts issues": "We need you to stand four-square in favour of old-fashioned notions like aesthetics, like excellence in the arts, a human symbol system by which we make meaning."

Pounds, shillings, pence

Drury took issue also with the Minister's speech, which made mention of the spin-off value of the arts to the national image, to tourism, and to the economy. The Minister responded that she was herself greatly aware of the aesthetic arguments, but that she had to use other arguments in favour of the arts to get a hearing at the Cabinet table. After the meeting, Drury said he had two worries about this response: he was not sure that the Department had a "strength of mission which is arts-related", and he could not believe that there was no-one at the Cabinet table who was not comfortable with "art for art's sake" arguments.

This refusal of a purely economic assessment of the performance of the arts was heard again and again during the conference and was taken up by Fintan O'Toole, speaking by live-link from New York. Using an economic metre to measure artistic success was natural in a society in which "money now speaks without interruption", but was "fundamentally dishonest".

Who makes policy?

`Who is making arts policy in Ireland? Is it the money - that is, the Department? Is it the Arts Council? Or is it the Council with the arts sector?" asked theatre director, Michael Scott during the forum. There was great disquiet that the tone for the meeting had been set by the Minister's stated priorities, and Johnny Hanrahan expressed his concern afterwards that the chairman of the Council, Brian Farrell, had stated his intention to focus on the Minister's priorities. Where was the independence of the Council? There was, he said, a lack of clarity and a lack of clear guidelines as to the relationship between Council and Department.

His was one of many voices which criticised the level and nature of consultation with the arts community which was going into the formation of the new plan - he described Friday's forum as "window-dressing".

There were repeated calls on the Arts Council to have meetings with the different arts sectors on an on-going basis, and the Arts Council director, Patricia Quinn, expressed her intention to take these calls seriously. She said she was disappointed by the number of people attending the meetings which are part of the Minister's Coopers and Lybrand/Indecon review of the arts plan: 25 people in Ennis, for instance, 12 in Donegal. The complaint was made strongly, however, that the meetings were not properly advertised - Declan Gorman said he would not have known about the Monaghan meeting but for this column, and that others intimately concerned with the arts in the town had found out through chance remarks.

Martin Drury called on the Minister to hold annual meetings with the arts sector, and she declared herself open to the idea. After the forum, there was a strong feeling among some delegates that the arts sector should organise itself to have a coherent voice. Johnny Hanrahan spoke of a "conceptual void" in the Department, and said there were 60 to 80 people in the country with ideas which could fill it: "How can we create such a forum and how can it work?" he asked.

North, south, west

Bernard Loughlin of the Tyrone Guthrie artists' residence at Annaghmakerrig, Co Monaghan, expressed his disappointment that there was no mention of the arts in the Belfast Agreement. He asked the Minister if she had any firm proposals for a North-South body which would "bring into the public eye" the level of co-operation which has existed between the councils for over 20 years. The Minister said she agreed with the thrust of his question, and that she was dedicated to working on cross-Border co-operation, both at community level, and at the level of governmental structures. She had little concrete to offer, however. She said that "arts is not an area for division, it's one where we can all come together", , but her examples of areas in which cross-Border planning was happening were not likely to satisfy this group of artists and workers: the Irish language and the waterways.

Foot/lights

The Beat Initiative's Belfast Carnival takes place on Saturday, with a parade from 2.30 p.m. on Royal Avenue and Donegall Place, music at Lanyon Place from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., and a party from 8 p.m. to 1 p.m. at Barrow Square, outside the Rotterdam Bar: contact Belfast 460863 for information . . . The closing date for the £2,000 Tony O'Malley travel award, available to painters only, is July 31st - contact Shirley Lanigan on 05661106 . . . Caretakers of the Environment, an environmental conference taking place at Newtown School in Waterford, from Sunday to Tuesday, has an arts dimension, with two arts modules: "Arts and the Environment: Drama and Verse" and "Arts and the Environment: Visualising the Landscape". Contact 051-874124 for information . . . an, Termonfeckin, Co . Louth from Sunday to Wednesday, with harpers including Maire Ni Chathasaigh, Grainne Yeats and Kathleen Loughnane - phone 01-2856345 for information . . .