Let's make one thing clear: during the Arts Council's "troubles" earlier this year, nobody, in this newspaper or elsewhere, was heard saying that "because members of the current [Arts] Council come from the regions, they are, ipso facto, parochial", as the Minister for the Arts, Sile de Valera stated in her opinion piece on Monday.
The word "parochial", which one Arts Council member was indeed reported as using with reference to others, is not the same as the word "provincial". There are as many parishes in Dublin as there are everywhere else; "parochialism" is a state of mind which can, sadly, exist everywhere.
The confusion is telling. The hoary old Dublin 4 vs. the Rest way of looking at Ireland is not a fair or profitable way to counter criticism of Council members. In the arts world, it is utterly redundant. It has surely been obvious for some time to everyone with a serious interest in the arts in Ireland that superb work is being done in every corner of the land. This is partly due to the Arts Council's strategic response to local enterprise, which began in earnest as far back as 1976 with the Richards Report to the Council, funded by the Gulbenkian Foundation. This prompted the appointment of the first regional Arts Officer and the development of arts centres all over the country.
It's worth remembering the Arts Council's track record on the issue, in the context of the Minister's discussion document on Towards a new framework for the arts, which suggests as an option that the Minister's department might formulate arts policy, rather than the Council. No-one should waste time chasing the "Dublin 4 Elite" red herring in the making of a response.
The Dublin Theatre Festival not only offers an enticing menu - a series of productions from Argentina, a new Enda Walsh, a new Paul Mercier, return visits by the UK's Theatre de Complicite, Italy's Societas Raffaello Sanzio, and Australia's Company B (who last year brought us Cloudstreet) - it serves up its fare in some innovative locations. This will put a huge strain on the resources of Director Fergus Linehan and his team, but it's surely going to be worth it - festivals should be about what doesn't usually happen, the Linehan has grappled manfully with this fact in his first programme.
God's Gift, John Banville's version of Kleist's Amphitrion, will be performed by Barabbas in the still evolving O'Reilly Theatre, developed by Belvedere College on Great Denmark Street. It's a wonderful attraction for this historic, evocative part of the north inner city; Joyce went to school in Belvedere, of course, (he's been forgiven for it by now) and the school features in A Portait of an Artist as a Young Man. The venue, designed by Vincent Ducatez for Murray O'Laoire Architects, has a 530-seat auditorium.
Other events will see the transformation of old venues. Philip Glass's new musical score for Tod Browning's 1931 film, Dracula, will be performed at the National Concert Hall, turned into a cinema for the three nights. Enda Walsh's bedbound will shine a new light on the tiny, atmospheric New Theatre on Essex Street in Temple Bar. The Round Room in the Mansion House will host Macnas's The Lost Days of Ollie Deasy, directed by Mikel Murfi. In a reprise of successes past, the festival has programmed Footsbarn and their magical tent in the mysterious Iveagh Gardens behind the National Concert Hall. This year they perform The Inspector, adapted from The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol.
The Dublin Theatre Festival runs from October 2nd-14th and the booking number, from August 23rd, will be 01-6772600; the festival's website is: www.eircomtheatrefestival.com
The first ESB World Music Summer School is unusual for more reasons than that it takes place in the Autumn (September 11th17th). It will be directed by the acclaimed Cuban percussionist, Cuco Castellanos, and instruction in a range of Cuban music and dance will given by six Cuban musicians described as "virtuoso". Dance classes will take place at the YMCA on Aungier Street and the "Rhythms of Cuba!" workshops at the National Concert Hall will introduce participants to a range of percussion instruments, including claves, maracas, shakers, cowbells and their own bodies. The students will then strut their stuff in Temple Bar Square on Saturday, September 16th and in Meetinghouse Square on Sunday, September 17th. There will also be an outreach programme, bringing the Cubans to venues around the country.
The programme has been developed with Walton's School of Music. Those are the same Waltons who once intoned on the radio, "If you must sing a song, let it be an Irish song" - my, how things have changed.
Phone Walton's on 01-4781884
The Old Museum Arts Centre is hosting a reading by Thomas Lynch, well-known Irish-American poet and undertaker, combined with the music of the Dublin band, Northlight Razorblade, on Tuesday at 8 p.m. - to book phone 02890235053 . . . Mrs. Crotty will be back at her squeeze-box in Kilrush, Co Clare from August 17th-20th - or at least, her musical descendants are back, honouring her legacy with a concertina summer school, lepping to music from the likes of the Kilfenora, Michael Sexton, Four Courts and the Shannonside ceili bands, and a concert by Providence with Aoghan Lynch, Michael Tubridy, Mary Mc Namara and others. Phone Rebecca Brew on 0659052470 for information.
