In the face of change and the current economic gloom, local authorities are stronger than ever in developing the arts as a key element inlocal infrastructure and quality of life, writes Shane Hegarty.
After a decade of unprecedented growth in the arts, the climate for arts development by local authorities may look a little frosty, with council budget cuts and a fear that political will could lessen in the face of economic downturn.
Yet, arts officers are finding the future isn't so gloomy. The strides made in the arts at local level in recent years seem to be paying off. There are now arts officers in almost all local authority areas - who have persuaded sceptical politicians that festivals, public art commissions, library projects, arts centres and artists-in-residence all have political as well as civic currency. Arts centres have sprung up across the country; the arts have become imbedded in local authority development plans.
Meanwhile, the new Arts Bill passing through the Dáil proposes the establishment of a standing committee "to assist and advise the \ Council on matters relating to activities of local authorities in relation to the arts". It also proposes that local authorities provide whatever assistance, financial or otherwise, for the purposes of "stimulating public interest in the arts, promoting knowledge, appreciation and practice of the arts or improving standards in the arts".
While the local authorities committee proposal may not have caused as much controversy as that proposed for "traditional arts", and indeed the recognition of the role of local authorities in the arts is welcomed, there has been a question-mark over the need for - or wisdom of - setting up standing committees at all.
"In the late 1980s and early 1990s the Arts Council's engagement with local authorities was purely 'carrot and stick'," writes Fingal county manager William M. Soffe in a recent submission to the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Environment. "Policy was little more than 'If we give money, then you will have to give some money to the arts'. Local authorities were more or less embarrassed into taking on a misfortunate arts officer, whom they found it impossible to place within the organisational structure, who was accorded little or no respect - and certainly little or no budget." The budgets are still small, but the attitude has improved. When Jack Gilligan was appointed as Dublin Corporation arts officer in 1993 he was sent to work on his own, with no support and a budget of only IR£166,000.
Ten years on, the Dublin Corporation arts office has a staff of four and a budget of €500,000. The arts, Gilligan insists, are still "badly underfunded, they always have been", but he sees it as positive that his budget has not been cut this year.
"Things have changed drastically in terms of local authority input nationally. Now there's an arts plan or arts officer in almost every local authority. They are now much greater players than they were in the past.
The support given by the elected representatives and the city manager has grown every year. The challenge is for local authorities now to take delivery of arts services on board as they do other services, as an obligation to constituents. I think that they are doing that." For many arts officers, the proposal for a standing committee would mark recognition of their work, even if the terms are a little vague and the long-term implications unclear.
"I have personally no problem with it, although it will be down to how it works in reality," says Gilligan. "Will it just be a committee discussing local authority provisions or will there be serious interaction and debate over development of the arts all over? The make-up of the standing committee is something I'd also be concerned about. What will be the representation be? That's not clear to me."
Sligo arts officer Mary McAuliffe agrees. "I do wonder about the merit of standing committees singling out certain areas. Will it create divisions? The Arts Bill will set the tone and colour of the next 30 years; we won't see it again in my time. We need to get it right." She, too, has witnessed the changing attitude of local politicians to the arts.
She also fears budget cuts, but feels those who have developed long-term strategies will be better protected from a downturn. Sligo's recently opened Model and Niland Gallery is the country's largest purpose-built arts centre. With the Vogler Quartet, Sligo has developed a model of development for music through a three-year programme of performance, education and tuition. Its partnership mix between national and local funding and corporate sponsorship - in this case the ESB - has also won favour with the Arts Council.
Elsewhere, the Carlow Youth Theatre, for example, has been praised as a model of best practice for youth theatre development for local authorities, and the growing number of artists-in-residence across the country, working in media ranging from dance to visual art, have also been welcomed.
"Activity programmes are always vulnerable, and they are often put forward as much for PR purposes, to be more visible," says McAuliffe. "But when times are bad if the programme is not integrated into the fabric and not benefiting on the ground then it's liable to be cut. It was a hard policy line to take at first, but it's proving worthwhile now."
It's a line in keeping with the Arts Council strategy, which is working towards a point where local authorities will become quite independent, with arts policy dictated from within, with reference to the Government's overall strategy.
The current Arts Plan says arts development has gained such momentum that it has "outstripped the capacity either of the Arts Council or local authorities to respond effectively to future and growing requirements". The plan's strategies include ensuring "co-ordination nationally and locally"; increasing "the role of partners and other sponsors in sustaining the arts locally"; improving the "expertise, advisory and informational resources available to artists and local organisations" and assisting "local agencies in procuring new resources for arts and culture".
"Ultimately, arts officers should be integral part of the local authority and shouldn't be looking towards Merrion Square for decisions to be ratified," says Mary Cloake, Arts Council development director.
"In the long term, each local authority needs an independent arts department to make decisions. If it is centralised it leads to a sameness around the country. The long-term aim is for local authorities to develop their own, indigenous arts policy, and for the Arts Council to work with them where that overlaps." She feels the proliferation of events across the country has made the organisation's job as guardian of the arts extremely difficult, and that local authorities should be the arbiters of taste.
"Every village and town seems to have or want a festival now. While there are lots of applications for funding, it's tough to know what's good and what's worthy of working with. While funding is one element of what we do, it's the follow up that's important too, to be able to advise and assess." Despite general agreement on the direction to go, there remain tensions between the Arts Council and some arts officers over the methods through which it is being achieved. There are accusations of high-handedness by the Arts Council. There are complaints of communication problems, of arts officers' lack of representation on the body that affects them so directly and of them having to learn "the black arts" of lobbying.
It is Fingal County Council which has been most vocal in its antipathy. "I think I can speak for other local authorities here. County and city councils get little or no endorsement of their work from the Arts Council," says Soffe. "Any endorsement tends to focus solely on increases in grant aid that local authorities are giving and not on the quality of either policy or aesthetic. Those that do support the arts have been, in the past, simplistically regarded as a cash cow with little strategic input, and to whom little regard is paid."
Fingal is proud of its achievements, most recently in the three art installations in the county hall, funded entirely by the county council. The highly political work, John Kindness's Self Portrait with Design for a New Ulster Flag hangs in the staff canteen and is confirmation, it says, of the local authority's progressive view of the arts.
The Arts Council's lack of appreciation, Soffe claims, is causing resentment within local authorities across the country, that good work is being ignored by an organisation that was for so long critical of their ignorance. "This has serious political and democratic ramifications for the arts in Ireland. If no glory, praise or inclusion at policy level is awarded to local authorities - why should the elected representatives, already struggling with balancing service and need, continue to fund the arts at a significant level?" Not all of those involved in arts at local authority level agree. "Personally, it doesn't concern me that the Arts Council hasn't been giving credit," says Gilligan. "Once I and the public know and benefit it doesn't matter what someone does or doesn't say in Merrion Square."
He believes past problems were due to a heavy workload combined with the lack of personnel. This has been a period of unprecedented growth in the arts, one that the Arts Council struggled to adapt to but which is getting there, if slowly. Another full-time position has since been created by the Arts Council, as part of its recent staffing up - the local arts development manager will be responsible for all aspects of the Council's local arts development programmes. The council also plans secondment programmes through which staff from local authorities' arts offices can spend time based in Merrion Square. It is not quite the measure needed to placate those who demand full local authority representation on the Arts Council, but Cloake feels these are significant steps, even if "there is a need for more communication and co-ordination".
Meanwhile, she insists, there is a quiet optimism about the challenges facing local authority involvement in the arts. "It's definitely not at risk to the same extent as it would have been, say, during the 1980s," says Cloake. "People actually want the arts now, whereas before they may not have been so informed. As with other sectors there will be a lessening of money. It will not, though, be so easy to de-prioritise."
