NSO members criticise plan for new RTE subsidiary

PLANS by RTE to create a new subsidiary to include all of its orchestras and performing groups have been strongly condemned by National Symphony Orchestra members.

The musicians' union representative, Mr John Swift of SIPTU has issued a statement describing the move as "completely at variance with proposals to restructure the NSO as a separate entity".

This proposal was the major recommendation of the ministerial review body, PIANO (Provisional and Institutional Arrangements Now for Orchestras and Ensembles), in a report published in January last year.

When balloted later in the year NSO members were unanimously in favour of an autonomous NSO within RTE, as opposed to a larger subsidiary which would involve the RTE Concert Orchestra and other performing groups.

Mr Swift's statement was issued in advance of RTE advertising the new post of director of music. The creation of the position, which is expected to sub some the responsibilities of the existing head of music post, will represent RTE's first major public response to the PIANO report. It is also the station's first move towards creating a subsidiary for all the performing groups to be headed up by the new director of music.

The Government's proposals for broadcasting legislation outlined ministerial support for "the concept of artistic autonomy for the NSO". The Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Mr Higgins, felt "the best interests of the orchestra would be served by the establishment by RTE of a company limited by guarantee for this purpose".

When contacted by The Irish Times, RTE's director general, Mr Bob Collins, said he saw the creation of the subsidiary as "a very clear reflection of a deeply held commitment to the future of music making in the organisation and the future role of the performing groups ...

"It is a genuinely expressed attempt to provide an organisational structure which is secure from the point of view of the performing groups, which gives organisational and artistic autonomy and which allows for the kind of development which the performing groups themselves will want to see, he said.

RTC had proposed the establishment of a subsidiary company which would encompass the performing groups as a whole, Mr Collins said. However, the organisation had not yet obtained the necessary ministerial approval for its establishment.

Mr Collins has, meanwhile, adopted a five point plan:

. to set up the performing groups as a separate entity within RTE;

. to hold a public competition for the post of director of music;

. to ensure the separate artistic identity of the performing groups;

to implement mechanisms to give each of the performing groups a measure of financial security; and

. to provide for liaison between the director of music and the directors of TV and radio "about the broadcast representation of the performing groups as a whole".