National Concert Hall could benefit from pharma support

Pharmaceutical companies could have a philanthropic role in the work of the National Concert Hall, it has been suggested in the Dáil.

Fianna Fáil arts spokesman Seán Ó Fearghaíl said the concert hall was bringing music therapy into Irish hospitals and he asked if there was “sufficiently widespread public appreciation of the work being done in that area”.

He suggested that the NCH could benefit from pharmaceutical companies based in Ireland and the industry “could realise the benefit of being associated with the work of the concert hall”.

Mr Ó Fearghaíl was speaking during a debate on the National Cultural Institutions (National Concert Hall) Bill to change the National Concert Hall Company from a company limited by guarantee into a statutory body.

The change is expected to facilitate greater transparency and accountability in corporate governance and puts the concert hall on an equal footing with other national statutory cultural bodies.

Minister for Arts Heather Humphreys, who introduced the Bill, said Mr Ó Fearghaíl's suggestion was a good idea and "it should be progressed". She supported the "business-to-arts initiative which offers businesses great opportunities to support the arts" and said engaging with the arts helped employees "to think outside the box and has proved to be very worthwhile".

She described the NCH as a major cultural asset. “I want to see it developed as a world-class venue that showcases the highest standard of musical excellence.” She added that the NCH should have clarity on all governance and operational issues. The Bill sets the number of board members at nine and the first board appointments will be staggered at three, four and five years to ensure continuity. “Appointments will focus on a broad range of skills and expertise including, of course, musical experience.”

Audience figures are on the rise at the venue which contributed €38 million directly to the local economy last year, the Minister said. The venue had a turnover of €6.8 million, ticket sales of just over €7 million. It hosted almost 900 events with some 330,000 people in attendance.

Refurbishment plans include the creation of a 130-seat performance space in the Kevin Barry rooms, where the Treaty ratification debates took place, and the transformation of the old medical library into a new 500-seat recital hall.

The 1,200 seat-auditorium will also be refurbished and a jazz club will be established, along with rehearsal spaces and recording studios. A series of concerts each day during Easter week next year will commemorate the 1916 Rising.

Mr Ó Fearghaíl said an arm’s-length approach in ministerial direction was vitally important but he suggested that “we have moved from an intolerable level of ministerial involvement to a point where there seems to be a total absence of ministerial oversight”. He said Fianna Fáil opposed as a “regressive act” the amalgamation of the National Archives, the National Library and the Irish Manuscripts Commission.

Sinn Féin arts spokeswoman Sandra McLellan said the Bill provided the opportunity to “acknowledge the importance of the National Concert Hall as a national asset”.

Ms McLellan said that until recently, 70 per cent of the concert hall’s funding came from ticket sales, which she described as “an encouraging figure that demonstrates people’s appetite for the arts”.

Independent TD Finian McGrath said “a country without arts is a country without a soul”. People often ignored the great work being done in the arts, the number of people it employed, “how the arts lift the country’s spirit and their significant financial contribution to the country”.