Madam, - We are writing to you as representatives of the Associated Theatre Artists. ATA was formed in May 2002 with a membership drawn from all those who actually create theatre in this country both collectively and individually.
We are deeply concerned at the direction Irish theatre appears to be taking. Throughout the country, more and more theatres are headed, not by artistic directors, but by administrators. Funding these theatres we have the Arts Council, itself an administrative body, and that body is increasingly subject to the dictates of the Government.
Thus a bureaucratic chain of command is being created to pursue artistic policies over which the artists themselves have very little control. Indeed, the theatre artist in this country is virtually powerless. Our representation on the Arts Council and theatre boards is negligible and out of all proportion to our numbers and our contribution to the work.
Strong administrators are essential to the smooth running of our theatres and are, by definition, the people who enable the theatre artist to practise. However, too many decisions are being made without artistic consultation.
Leaving aside the dreadful design faults of many of the new theatres, we have the Arts Council's Plan 2002 which seems to suggest that a decrease in Arts Council monies should be made up by building audiences through greater expenditure on marketing. This places the cart well and truly before the horse. You don't create a successful football club by designing an exotic new strip for a demoralised team.
The plan also lays great emphasis on internationalism but is extremely vague as to what it means. If the intention is a free and fair exchange of ideas from all parts of the globe then well and and good. If, however, it effectively means, as experience suggests it might, the colonisation of the Irish Theatre and the relegation of the indigenous artist to a mere supporting role then we will soon return to the days when our best talents sought their fortunes elsewhere.
Lastly, we wish to join our colleagues in protesting, most vigorously, the cuts in Government funding. Ireland's theatre is, historically, one of its great achievements. Few other nations of comparable size have had such a universal impact on any art form but it seems the unprecedented success of the last decades is not to be fostered but actively discouraged by cuts to funding which is already meagre compared to other developed nations.
Do we really want a theatre controlled by politicians and administrators, however, well-intentioned and expert in their own field they may be?
We believe that current movements in the theatre are undemocratic and divisive and we call on those who run theatre to enter into a dialogue with those who create theatre so that we may begin to restore that sense of unity and common purpose which is always the secret of good theatre. - Yours, etc.,
CATHY BELTON, JANE BRENNAN, OLWEN FOUERE, MONICA FRAWLEY, ANNE LAYDE, PAT KINEVANE, SIMON O'GORMAN, ROBERT O'MAHONEY, AMELIA STEIN, - Founding Group of ATA,
c/o Project Arts Centre, Dublin 2.