Sir, - Reading Mary Leland's interview with Geoff Gould, new artistic director of Cork's Everyman Palace Theatre (The Irish Times, January 6th), one would get the impression that only two professional companies operate in this city: Corcadorca and Meridian. This is to exclude professional organisations such as Opera South, Graffiti Theatre Co, Steeple, Tell Tale and Feedback. What the article effectively highlights is both the anomalous position of companies not grant-aided by the Arts Council and the Catch 22 situation in which a venue manager such as Mr Gould finds himself when trying to fill his programming calendar.
The Everyman Palace Theatre, like other regional venues, has an annual programming grant paid to it by the Arts Council for the specific purpose of attracting touring productions from outside the city, providing guarantees against loss and entering into co-production agreements with local professional companies. Mr Gould indicates that there isn't a sufficient flow of touring productions to meet his programming needs and he can enter into local co-productions with only two companies, Meridian and Corcadorca. Hence what Miss Leland describes as the "intimidating gaps" in Mr Gould's schedule.
Some of the producers listed above would be more than willing to enter into co-productions with Mr Gould's theatre. However, the fact that a number are not existing clients of the Arts Council will immediately disqualify them. Present Arts Council policy stipulates that only existing council clients may be considered by the Everyman for co-producing arrangements involving the theatre's programming fund.
This discriminatory policy not only deprives the Everyman of valuable programming and the theatre workforce of employment opportunities, but establishes the Arts Council as the sole arbiter of which companies the venue can co-produce with.
The questions must then be asked: are professional companies who are not clients of the Arts Council any less professional for not being clients? Does not being a client of the Arts Council imply a certain inferiority in quality of work or commitment? Is being professional now synonymous with being funded by the Arts Council? Artistic judgement must be exercised, but surely in the distribution of programming funds it can be at the discretion of the venue's artistic director?
Miss Leland describes her "impatience with the apparent failure of Everyman to deliver the theatrical goods in Cork". While the virtual collapse of Everyman Theatre as an amateur producing entity is lamentable, it must be acknowledged that through the voluntary efforts of large numbers of people, it did deliver the venue. Let us now ensure access to it to keep it open. - Yours, etc.,
Dillon Street, Morrison's Island, Cork.