Madam, – The Poetry Now Festival (April 8th 11th) has always been a tightly resourced festival – with its production managed in-house by the arts office staff. In 2011, (in the midst of the recession), the festival’s production was outsourced to a private events company. No doubt this has increased costs, while the Arts Council – the festival’s co-funder – has maintained its support levels in line with national funding to local authorities.
We worry that this small festival, which has done so much for the development of contemporary poetry in Ireland and, which over the years has negotiated successfully the complex nature of building audiences for poetry, will be lost in its amalgamation into a broader literary event. The Mountains to the Sea, no doubt has strong ambitions for literature. However, we feel that the curatorial ambitions and vision, for what has become an internationally renowned poetry event, will lose out to this re-organisation and the special focus given to contemporary poetry will be diluted. Further, it is the leading festival in Ireland exclusively dedicated to poetry, an aspect which is widely appreciated by poets worldwide.
We ask that the council might re-consider its strategy for consolidation of these programmes – that have fundamentally different remits – and that it might review the potential to deliver Poetry Now (even if in a more modest way), from within the capable arts office. – Yours, etc,