Sir, - In his article on the supposed "renaissance" in the arts in Ireland (June 12th), Luke Clancy lets the cat out of the bag by not asking the opinion of a single artist. Another cat is released when his namesake, Paula Clancy refers to the arts "as an industry rather than an artistic endeavour".
We are indeed experiencing an "efflorescence" (Lar Cassidy's word) of arts administrators, cultural tourist operators, PR hacks, and ponytailed journalists. Had Mr Clancy been interested in the opinions of classical composers, for example, this one could have told him tales of the Arts Council refusing to pay overdue commissioning fees until next year "because the council has no money", or of two famous Dutch musicians cancelling a Dublin concert this month (that was to have included an Irish world premiere) because the venue could only offer them an insultingly meagre fee. These are the realities, but one cannot expect them to arrest the flow of unjustified self congratulation that is merely another manifestation of our deep seated inferiority complex. - Yours, etc.,
Ballsbridge,
Dublin 4.