THE next 12 months will be a testing time for me of the major players in the Northern arts community, with money - as ever - playing a crucial role. As the New Year begins, Belfast Festival programme director Sean Doran is pressing home the need for significantly increased funding as he embarks on his ambitious plans for a radical, new look programme, which may include switching from the traditional three week slot in November.
The Grand Opera House, despite having been outbid for the purchase of the neighbouring New Vic site, still intends to expand the scope of its operations and is negotiating a stake in the future use of the newly demolished next door space. The Lyric has made an application to the Lottery Fund for Northern Ireland for a feasibility study, linked to imaginative plans to develop indoor and outdoor facilities on its riverside site. Meanwhile, artistic activity at that theatre continues apace, with a February tour in place for Robin Midgley's reworked Pygmalion, an anticipated Irish tour of Jane Eyre later in the year and inclusion in the Waterfront Hall's Opening Festival, with David Grant's new production of The Playboy Of The Western World, for which a score has just been commissioned from the talented Debra Salem.
The opening of the Waterfront is causing a real frisson of excitement, with the Ulster Orchestra first on stage on January 17th and 18th to play two gala concerts, featuring soloists James Galway, Barry Douglas and Marisa Robles. Things are looking up for the morale of the orchestra since the charismatic Dimitry Sitkovetsky, recently took over as principal conductor and made a stirring start to his three year incumbency. It's good to see community arts looming large on the Waterfront's glossy programme, and the city centre headquarters of Community Arts Forum are currently buzzing with collective effort towards the Community Arts Showcase on February 10th. Dance, which was one of the success stories of the 1996 Belfast Festival, continues to figure high on the Northern Ireland Arts Council's list of priorities, though not in quite the way that some local practitioners might wish. This year the emphasis is on education and training, with companies like Diversions, Ludus, Daghdha and Scottish Ballet being imported for the purpose.
And, in the wake of a recent government Arts Council EU joint initiative to reshape and upgrade the Northern Ireland Film Council and establish a Film Commission, Northern film makers are quietly watching and waiting to gauge the extent to which the move, plus the injection of £4 million over three years, will begin to put their low profile but determined efforts on the map.
Artist to watch:
Lalor Roddy, who provided one of the Belfast Festival highlights in Conall Morrison's Hard To Believe. We hope to see more of him on the Northern stage this year.
This year's Must Sees:
1. The Opening Festival of the Belfast Waterfront Hall, January 17th to February 15th. This magnificent venue opens, with a gala concert by the Ulster Orchestra, followed by a programme of hugely glossy names.
2. Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet, Waterfront Hall, January 21st. A one night, pre release charity showing in big screens 70mm format of Branagh's latest Shakespearean extravaganza.
3. Castleward Opera's La Boheme, Grand Opera House, January 22nd to 25th. This brave little company is justly rewarded with a first time transfer to the stage of the Opera House.
4. A Midsummer Nights Dream, Lyric Theatre, February 27th to March 29th. Robin Midgley directs Shakespeare's sexy comedy, with Conleth Hill as the dreaming Bottom.
5. An Ideal Husband, Grand Opera House, March 17th to 22nd. Sir Peter Hall's hugely successful London production arrives, festooned with a distinguished cast.
6. 35th Belfast Festival at Queen's. Under Sean Doran's direction, we await a new look festival, possibly moved from its usual three week November slot.
