Sir, – I am the artistic director of an independent theatre company in co-production with the Abbey Theatre. Over my 20-plus years in Irish theatre, I’ve come to fervently believe that co-production is a key strategy for a theatre company’s survival.
Partnership with a better-resourced institution allows a company grow its artistic vision, its technical capacity to realise the work and audience reach, locally and internationally, in ways it never could achieve on its own.
Institutions can sometimes feel threatened by this, feeling that the artistic credit may not be awarded to them.
I’m grateful for the openness that this directorship of the Abbey has shown me and my company – but I want to give a picture of the wider context at play here.
Even a hit show in Ireland has fairly limited box-office capacity, given the size of our population and venues.
When that is coupled with lack of a philanthropic culture for the arts, it means nearly everyone working in Irish theatre is reliant on government funding through the Arts Council.
Since the relative recovery of the economy, government funding to the Arts Council has not increased to levels that allow the sector to thrive.
Far from it. In recent years the Arts Council has strategised to try to cut up the pie in ever smaller pieces by implementing policies that essentially fund product over process, decimating and disempowering independent companies and making it even harder for freelance artists.
The extensive research and planning that happens before programming production, touring and development is no longer considered worthy of funding. Instead the artist pays.
When this scarcity meets the housing crisis and ever-widening gap between well-remunerated corporate jobs and the rest of us living here, there is a very palpable threat of impoverishment. And I think it is this disillusionment, fear and frustration among us all, including the Abbey, that is the real fire behind this debate.
I wholeheartedly welcome the talks between the Abbey and theatre professionals. I also am hopeful that we can come together as a collective voice to aim our target higher up the food chain to government.
The passion you are reading about in these letters and articles comes from really caring about the talent and well-being of our actors, writers, directors, designers, choreographers, dancers, musicians, technicians, builders, scenic artists, costumers, dressers, marketeers, box office staff, producers.
We really care about the artform, and we know its potential to transform you. It offers an antidote to the speed and greed of our desperately divided world and brings you closer to the power and fragility of our shared human experience.
ANNIE RYAN,
Artistic Director,
The Corn Exchange,
Dublin 2.