Weekly round-up: 17 December 2010

17 December 201017 December 2010

Last digest before Xmas, folks! And it’s a doozy…

Jim Carroll in the IT wants to know your cultural highlights of 2010. No doubt the Rubberbandits will make multiple appearances (2 million+ views on YouTube? no. 1 on iTunes? Giant response from Liveline appearance? Willie O’Dea & Limerick never had it so good.)
The Science Gallery is cited in today’s Times Higher Education as ‘a refreshingly upbeat public venue, with a strong focus on collaborative art-science projects that encourage audience participation (it also has the best cafe of any science centre in the world)’. Nice one, MJG et al.
Druid & NUI Galway have announced a new partnership training future theatre professionals.
Check out the website for the Monet exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris, winner of best interactive site at the Eurobest Awards. In a word: wowsa (nice use of Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ for the soundtrack, by the way!)
More censorship woes back stateside, where MOCA in LA has painted over a commissioned mural deemed offensive.
Coming to another wall near you– the Dublin Docklands launched its ‘Art Park’ project, to be coordinated by the Sebastian Guinness Gallery, featuring large-scale nightly projections/screenings on the wall of the new Dublin Convention Centre. Proposals for projections, exhibitions, and other arts/cultural events in the new park are being solicited.
Ok, so it’s a week old by now, but in case you missed it Gerry Smyth in the IT provided an excellent overview of how the budget cuts will affect the arts, and some musings on why cuts weren’t as savage as they might have been.
In other funding news… the draft budget for Northern Ireland was announced on Wednesday, with a 9.3% cut forecasted for DCAL. No details yet, and more will emerge following public consultations through February.
‘Tis the season of university commencement… I’ve read this piece a few times and still find it clear-eyed and moving– Theo Dorgan challenges current new university graduates to imagine a new Ireland, in spite of the havoc that’s been wreaked on their futures.

Season’s Greetings to all my readers!! Thanks for granting me the gift of your eyeballs over the past year.

Weekly round-up: 1 December 2010

1 December 2010

Snow, snow everywhere! Thaw out and enjoy:

Dublin’s been shortlisted to host the World Music Expo in 2013 (any detectable irony with respect to the possible cancellation of the Festival of World Cultures?)
Trinity has unveiled its new Long Room Hub – in a word: jealous.
Judith Woodward is stepping down as director of the National Concert Hall – she will be greatly missed.
A new report on Arts Attendance in Ireland has just been published & makes for fascinating reading.
Speaking of new research, Arts Council England has published a report on the Internet and ‘digital arts audiences’ – should be required reading for Irish arts orgs (and the Irish Arts Council, and the Dept of TC&S– digital/internet strategies and development support in this country have a long way to go!)
The Dublin Contemporary project‘s been picking up steam – although support for the event has so far been couched in the language of cultural tourism, I can’t help feeling the timing will do this initiative few favours.
Richard Conway in The Guardian recently sang the praises of new pop-up arts spaces in Dublin– great responses in the comments (unfortunately now closed)– ryan333 however has a point!!
I was interested to read about this campaign about charitable legacies in the IT, launched by Legacy Promotion Ireland – back in my IU fundraising days bequests were a standard part of the curriculum & training, and it surprised me initially they were so rare in Ireland. Until there are significant changes in the tax structure however I don’t see them becoming a widespread practice.

Weekly round-up: 17 November 2010

17 November 201017 November 20101 Comment

Lots of gloomy news this week– but some bright spots for the arts:

Opera Ireland went out on a high note (excuse the pun!) with its production of Tosca– also the first opening night of opera to be streamed live online in Ireland.
Our own college council meeting has been postponed pending budget announcements; devastating budget cuts for UK colleges of the arts (and the Open University) makes for glum reading.
Further on the subject of UK arts cuts– the Guardian’s helpfully collating articles that deal with the impact and extent of cuts to the arts– from the slash and burn of Somerset’s county council that eliminated 100% of arts funding, to the better news of Scotland’s relatively light cuts to its arts budget.
The Department of Tourism, Sport and Culture announced the recipients of its cultural technology grants. Lots and lots of iPhone applications funded, with the largest grant (€180,000) to the Foynes Flying Boat Museum to develop a 3-D hologram ‘tracing the history and development of Irish coffee for flying boat passengers at Foynes’: seriously?!
The Irish Museums Association is sponsoring a one-day seminar at University of Ulster (‘Practice Meets Theory‘) for students and professionals interested in museum studies. Attendance is free!
Bucking the trend of the unpaid internship– the Jerwood Charitable Foundation in the UK is offering a series of creative bursaries in association with selected arts and cultural organisations – the selection of opportunities is quite juicy!

Wednesday round-up (3 November 10)

3 November 2010

This week’s digest:

A new iteration of the RDS Art Fair makes its debut on Friday 5th November (running until Sunday). Although usually catering to popular tastes, the Fair is including this year the Collective Contemporary Art (CCA) programme in the Industries Hall, which adds an interesting curated exhibition of selected contemporary artists to the mix.
CIRCA has debuted its first totally online issue, themed on the subject of ‘criticism and criticality’. I will miss the glossy (alas, the glossy screen is a reluctant substitute).
Today saw the launch of the first of a series of reports on the state of fundraising in Ireland (authored by 2into3 consulting in conjuction with Mason Hayes Curran. Unfortunately few arts organisations were included in the study, and it isn’t available online yet, but it should yield some interesting insights…
A seminar on the ‘Cultural Dimensions of Innovation‘ is being held by UCD at Newman House on St Stephen’s Green on November 15th & 16th, that will ‘analyse the cultural dynamics which will shape Ireland’s economic, technological and political innovation agenda’ (natch). No doubt terms like ‘creative economy’ and ‘cultural interfacing’ will be trotted out; let’s just hope this doesn’t happen.
Finally, the Arts Council has announced its strategic approach for the next three years— lots to process there, but increased funding for marketing/audience development initiatives, the heightened importance of ‘value for money’ and ‘sustainability’, and the altering/concluding of some funding relationships are all signalled.

25:25 – Conference on Irish Local Arts Development

29 October 2010

University of Limerick is playing host to a conference marking the first appointment of a local authority arts officer in Ireland, focused on the subject of local arts provision and development:

To mark this 25 year partnership, and under the auspices of our relationship with the County and City Managers Association, the Arts Council and the Association of Local Authority Arts Officers are together organising a conference on local arts development. With guest national and international speakers, the conference will explore the role of the arts and culture in achieving local economic and social development objectives, and how we can unlock the potential of future integrated planning in these areas.

The keynote speaker is Jon Hawkes, a well-known figure in the Australian cultural policy scene, along with lots of other interesting speakers, particularly from the policy & planning side of things.

arts management ireland

Category: Arts policy

Weekly round-up: 17 December 2010

Weekly round-up: 1 December 2010

Weekly round-up: 17 November 2010

Wednesday round-up (3 November 10)

25:25 – Conference on Irish Local Arts Development

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