Back again!

Apologies for the hiatus in postings– had to take a break from blogging to get caught up on things at the day job 🙂

Still to come: an overview of Points of Alignment — but in other news:

Thanks also to everyone at the conference who had nice things to say about the blog– I’ll try not to let y’all down!

Arts Council releases landmark ‘Arts in Education’ report

Big in policy news: the Arts Council has released its long-anticipated report on the Arts and Education, ‘Points of Alignment’ (see press release). A taster from the report:

‘Arts provision for children and young people both in and out of school is arguably the single greatest fault line in our cultural provision. This is recognised by practitioners and public alike, the latter clearly giving it the highest priority in the 2006 study of public attitudes and behaviour The Public and the Arts.

The establishment in 2006 of the Special Committee on the Arts and Education confirmed an alignment between politicians, practitioners and public around the need to address this issue. The Report of the Committee in 2007 was adopted unanimously and enthusiastically by the Arts Council and submitted to the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism and to the Department of Education and Science. The report has been the subject of detailed discussions between both Departments and the Arts Council and the Council now publishes it with the fervent hope that its recommendations are addressed to the lasting benefit of Irish society.’

Martin Drury of the Arts Council will be discussing the report on the radio show Artbeat, 103.2 Dublin City FM tonight at 8.00 pm. It’s a dense report with many recommendations and points of interest, and I’ll be blogging more about it tomorrow after a little light evening reading… 🙂

New publication: State on Stage

A new book from the Boekman Foundation may be of interest:

State on Stage: The impact of public policies on the performing arts in Europe

[from press release]
State on Stage tunes in on the relationship between governments and performing arts in European countries over the past fifteen years. In order to survive, performing arts organizations in Europe must adapt to ongoing changes in the artistic, commercial and political climate. Although maximizing market revenues has become business as usual for companies and venues, most still require substantial involvement from the government.

Governments, at their turn, expect more economic, educational or social tasks next to the artistic occupations before funding. This book shows how performing arts professionals manage to combine commercial entrepreneurship with the political skills needed to operate in a government environment.

State on stage offers both a pan-European overview and national portraits of fifteen EU member states, depicting a lively, dynamic performing arts scene, prospering in the new millennium. It also reveals what’s happening behind the scenes: oversupply, with thousands of performing artists unable to find proper jobs, seeking additional income elsewhere. Despite the generosity of governments at all levels, public money comes either in insufficient quantities, or is spent inefficiently.

This book describes the hopes and dreams that keep performing artists motivated under these difficult conditions. It contains inspiring literature, essential recommendations and new perspectives for everyone involved in this field: artists, managers, scholars, policy makers and politicians active in Europe and across its borders.

Belfastgalleries.com

I’ve just been having a browse around the Belfast Galleries site, a project of Culture Northern Ireland…  intriguing, I haven’t come across it before. Lots of info on the gallery scene in Belfast, including integration of Flickr plugins, downloadable maps, etc. I think perhaps the design is too cluttered (similar to CNI’s own site), but it’s really useful to have so much information centralised somewhere.

Audiences Northern Ireland has a much better design in my opinion– clean, elegant interface, nice use of graphics:

Most Irish arts organisations still have a ways to go when it comes to utilising the web– don’t get me started on the National Institutions and the dire state of their websites– so it’s great to see some innovative examples. Long may they continue…

Sign me up for the ‘duelling harps’ session

With a name like Termonfeckin, how could you not go? Thanks to alumna Nonie Gaynor for passing this on.

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An ChĂșirt Chruitireachta
Cairde na Cruite Harp Festival
Termonfeckin, Co. Louth

12th June 2008

Download full programme (pdf)

The Cairde na Cruite annual Harp Festival, An ChĂșirt Chruitireachta will take place from 29 June to 4 July 2008 at An GrianĂĄn, Termonfeckin, Co. Louth.

This residential harp festival has been running for 26 years to date and we are looking forward to yet another world class event in 2008. The festival is a celebration of the tradition of the Irish Harp and the harping tradition in Ireland. It also provides links with other harping traditions, specifically the Breton tradition in 2008.

The festival consists of tuition sessions for the harpers with internationally renowned harpers and a Sean NĂłs singer-in-residence SeosaimhĂ­n NĂ­ Bheaglaoich, who will incorporate workshops with the harpers. The event also features a series of evening concerts featuring musicians / ensembles including amongst others: SiobhĂĄn Armstrong, LiadĂĄn, DordĂĄn, Cormac de Barra, Noel Hill and SeosaimhĂ­n NĂ­ Bheaglaoich.

The opening concert on 29th June will take place in Beaulieu House, Termonfeckin, Co. Louth. All other concerts will be held in An GrianĂĄn, Arts Centre, Termonfeckin, Co. Louth.

For further information or tickets please contact:
ÁibhlĂ­n McCrann – Festival Director (087) 2800390
Email: mccranna@eircom.net
Karan Thompson – PR & Marketing (086) 2550291
Email: harpfestival@ktcl.ie