Anti-Cuts meeting for Arts Funding

by Fred Johnston Mon Nov 23, 2009 14:12

It's hard to forget that, before any cuts, the Arts Council removed all funding from the Irish Writers' Centre in Dublin and the Western Writers' Centre in Galway in what were clearly political moves aimed at consolidating and centralising other Arts Council investments. This nodding through of unfathomable and job-killing decisions while bleating about how important the Arts are in the country is typical of Merrion Square-speak. In Galway, an extra tranche of ArtsCouncil funding has been expended on the renewal of the contract for writer-in-residence, without the job being advertised, from a period of six months straight through to another six month period and no one has uttered a word. When questioned about this, a Council minion naturaly passed it on to Galway County Council, who threw the ball to Galway City Council. After many years involvement with the Council, I have concluded that Merrion Square does not care about anything that happens outside Dublin and is concerned only to reinvent language preposterously and make meaningless statements. What is required is a massive country-wide cultural strike; shut our theatres, cinemas, arts' centres, literary centres and all allied events for a period of about a week, and see what the government have to say about that. And by the way, any sign of reduction in Arts Council staff at Merrion Square?