The south Tipperary town of Clonmel is a prime example of a phenomenon increasingly observed throughout the country, the expansion of arts activities of all kinds into an important employment-generating sector.
Once a thriving market centre, with grain mills, tanneries and other manufacturing enterprises, it is still prospering and lively, but the arts, ranging from theatre to literature, music and painting, are increasingly bridging the jobs deficit left by the demise of many traditional industries.
???????Tomorrow the Galloglass Touring Theatre company will open its new production,
The Crack and the Whip, a timely, quasi-political satire of low standards in high places, in the White Memorial Theatre, a former Wesleyan chapel.
The production will tour 15 other venues in Ireland, North and South. But tomorrow's opening performance will also inaugurate the programme for the South Tipperary Writers' Weekend which will present a variety of readings, workshops, lectures, exhibitions and other events at various Clonmel venues over the next four days.
The arts have mushroomed in this inland town of some 15,000 people. The manager of Galloglass, Mr David Teevan, comments: "There is now a vibrant arts community in Clonmel. I think the whole community is enriched by it."
When his company set up there just under eight years ago, he says, there were isolated artists working in the general region, but no focus for arts activities.
There was, however, a very strong amateur theatre tradition locally, and Galloglass continues to work in association with amateur groups. The company began its touring career with a £400 Ford Transit van. It has graduated to a new vehicle recently with the help of its Arts Council grant of £60,000.
The company's handful of core members is augmented by FAS workers, and expands to 26 or more during preparations for a new production.
Galloglass has an office open 50 weeks of the year and works with schools and rehabilitation groups. "It's all about creating jobs," says Mr Teevan. "We've played in 30 counties. There are some wonderful little theatres around the country that we can travel to and perform in."
Galloglass is one of several small theatre companies based in Clonmel which now has no fewer than three functioning theatrical venues of varying sizes up to the 800-seat Regal Theatre. It also has a modern arts centre which opened 18 months ago and already finds its working spaces under pressure and fully utilised by a range of flourishing classes and activities involving all ages in the community.
The centre's manager, Ms Siobhan Mulcahy, says it came into being, in effect, as a community initiative. The county council acquired the building, a former bus depot, for the project, and strong support has been forthcoming from statutory agencies, the County Enterprise Board, Tipperary Leader Group and FAS.
The centre has the only professional gallery in south Tipperary and runs an "Arts in Tipperary" exhibition each year to showcase local artists. It actively reaches out to small rural communities in the region and has worked on a project with five national schools for the writers' weekend.
Meanwhile, the extraordinary enterprise of St Mary's Choral Society is a pointer to the healthy amateur arts tradition which has really provided a base for the burgeoning professional arts scene in Clonmel.
Founded in 1940 as an all-male society (women were admitted three years later), in 1975 it acquired the building which is now the White Memorial Theatre, named after James A. White, the founder and musical director of the society.
The society converted the former church into a 220-seat venue largely by voluntary effort, and now stages two musical events each year. FAS schemes have also reinforced its various projects over the years.
This is a brief sketch of some elements of the impressive growth of arts activities, with their associated job creation, in just one Irish town. The various groups involved are forging links further afield which develop their potential: Galloglass, for example, will bring a children's show to France next year and is involved in an Inter-Reg project with a Welsh theatre company.
The venues and structures are in place, and talent is being fostered in the younger generation. The arts are steadily graduating from a minority alternative activity to a centre-stage role in the local economy.