ArtScape: The Abbey Theatre this week announced a key appointment in its in-house restructuring. Aideen Howard, currently director of the Mermaid Arts Centre in Bray, is to take up the position of literary director in January.
Welcoming her "back to the Abbey", the theatre's director, Fiach Mac Conghail, said "her track record of encouraging writers and artists will reinforce the position of the writer and theatre-maker at the heart of the Abbey Theatre's work".
This, of course, is the real test facing the Abbey - the quality of work on stage - when its financial and location problems have been sorted out. Mac Conghail said he looked forward to a "more diverse range of programming at the theatre". Sources at the theatre emphasised that the literary director would have a "central role" in Mac Conghail's new company structure. Howard said that working with writers will be "at the heart of the job" and that new writing is critical to the future of the Abbey.
The current head of the theatre's literary department, Jocelyn Clarke, whose contract expires in October, has the title of commissioning manager. Elevating this to "director" status is an enhancement of the role under Mac Conghail. The relationship of writers with the theatre, and how this will be nurtured, was a key concern of some members of the recently abolished advisory council.
Howard, who has held her Mermaid Arts Centre position since the venue opened in March 2002, previously worked at the Abbey Theatre as dramaturg from 1998-2001. Her new Abbey contract is for a three-year period. She succeeded in making the Mermaid one of the most successful and dynamic out-of-Dublin arts centres and was responsible for a series of highly imaginative commissions - literary, musical and in the visual arts area - during her tenure. Theatre, however, is the art form she regards as being her "first love".
Docklands developments
The Dublin Docklands Development Authority has announced the appointment of Mary McCarthy as arts officer. McCarthy is currently deputy director/director of programme development with Cork 2005 European Capital of Culture. Highly regarded as a "dedicated arts professional", she will work with the Docklands Authority on a transitional basis until the completion of her commitments in Cork next February.
McCarthy has worked in the commercial gallery sector in Dublin and New York and on a variety of public art projects nationally. She has been director of Cork's National Sculpture Factory and has worked at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin.
An area of special interest to her is the relationship between art and urban planning. In this context, her input into the final decisions on a design for a new Abbey Theatre could prove interesting. She has organised conferences on the role of the cultural practitioner in shaping cities and was behind the participation of architect Daniel Libeskind in Cork 2005.
The new post has a broad remit, and McCarthy sees the opportunity to devise a cultural strategy for the docklands as a "fantastic opportunity to explore a range of possibilities". Apart from overseeing public art commissions, and bringing events into the area, she may have a role in the development of a new space for the Abbey in St George's Dock, if that plan goes ahead.
Lismore showtime
Despite the variety of his work so far with Jack Coughlan Associates, architect Gareth O'Callaghan may have wondered what he was up against when he was asked to design an art gallery for a disused wing of Lismore Castle in Co Waterford, writes Mary Leland. The Irish home of the Devonshires of Chatsworth, Lismore has a fabulous location on the banks of the Blackwater River and in the shadow of the Knockmealdown Mountains.
Some fine modern sculpture has been added to its sumptuous garden in the last few years, and it was in the garden that an enthusiastic gathering mingled among the sunflowers and dahlias when the new gallery's inaugural exhibition was opened to the public recently. A modern gallery dedicated to contemporary art in such a setting could be seen as a contradiction in terms, but the consensus last weekend was that O'Callaghan and his principal, Bill Burlington (also known as Lord Burlington, son of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire), had pulled it off. The towered west wing was in a dilapidated condition when the decision was made to restore it, and the result is a long raftered space of pristine austerity lit naturally from mullioned windows and shaded skylights and artificially by discreet gallery fittings. A corridor along the main space allows for specialised installation rooms and the tower rooms add to the flexibility of the overall design.
The guest curator of this first exhibition, Individual Fields (which runs until October 30th), is Aileen Corkery, who invited seven artists, including Dorothy Cross, Richard Long, Matthew Barney and Gerard Byrne, to participate. Lismore Castle Arts will be administered by Caitlin Doherty, formerly of Garter Lane, who will also manage an education and outreach programme. The next major exhibition is scheduled for summer 2006.
Concrete offers
The Arts Council, in association with the University of York, has offered Judith Ring the Elizabeth Maconchy Composition Fellowship, which is intended to further the development of a young Irish composer and provide the opportunity to do a PhD in composition at the University of York.
Ring's specialist area is musique concrète, using "found sounds" as source material for electronic composition. In 2000, her piece, Accumulation, won first prize at the International Luigi Russolo Competition in Varese, Italy, and in 2003 she received an Arts Council award for her piece, phorM, for tenor saxophone and tape, commissioned by Bradyworks. This was performed by saxophonist André Leroux at the 2003 Crash Ensemble festival in Dublin, and in Canada in December 2004. She is currently working on a music performance piece with singer Natasha Lohan.
The Arts Council has also appointed Helen Meany as curator of its Critical Voices 3 programme of events, talks, publications, commissioned writings and visits. Meany will be responsible for devising and managing the third in the council's biennial series of events, which focus on contemporary thinking and debate about the artist in society.
Dead right
Under the terms of an EU Directive, Ireland is obliged to effect legislation on artists' resale rights from January 1st next, writes Aidan Dunne. The Droit de Suite provision, as it is called, is intended to benefit artists and their heirs by stipulating that they receive a percentage (usually between 4 and 6 per cent) of the price of a work resold at public auction.
While legislation is currently at draft stage, its content has not been publicised and a number of issues remain unclear. Proinsias De Rossa MEP has asked European Commissioner Charlie McCreevy which states are entitled to avail of a derogation from the Resale Rights Directive, as specified in Article 8 of the EU Directive on the Droit de Suite. The answer is those, including Ireland and the UK, who did not have legislation in place from 2001.
The derogation provides a temporary exemption from the element of the Droit de Suite relating to the works of deceased artists. States availing of the derogation are not obliged to implement the resale right in relation to such works until January 1st 2010. There is, though, a further provision for phased implementation over a subsequent two-year period, subject to negotiation.
None of which affects the rights of living artists, who will be entitled to resale rights from January 2006. The significance of the derogation lies in the fact that most of the income generated by the resale right comes from work by deceased artists (the myth of the poverty-stricken artist whose works fetch astronomical sums after death has more than an element of truth to it). In theory, the derogation, if applied, cushions the blow for the trade, allowing for acclimatisation.
As it happens, Britain has already indicated that it intends to avail of the derogation. Ireland has not given any such indication, which does not mean that it is not going to. The British argument is that the interim period will enable the scheme to be monitored with regard to its effect on the trade, so that adjustments, if deemed necessary, can be applied.
Director of the Irish Copyright Licensing Agency Samantha Holman, who has been involved in establishing the Irish Visual Artists' Rights Organisation, argues "it would be a great pity if the Irish Government opted to avail of the derogation, because it goes against the spirit of the Droit de Suite".