The Dublin International Film Festival (DIFF) has questioned the criteria by which the Arts Council funds festivals, reports Shane Hegarty. The event's CEO, Rory Concannon, has met artform director John O'Kane in search of an explanation for what DIFF sees as a disparity in funding.
DIFF received a grant of €38,000 for its 2004 festival, while Cork Film Festival was handed €190,000 and the Galway Film Fleadh €170,000.
Before the meeting, Concannon told Artscape he was delighted to be on the Arts Council client list - in its inaugural year DIFF received €25,000, and the recent grant will constitute 8 per cent of its budget - but questioned the relatively low funding for an event of its size.
"It's not about the amount of money," insisted Concannon. "I know that the Arts Council is limited in its funds and what it can do. My only issue is to make sure that all organisations are treated in the same way when deciding who gets what. If they are, then fine. If not, then we must address that."
After his meeting with the Arts Council, however, Concannon said progress was being made and that DIFF will not now appeal, as was originally intended.
"It still stands that we are shocked by the decision, although they [Arts Council\] say they were shocked by our disappointment because they saw the percentage increase as a generous one. What was required was dialogue and, in fairness to the Arts Council, these talks are proving very fruitful," he said.
While the central issues have yet to be addressed, Concannon is hopeful of receiving answers at further meetings. An Arts Council spokesperson would not comment on grants to other film festivals but said the 52 per cent increase in funding for DIFF reflected its successful festival last year.
Sam and Joyce
In this year of Joyce celebrations in his native city, it is interesting to note that one of the most intriguing events with a Joycean theme, a new drama based on the writer's relationship with another Irish author in exile, Samuel Beckett, is about to open in London. Calico, by Michael Hastings, opens at the Duke of York's Theatre in London on February 19th.
One of Hastings's previous plays, Tom and Viv, also involved research into the life and relationships of a major literary figure of the 20th century - in that instance, T.S. Eliot. Hastings, who received an Oscar nomination for his screen adaptation of Tom and Viv, also wrote the screenplays for a film version of Henry James's novel, The American, and for The Search for the Nile, which won him two Emmys and one BAFTA award.
Calico is set in 1928 in Joyce's Paris apartment. Irish actor Dermot Crowley, who has performed at the Abbey, plays Joyce; Imelda Staunton, recently seen in Stephen Fry's film, Bright Young Things, plays Nora Barnacle, and Daniel Weyman plays Beckett. The play is directed by Edward Hall, and the cast includes Romola Garai as Lucia Joyce.
The play is billed as "a fictional story, inspired by fact, about a family in crisis. It mixes sadness and great compassion to explore love almost to the brink of insanity". All of which, apparently, follows the arrival of Samuel Beckett in the household.
Another Irish literary figure also features as a character, the poet and former director of the National Gallery, Thomas MacGreevy, who was a close friend of both Joyce and Beckett. MacGreevy was also an early champion of the paintings of Jack B. Yeats and a confidante of George Yeats, wife of the poet.
The set for the production is the work of Irish designer Francis O'Connor, who has worked extensively here with the Abbey and Druid and is a nominee for one of this year's Irish Times/ESB Theatre Awards.
The New Ross chorus
A choral festival for children? It's an innovative idea, and Wexford County Council's arts department is putting it into practice at this very moment, writes Arminta Wallace. The Boston-based conductor and composer, Nick Page, has been working with pupils from local primary schools CBS New Ross, Poulfur, Sheilbaggan and Rathnure Primary in a series of workshops which will culminate in a massed performance at St Michael's Theatre, New Ross on Friday, January 30th at 1 p.m.
"We've been having a wonderful time," says Page. Back in Boston he is the artistic director of the 200-strong Mystic Chorale, a group dedicated to multicultural musical experience. In Wexford he has been working with children who, for the most part, have never had any choral training. Where does he start?
"The main thing is just to have them listen to themselves," he says. "Mostly, when people sing, we simply sing for the enjoyment of it. With choral singing, though, you have to go one step further and really listen to the sound you produce. So we're constantly stopping and going: 'OK, did you hear a mistake just now?' And they go: 'Yes!' And then we say: 'Right - so how can we fix that mistake?'
"When you lift the bar, when you move from 'just singing' to saying 'all right, let's make it better', their energy level increases tremendously and they get more and more enthusiastic. It's a very simple formula: you get what you ask for."
Next Friday's concert will feature songs from South Africa, Israel and Nicaragua, and an old Irish prayer, The Deer's Cry, as well as one of Page's own compositions.
The choral festival is the first of a trio of music education projects to take place in Wexford over the coming weeks: the Irish Chamber Orchestra and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra will also get together with primary school children and local musicians for a series of composition workshops.
Magic anniversary
This year, Rough Magic is celebrating its 20th birthday, writes Christine Madden. One of the first independent theatre companies to form in the 1980s, when many frustrated actors and directors decided to take the dramatic arts into their own hands, Rough Magic has stayed the course, along with other notable companies such as Druid.
It plans to publicise a full celebratory programme at a launch next month but has announced a few elements that highlight one of its goals: to nurture and present new talent. The programme 'Rough Magic in Rep' will run at Project from February 11th to March 13th, and the two plays featured - Take Me Away, by Gerald Murphy, directed by Lynne Parker, and Words of Advice for Young People, by Ioanna Anderson, directed by Philip Howard - mark the culmination of Rough Magic's SEEDS project. SEEDS was initiated in 2001 when emerging playwrights were chosen to develop new scripts with six renowned directors, including Max Stafford-Clark and Wilson Milam. The company conducted public readings of all the finished plays in 2002, and finally chose two for full production.
In keeping with its interest in developing new writing, Rough Magic is planning a "new and improved SEEDS 2" project, according to executive producer Loughlin Deegan. Details of this and "the rest of our ambitious 20th anniversary programme" will be announced at the launch.
Fischer retains Ulster baton
The Ulster Orchestra has reappointed Swiss conductor Thierry Fischer as its principal conductor and artistic adviser for a further two years. The appointment, which takes effect from August 1st next, follows a three-year tenure during which Fischer and the orchestra toured to Prague and New York. Fischer's first two recordings with the orchestra for Hyperion Records, a Jean Françaix orchestral CD and rare French works for violin and orchestra, have enjoyed critical acclaim and will be followed by the release of a second Françaix CD in March.
Fischer's work with the orchestra has included cycles of Mendelssohn and Schubert symphonies and the current series of Beethoven symphonies is being broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
Ulster Orchestra chief executive David Byers said he welcomed "this renewed contract and I believe his artistic vision for the coming seasons will take the orchestra to new heights". Orchestra chairman Tom Collins commented: "His commitment to the orchestra and to the development of music in Northern Ireland is complete. He is a musician of the highest calling who has won the respect of players and brought levels of performance to new standards of excellence."
Film specialist for Council
The Arts Council has announced the appointment of Jane Doolan to the new part-time consulting role of film specialist. She will be responsible for providing policy and development advice to the council. Siobhán Bourke, the council's previous film adviser, will remain as cultural cinema adviser until early summer 2004.
Doolan began her career as a TV and radio producer for the Saatchi and Saatchi advertising company, where she worked for four years. In 1989 she joined Little Bird and set up what became Ireland's largest TV commercial operation. She was a co-producer of Into the West, which was directed by Mike Newell. In 1996 she founded Ireland's first independent theatrical and video distribution company, Clarence Pictures, and established Mammoth Films in April 2002.
Opening up the Fringe
The application process for this year's ESB Dublin Fringe Festival is now open . A form is available at www.fringefest.com/ fringewinter/apply.asp and the closing date is April 13th. Out of more than 350 applications last year 140 were accepted, and that is also the target for this year. Dublin Fringe Festival (DFF) is a multi-disciplinary festival of contemporary performing arts, encompassing visual arts, dance, live art, mixed media and music. The DFF welcomes submissions from companies wishing to take the "opportunity to try something new/ different, to artistically challenge the company, yourself and our audiences". It is open to professional Irish and international artists/companies.
Italian pianists for NCH
The AXA Dublin International Piano Competition has arranged a recital by two former finalists at the National Concert Hall on Wednesday, February 4th at 8 p.m. Italian pianists Enrico Pace and Igor Roma reached the finals in 1991 and 1994, and went on to win several other competitions.
They recently teamed up to perform in venues throughout Europe, including Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, where the recital included Rachmaninov's Suite No. 2 for two pianos, which will be included in the Dublin programme.
The other works to feature in the NCH performance, to be recorded by Lyric FM, are Visions de l'Amen by Messiaen and Variations on a Theme by J. Haydn by Brahms.