ARTSCAPE: ONE OF the intriguing things about the proposed amalgamation of the National Gallery, Imma and the Crawford is how the Minister is increasingly distancing himself from it.
He launched Imma’s 2009 programme on Wednesday, and the question on everyone’s lips was whether he would mention the plan. It had been first mooted in the Budget in October, but it doesn’t make financial sense and has been almost universally pooh-poohed as unworkable.
Imma chairman Eoin McGonigal got his spoke in first to set out the board’s take on the “proposal”, saying how “some, hopefully misplaced, element of uncertainty now hovers on our horizon”. He continued: “We have done our best to engage constructively in the discussions . . . especially with regard to improved efficiencies and possible shared services. The museum, however, is not in favour of an all-out amalgamation.”
He welcomed the Minister’s “assurances that the process can only be undertaken on the basis that it enhances each organisation’s ability to function, and that it maintains the unique identity and philosophy of each institution”.
Minister for Arts Martin Cullen, who thankfully didn’t lose any helicopter doors on his way to Kilmainham, spoke warmly about the museum’s programme, then went off his circulated speech to say that there was “potential for synergy” but “I don’t want to come out of the process where all of the institutions feel diminished by the process”. Whatever “overarching synergies and cost-effectiveness” came about, “the strength of the brands will remain.”
For its part, the museum has been doing some homework. Head of public affairs Philomena Byrne and company secretary Frank Brennan visited Scotland to see how its trinity of National Gallery of Scotland (NGS) museums – the National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery and National Gallery of Modern Art – operates, with three separate directors and an overall director general. They felt a lot hinged on having a strong DG (as NGS does in John Leighton ) but that there are risks of domination by the larger organisation. Savings could be made in areas such as finance, human resources, shops and cafes, but if curation – the core of a museum – were to involve an amalgamated structure it could prove bureaucratic and impede curatorial flair. The Imma delegation felt centralised budgets could be a significant obstacle for programming and prevent galleries from seizing opportunities. Board member Emer O’Kelly believed the amalgamation didn’t work, and that the savings were minimal in Scotland.
As well as the Hughie O’Donoghue and James Coleman shows opening this week, Imma plans exhibitions by American artists Elizabeth Peyton, Terry Winters and Lynda Benglis, French artist Philippe Parreno and Irish artist Alan Phelan.
For two big international shows, the jewellery of American artist Alexander Calder and photography from the Moma exhibition Picturing New York, Imma will, for the first time, charge admission (€5, with concessions available). Director Enrique Juncosa stressed it wasn’t a change in policy but an alternative to cancelling shows that were already in train when the museum’s public funding was unexpectedly cut.
Saga goes on for writers
The saga of the Irish Writers’ Centre continues. Last week its appeal against the decision by the Arts Council to withdraw funding of €200,000 was rejected. Two members of staff (communications manager and accounting/finance officer) have been out of work since February 1st and director Cathal McCabe left on February 28th. The caretaker is in place and the writing classes continue until mid-April. At the moment, aside from the caretaker, the board is running the centre, and chairman Carlo Gébler says it is attempting to raise funds to continue trading – the plan is to run more courses, which would raise some income. There’s a caretaker and cleaner, and a bookkeeping and timesheet system, so things tick over. But in terms of the centre being “a place where there are people, where writers can ring up” for advice, it is not functioning.
Emer O’Kelly, who joined the board in September, resigned on January 30th. She said, “I didn’t feel I could be of any particular use to the centre in the direction in which it was going.” Her view of governance was a “very strong duty of close involvement on the part of a board member” and she felt she “couldn’t be of use to the centre”. “I certainly felt my own strong views were not the ones the organisation was following, and it is perfectly entitled not to.” The withdrawal of funding is disastrous, she said, “especially for anything to do with literature, which is the core art form of this country”.
As has been reported, the Arts Council had ongoing discussions with the centre, and while it praised much of its work, the council was concerned about the quality of the service it offered writers, and about the high proportion of its income that was spent on staff salaries.
This week, Gébler said that as a “mixed economy” with both State support and self-generated income, the centre could manage, but “take away State support and we’re in a difficult position. It’s in the hand of the gods”.
The aspiration of the board is for the centre to continue. “It would be a shame to close the doors and post the keys back, The centre has done some good things and it would be good to continue to to do,” he said. “In Ireland we are famous for our writing, not for our motor car industry or rubber products.”
You could hardly blame the Irish when a silent disco – staged by a Facebook "flashmob" of several thousand – forced the closure of London's Liverpool Street Station a few weeks ago, writes Michael Seaver.The silent disco craze – where revellers dance to music on headphones – is sweeping through music festivals, but appeared first at Oxegen in 2004 and once again features at this year's Dublin Dance Festival in the form of Bumper2Bumper on May 8th. The venue has yet to be confirmed (although the festival has confirmed there will be no flashmobbing) and the tunes chosen by the spinmeisters of Phantom 105.2FM. The rest of the programme is a little more conventional and headlines two eloquent and quietly political artists from both sides of the Atlantic – Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui from Belgium and the American Ronald K Brown – at the Abbey. There's a mix of Irish and international choreography at Project, but dancers will be popping up in all sorts of places: classes and workshops at Dancespace, films at Smithfield, and something for the children at The Ark. See dublindancefestival.ie
