Greater recognition for the central role of the traditional arts and improved funding in this area are among the main recommendations of a new report presented to the Minister for the Arts, Mr O'Donoghue, yesterday.
The report was commissioned by the Minister last December in the wake of a contentious debate on funding of the traditional arts and claims that it had been neglected by the Arts Council.
The report, drawn up by the Special Committee on Traditional Arts, also calls for the position of Traditional Arts Officer, a role discontinued in the early 90s, to be reinstated in the Arts Council.
The Chair of the Arts Council, Ms Olive Braiden, yesterday made a commitment to seek greater funding for the traditional arts from Government over the next three to five years in the wake of the report.
The council has already adopted many of the main recommendations of the committee, Ms Braiden said. The council has accepted points made in the report about the historic neglect and current underfunding of the traditional arts, she added.
It also accepts the need to promote better relationships with the traditional arts community and with Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, as well as the need to increase funding for the archiving of traditional music, song and dance. This included the need for funding of the Irish Traditional Music Archive and for musicians who travel extensively to perform, both nationally and internationally.
Mr O'Donoghue said yesterday that he became quickly aware after his appointment of "the frustration and sense of unfairness that was felt throughout the traditional arts sector. From the outset, my instinct was that there was an imbalance with regard to the funding of the traditional arts that needed to be corrected."
The most fundamental recommendation was that traditional arts should feature among the artforms, the Minister added.
