A comparative study of arts expenditure in a range of developed countries shows Ireland near the bottom of the league table, and says that increases have "not matched the economic growth of the Celtic Tiger." In Australia, for instance, spending per person on arts and museums in a year from 1996 to 1997 was £19.98, compared with £10.48 in Ireland. The report was commissioned by the Arts Council from the International Arts Bureau and published yesterday.
A second report, commissioned by the arts councils north and south, shows that the position of individual artists in Ireland is still extremely difficult - the average earnings of artists in the Republic is £12,000. The Creative Imperative, a report by British arts consultant Prof Anthony Everitt, makes suggestions for improving the lot of artists.
It suggests, for instance, that "interpretative artists", such as actors and musicians, should pay tax on income averaged over three years; that choreographers be allowed into Aosdana and that consideration be given to allowing "interpretative artists" to join; and that consideration be given to funding individual artists for more than one year at a time. The statistics about comparative funding give the director of the Arts Council, Ms Patricia Quinn, more ammunition when pursuing State funding.
This point was emphasised by Dr Frances Ruane, chairwoman of the National Statistics Board, speaking at the launch of the reports at Jury's Hotel. She advocated that cultural data be required by the EU when evaluating European spending. Statistical precision facilitated planning, she said, and as a board member of the Irish Writers' Centre, she had seen the difference which the Arts Council's new long-term planned funding had made. "As an economist," she said, "I feel a year is a very artificial length of time."
Funding for three years rather than one, based on targets agreed by the arts organisation and the council, is a new concept which sees the council moving into its role as a "development agency". Some 16 organisations have already joined the scheme in pilot projects and this figure is likely to rise to 70 by the end of June. The pilot project concept has been met with enthusiasm in many quarters. Not everyone has been a winner in the process, however. Dublin's Rough Magic Theatre Company has been granted funding for this year but is still in negotiations with the Arts Council as to whether it will be funded at all under the scheme for the following two years.
However, the main problem with arts funding in this State, as identified by Mr Rod Fisher of the International Arts Bureau in the Comparative Study of Levels of Arts Expenditure in Selected Countries and Regions is that the local authorities fund the arts so little. He found that they spent 2.5 times more in the North although the population was half that of the Republic, and 20 times more in Scotland or in Finland, where the population was roughly five million.