Talks are going on in the City Arts Centre in Dublin aimed at overcoming a crisis that led to calls for the resignation of the centre's executive director last year.
In June the centre's managers wrote to the board stating that the executive director, Mr Sandy Fitzgerald, was "out of touch with the needs of the staff and the centre". They called for his resignation. Four of the seven managers have left the centre.
The managers' grievances were outlined under the headings of finance, staff and policy, and alleged poor financial planning, lack of communication, little staff development, low pay, and lack of leadership and clear policy direction from the executive director. Mr Fitzgerald has been in charge of the centre, and a director of its predecessor, the Grapevine Arts Centre, for 27 years.
According to Mr Declan Gorman, a member of the board involved in resolving the difficulties, the board responded to the managers' letter by calling in a team of consultants, CMC Consultants, to advise on systems and structures. They had provided a very helpful report, he said, and the board would engage in a process of consultation over the next six to eight months with the various stake-holders in the centre, including the staff. This would lead to a development plan.
He stressed that all concerned had agreed to participate in this process in a positive manner. "It has not been a confrontational situation. We have had a very constructive discussion," he said.
He confirmed that the staff had joined a union, MSF, in recent weeks, and that it had been involved in discussions with the board, along with a representative of IBEC.
Mr Gorman stressed that the difficulties of the past year had to be seen in the context of changes in the arts scene in general.
Aidan Dunne adds: The City Arts Centre is the third arts institution in Dublin to find itself thrust into the public spotlight because of internal disagreements within the last few months.
Late last year, Mr Declan McGonagle, the director of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, took his own board to court to prevent his job being advertised. That case is currently in abeyance pending the efforts of a mediator from the Taoiseach's Office, Mr Paddy Teehan, to broker an agreement acceptable to both sides.
Meanwhile, Ms Kathy McArdle, the artistic director of the Project Arts Centre, came in for public criticism from the arts community when she told the Project's visual arts director, Ms Valerie Connor, that her contract would not be renewed at the end of January last.