Sir, - Patrick Talbot (January 28th) refers to the "discriminatory policy" of the Arts Council which prevents venue managements in Cork - or indeed elsewhere in the country - from applying their programming grants to receive productions from, or enter into co-production arrangements with, organisations which are not themselves recipients of Arts Council funding.
This is a mistaken perception. The Arts Council refined the regulations governing its theatre touring scheme in a number of ways following the theatre review undertaken in 1996. Venue managements were given increased freedom and flexibility in their use of programming funds to enable them to respond to the needs of their audiences and to pool resources with other managements to achieve their own artistic objectives.
The Arts Council does indeed stipulate that the programming grants must be used in negotiations between professional theatre managements only, but the choice of which professional companies they wish to negotiate with is a matter for the venue managements themselves.
I hope this clarifies the position. The Arts Council appreciates the positive approach which the venue managements in receipt of programming grants have taken to the deregulation of the scheme, and the council trusts that further imaginative and effective initiatives will be taken in the future to maximise the benefits which can be achieved from limited resources. - Yours, etc.,
Phelim Donlon,
Drama & Opera Officer, The Arts Council, Merrion Square, Dublin 2.