Sir, – The cross-Border funding scheme for deaf and disabled artists has recently been withdrawn. This budget was essential for my participation and professional development, as a disabled theatre-maker. Its withdrawal is of great concern to the deaf and disabled artistic community. This scheme should be reinstated.
The budget for the scheme was not large, at £526, 274, since the year 2000. Individual artists received £5,000 maximum, and were only eligible to apply every two or three years. While acknowledging the difficult context of the overall cuts in the arts sector, the withdrawal of the scheme does not seem to achieve much in terms of balancing budgets.
Mainstream opportunities in the arts aren’t always open to deaf and disabled artists. Venues don’t always have resources that are needed. This scheme enabled rehearsed readings, private mentoring, showcasing of our work and participation in residencies and other opportunities to network and meet key stakeholders within the artistic community in Ireland.
There was no consultation with deaf and disabled artists about the withdrawal of this funding. That would have helped explain the rationale for axing the fund, in the context of the overall 11 per cent cuts within the arts sector.
Deaf and disabled artists in the arts sector are often relegated to a “special” category, inferring our work does not have artistic “merit”. Cultural diversity and the deaf and disabled aesthetic adds to the richness of all areas of art and is reflective of the outsider’s experience. Therefore, the need to protect and safeguard targeted funding schemes, or to find some other avenues for supporting deaf and disabled artists, is essential.
Yes, we do want the choice of availing of mainstream funding; but allocated funding supported us in redressing the balance of exclusion and the barriers that have been built historically. Unfortunately, those barriers are deeply rooted in all areas of Irish society. By removing this funding scheme, the barriers are being reinforced.
We, as a community, don’t know what the current plans are. Lack of consultation isolates us further. Without this scheme, our work will not be made and our narratives will not be accounted for, in the context of artistic and cultural aesthetics. Actors, dancers, choreographers, directors, writers, visual artists, producers and technicians all gained from this scheme. Furthermore, the wider artistic community, in all its genres, benefited from co-working with deaf and disabled artists.
Over the years, this money has helped me to make my work. It allowed me to employ people to type up my plays. It was helpful in that I could use it to buy tickets to see other work. I used the money to have informal rehearsed readings of my plays.
Given the nature and importance of the scheme, it is hoped that the Arts Council might find alternative funding sources to support deaf and disabled artists and cover the specific additional costs to making our artistic work.
With disappointment and regret. – Yours, etc,
ROSALEEN McDONAGH,
Longboat Quay North,
Docklands, Dublin 2.