Sir, - In the Front Row column (Arts, December 2nd), the following appears in connection with the appointment of Michael McGimpsey as Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure in the Northern Ireland Executive: "It is widely acknowledged that the arts have grown more healthily within the nationalist communities than in the unionist ones." The columnist reports widespread surprise that the arts portfolio did not go to Sinn Fein or the SDLP. In fairness, this observation was followed by some constructive conclusions.
However, I went to the recently issued Northern Ireland Arts Council's directories of artists in schools and I found that, of those Northern artists listed in the literary, visual arts, and dance categories, using the rough guide of address and form of name, there would nearly be a dead-heat in the number of representatives from each community.
I don't know, off-hand, what the outcome would be of a sectarian head-count of the audiences at the Waterfront Hall or the Grand Opera House for opera, ballet, or concerts of classical music, or of visitors to art galleries; but a photo-finish here too wouldn't be a surprise.
Where local writers' groups are concerned, there was a time, not so long ago, to my despair, that those in nationalist areas weightily outnumbered those in unionist communities. I once judged a short story competition in the Ards Peninsula in which only two entries were received. Happily, this is no longer the case. We not only have dozens of local writers' groups in unionist areas throughout the North, but many are producing national competition prize-winners.
There has always been a love for Irish cultural festivals in nationalist areas, but, due to those on both sides who have used Irish culture for political purposes, most people in my own community feel unable to share this lovely area of the arts. However, the term arts covers more than dance and music festivals: in the broad arts picture, unionists are there in satisfactory numbers, I am happy to claim, and the selection of the good Michael McGimpsey as Minister for the Arts I would describe as the result of a photo-finish. - Yours, etc., Sam McAughtry,
Chairman, Irish Writers' Union, Aras na Scribhneoiri, Parnell Square, Dublin 1.