A couple of years ago, a lot of attention was lavished on the rising rate of GDP per capita in Ireland. Mirabile dictu, this country was all set to overtake Britain, as measured by an important economic indicator. It was a strange David-and-Goliath comparison for people to get worked up about, even if you ignore all those special considerations - such as profits repatriated by multinational companies, not to mention the recent revelations about US tax avoidance via Irish companies - which make the Irish figures so dodgy for comparison purposes. Think of it this way: if one branch of a family has been well-off for 50 years or more and then the poor relations catch up in earning power, no one is likely to conclude that the two sides of the family have suddenly become equally well off. And you don't have to examine any aspect of infrastructure in Ireland very long to discover the signs of the historical poverty of the public purse.
In certain areas, of course, steps have been taken to remedy the situation. The development of arts centres in recent years has left its mark on most parts of the country. So much so, that the complaints you're most likely to hear are about the investment in bricks and mortar not being followed up with funding to put the buildings to best use. There has also been a separate strand of complaint about the proportion of funding spent on the salaries of professional arts administrators. My complaint is rather different. It's about the potential of these arts centres to function in the manner that they purport to: as venues for the arts. If I think of a typical arts centre, I think of a building that's likely to have an exhibition space and an auditorium. And when I think of the auditorium or performing space in an Irish arts centre, I expect it, in the first instance, to be some sort of theatre. Whether any such theatre is likely to be suitable for the performance of live, unamplified music is in the lap of the gods. It's a consideration which certainly seems to have carried little or no weight in the thoughts of the people who commission, design and build these arts centres, or indeed, with the release of funds to build them in the first place. Gerry Godley, of the Improved Music Company, recently made the case in this column for a dedicated venue for jazz, and for the accommodation of jazz in arts venues around the country. Yet, although Ireland lacks the sort of specialised venue that Godley has his heart set on, the sounds of jazz are far more likely to be accommodated acceptably in a typical arts centre than anything from the realm of classical music.
The facts are simple and stark: music hardly seems to be a consideration when buildings, whether new or converted, are created as arts centres.
One of the biggest scandals in this regard has to be the Project Arts Centre, which re-opened in new premises in Temple Bar last year. The Project, unlike most of its kind, had developed a keen interest in contemporary music. The centre had nurtured a successful partnership with the Crash Ensemble. And it had announced a ground-breaking, 15-month residency with Crash as one of its inaugural projects. But the venue Crash get to work in is, in acoustic terms, fatally flawed for a sizeable proportion of the ensemble's repertoire.
The Project Arts Centre's main auditorium is a minimalist, black-box venue in which the heartbeat of unamplified music is stifled. And, of course, Project is only the prominent tip of the proverbial iceberg. The failure that Project represents doesn't affect only music. In Opera Theatre Company, Ireland has a thriving organisation that tours opera in English the length and breadth of the land. In terms of taking on new venues, OTC seems ready to try anything. And, of course, try anything is mostly what they have to do.
What OTC needs for the bulk of its shows is a theatre with an orchestra pit. Yet, theatres (whether so-called or as part of an arts centre) have been built or restored - in towns where OTC clearly has an audience - without any consideration being given to the fundamental needs of touring opera. So what we have is a multiplicity of arts centres from which music is sometimes effectively excluded, or in which it is inevitably - and unnecessarily - compromised.
In terms of public expenditure, it's extremely wasteful. OTC and Music Network, the State's major agency engaged in music promotion in the regions, are in receipt of an annual £700,000 of public funds. Yet those other public funds which have been spent on the building of arts centres, regularly ignore these two organisations' fundamental needs.
But in a state with just a single, dedicated venue for music, the National Concert Hall, it may be a great deal to expect that the relevant authorities - the Department of Arts and Heritage, and the Arts Council - will set about ensuring that arts centres take into account that music qualifies as one of the arts. The current Arts & Culture Capital Enhancement Support Scheme (ACCESS), which has been allocated a total of £36 million between 2001 and 2004, gives cause for concern. "The primary aim of the scheme," said Sile De Valera, Minister for Arts and Heritage, "is to ensure that all our citizens have easy access to adequate venues for the creation, expression and appreciation of arts and culture, including our heritage." But, the scheme is designed to assist "the four main categories of arts and cultural infrastructure - arts centres, theatres, galleries and museums". Theatres, galleries and museums are all entitled to an independent life. Concert halls or music venues as such don't even rate a mention. Arts centres apart, there's not much succour, either, in the long list of institutions funded directly by the Arts Council. The Minister for Finance, Charlie McGreevy, has offered the opinion that the EU censure of his recent Budget was based on our European partners being jealous of us. Has he - or Sile De Valera - ever looked at what other European citizens have in the way of "easy access to adequate venues"? Jealous? He must be joking.
mdervan@irish-times.ie
