The Western Writers Centre

Madeleine Flanagan of Classicallinks, based in County Galway, informs us that it would appear that the current Galway County Council Arts Officer’s contract is not being renewed in June. This has just been confirmed, citing the public service embargo: the contract is up on June 9th, but Mary Phelan, the current officer, has done her utmost to ensure a level of funding through 2009. One wishes her the very best for the future and it is right to thank her sincerely for her efforts to keep funding going in what are difficult times all round. It is lamentable that she, having just arrived, it feels, in the post, should be leaving it. 

Sensibly, Madeleine is suggesting that anyone interested or anxious about how arts in the county are subsequently to be funded - and one would expect that this will be a large number - should contact their County Councillor, seeing as how elections loom, at: 

http://www.galway.ie/en/AboutYourCouncil/MeettheCouncillors/ 

She rightly contrasts the consequences of what this might mean for the Arts’ in Galway county with the nonsense put out at the opening of the Cúirt festival, when Arts Council Director Mary Cloake echoed her boss, Chairman Pat Moylan, who, both having presided over the wrecking of the Irish Writers’ Centre and withdrawal, very controversially, of funding from the Western Writers’ Centre, gave us the following gem: “The arts have never been more productive, employing more than 50,000 people - almost as many as the Information Technology industry - who make and deliver arts in communities across the country, twelve months of the year. The arts are the bedrock of our €5.1 billion cultural tourism industry, and play a key role as a research and development (R&D) engine for a smart, creative workforce”. So now we know that when we’re writing that poem or short story, we are being compared to some bloke welding a piece of computer-board together. 

Even ignoring the smart arts-speak about ‘engines’ and R&D, this cheery tosh bears little relation to reality for people working in the arts, and none certainly for artists themselves, nor is it meant to. Merrion Square doesn’t do reality; and if you ask them to come and look at it, they will refuse. Madeleine, meanwhile, should be aware that, if my own experience is anything to go by, her e-mail will doubtless be sent anonymously to the Arts Council, along with a copy of the item you are reading now, as proof of pot-stirring. The Arts on the ground in Galway may be in rag-order, but the Council will slap your wrist for saying so in print.

But the ‘divisive’ news isn’t over yet. It’s best to quote the entire message: “The Passionfruit Theatre Company, a non-profit organisation in Athlone, was founded five years ago, and has been in its venue at 9 Northgate Street, Athlone, for over a year. Two years ago, the premises was an empty shell, and 100,000 euros in public funding, individual contributions and community donations went into making the venue what it is today. Sadly, in January 2009, Joe Ducke, the founder and driving force behind Passionfruit, passed away suddenly. In the following months, the landlords terminated the lease.” The e-mail address for those interested in keeping this vital company housed is info@passionfruittheatre.com. No doubt the Arts Council will be anxious to support the theatre, in order to maintain that magic IT number of 50,000.

- Fred Johnston (writing in a personal capacity: fred.johnston@rocketmail.com )

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The Western Writers’ Centre, Galway – Ionad Scribhneoiri Chaitlín Maude – in collaboration with Poetry Ireland, presents a reading by Micheal O’Siadhail commencing at 7 o’clock in the Imperial Hotel, Eyre Square, Galway on Thursday, July 23rd. Micheal O’Siadhail has published twelve collections. The most recent are Poems 1975-1995 (1995), Our Double Time (1998), The Gossamer Wall (2002), which resulted from many years immersion in testimonies of Holocaust survivors. Love Life appeared in 2005 and his most recent collection, Globe (2007) explores how the past and our memories shape our present. Among his various awards for his work are the Marten Prize for Literature and The Irish American Cultural Prize for Poetry. The Centre is supported by The Arts Council. Details of the reading from westernwriters@eircom.net and 087.2178138 Admission is €5 and €3.

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