Irish Arts Review

Cultural ConferencingAuthor(s): Anne KellySource: Irish Arts Review Yearbook, Vol. 9 (1993), pp. 222-223Published by: Irish Arts ReviewStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20492741 .

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IRISH ARTS REVIEW

CULTURAL CONFERENCING

Culture is no stranger to controversy and 1991 provided some opportun

ities for polemics, beginning with Dublin as European City of Culture and ending in the shredding of copies of a history of the

Arts Council. In between were some in teresting initiatives such as The Art of

Managing the Arts conference and, on a less ambitious scale, the Irish Heritage Educa tion Network conference. Arts management provided the theme

for a conference at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, organised by Patricia Quinn of the Arts Council with an organising committee which represented the Taois each's Department, the National Lottery and some key arts managers. The title of the conference presupposes that manag ing the arts is itself an art, and one now officially recognised as providing some thing of a 'hidden subsidy' to the arts because of the poor financial rewards for those involved.' The chance of inflating the ego which is often part of the package can be insignificant when other levels of nourishment are low. The conference, by highlighting the role of the arts manager and gathering enough of them together in one place, aimed 'to create a sense of con stituency and common interest.'2 How ever it was this very sense of solidarity which had the effect of creating a dichotomy between the managers and 'authority' in the final sessions. The formal agenda was a wide-ranging

one dealing in plenary sessions with such issues as 'Who's in charge of the arts?' and 'Who's paying for the arts?' as well as ses sions on practical management issues like 'The manager and the market' and 'Com

mercial sponsorship.' Delegates found the

Anne Kelly reports on two recent conferences in Dublin: on managing the arts and on

education in the cultural sphere.

usual conference mixed bag in terms of depth and quality of contributions by speakers and many found that the seminar sessions were most useful but too big to allow for real debate. As always on these occasions the full agenda and limited time were in competition with the need for discussion. Much of the chat was reserved for the social part of the con ference, and this was at least as important as the formal agenda.

The old shibboleth of whether the arts should be managed at all or should be left to the artists, was frequently aired in ses sions. That such a debate exists is healthy and the conference provided an oppor tunity (perhaps not enough, or not often enough, or not seriously enough) to air the question. It is interesting to speculate on how many other professional group ings are prepared to address the question

of their own legitimacy and survival in such a way. But then the arts manager is often the artist manque who can only sur vive in close proximity to the beloved in a sometimes incestuous way. The quest ioning also indicates that this is an area

which survives on openness and dyna mism and that it could never become the narrow 'conspiracy against the laity' pre dicted for other professional groupings.

Flashes of fire appeared from time to time at the conference when delegates and 'authority' as represented by the Arts Council, the Department of the Taois

each, or the platform in general, came in to open conflict. This was particularly evident in the final plenary session when 'the climate of fear' privately expressed throughout the conference was finally

made public. The notion that arts man agers did not feel free to take openly op posing or controversial positions because of fear of losing their grants was vigorous ly rejected by the Director of the Arts

Council. But whether justified or not, the existence of such a feeling reflects a sus picion that the relationship between the Council and its political masters had become too intimate. The arms-length principle on which the relationship was originally based was seen to be flounder ing, and the symbiosis which is fun

damental to the health of the arts was thought to be endangered. What this Open Forum indicated was

that the 'sense of constituency' which the conference hoped to engender had al ready been in existence in latent form. It was reinforced and given expression by the conference. The irony is that had the final session come first, the agenda would have been set in a more satisfactory way in relation to later sessions. The organisers

were aware that this was a desirable out come of the conference. 'It was our hope that the actual agenda would be asserted at the event by conference delegates, and to a considerable extent this was what happened.3 However, since it happened, in the final session this precluded any real debate on some of the more important issues, such as the reality of relations be tween the arts and the state. The session

was nevertheless cathartic for delegates and it accentuated the genuinely felt con

- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin. The Irish Museum of Modern Art at the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin.

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IRISH ARTS REVIEW

CULTURAL CONFERENCING

cern among arts managers at the perilous state of many of the organisations. It in dicated the differences that exist between the established and successful arts man agers for whom marketing and other skills are stock in trade, and the smaller bud ding initiatives which are producing good work in desperate circumstances and which operate on the margins.

Training provision for Irish arts man agers was outlined at the conference and the question was addressed in some detail after the conference by one of the delegates. Pat Cooke writing in Circa4 on post-graduate education for art and heritage management suggests that this kind of specialist training in some way at tempts to correct 'the blur of a "broad" education' which is traditional in the humanities or arts. This was the usual route to a career in the area before the emergence of specialist courses. From my own experience this danger can be overstated. What a good educational in itiative tries to do is to deepen the educa tional experience, sometimes, but not always, arts-based at degree level, as well as to provide the functional skills required to manage a modern arts enterprise.

Developing imaginative and visual skills and exposing participants to arts ex periences should be a fundamental part of training and a mix of participants with both contemporary arts and heritage backgrounds facilitates this and helps to break down barriers. The rationale for the development of this kind of education is not to feed the undoubted hunger for 'credentials' identified by Pat Cooke, a

hunger made all the more intense by com petition for jobs today, but to answer a need in relation to the better and more ef ficient use of scarce resources in difficult times, as well as the provision of a good educational experience.

That such issues are now being debated in print and at conferences is a positive sign. Annual conferences of the Irish

Museums Association address key issues and this body has now developed into an important professional association. One

of the aims of the arts management con ference was the formation of a profes

sional association, something attempted many times in the past but without suc cess in each instance. A standing con ference on managing the arts has emerged from this conference, and an interim committee established. Its object is to ex amine all the issues involved in managing the arts, including the possibility of a pro fessional association. The success of the conference may well be measured by such an outcome.

Another professional group represent ing education in the cultural sphere was established in 1989. The Irish Heritage Education Network (IHEN) is a thirty two county museum education group

which recognises the vital role of teachers in this area. Its brief is a wide one covering the activities of museums, galleries, and contemporary arts centres, and it aims to bridge the gap between these organisa tions and the public through workshops, seminars and the publication of inform ation material. 'The changing face of Irish heritage' was the theme of the 1991

Autumn Conference at the National Gallery, and the keynote address on 'Broadening Horizons: Cultural Tradi tions in Northern Ireland' was given by

Maurna Crozier of the Cultural Trad itions Group. This is the title taken by a group of people 'who hoped to address the murderous diversity of life in Ireland through investigating the cultural expres sions of all the communities involved.5 Through music, language, literature, oral history and sports it is hoped that social divisions can be both understood and worked through to a more tolerant future. A programme of conferences, debates, projects, awards and fellowships is being undertaken to this end. Peter Woodman of University College, Cork and the National Heritage Council spoke on net working within a museum service and on

the need for local government to en

courage the growth of museums relevant to their specific localities. One of the

most important examples of this in Ireland, the Orchard Gallery in Derry,

was represented by Pauline Ross who spoke of the Orchard's outreach work shops in hospitals and for other social

groups. The tourism potential of the heritage was dealt with by Sean Browne of Bord Failte in the language of 'markets' and 'targetted growth segments' more familiar to the arts management con ference. Archaeological development and the Discovery Programme of the Of fice of Public Works was covered by Anne Lynch. This programme was launched by the former Taoiseach in 1991 as part of a project to communicate the picture of the past to experts and public alike. Finally Pat Cooke, using the example of the 'In a State' exhibition at Kilmainham Gaol in summer 1991, returned to the theme

which concerns him regarding training. This is what he sees as the increasing tendency of 'heritage' and 'arts' to be con ceived of as two almost mutually exclusive forms of activity, to the detriment of both. 'In a State, by engaging artists with a heritage amenity, accentuated its relevance to contemporary cultural life. In this way 'the past is not merely another country, but the one we happen to live in. '6

The existence of initiatives such as these conferences has greatly enhanced the level of debate of cultural issues dur ing 1991. In spite of hard times for the arts in terms of funding and the lack of an in frastructure particularly in the heritage area, those involved continue to work and develop the cultural debate.

Anne Kelly

Anne Kelly is Director of the Arts Administration

Studies Unit at University College Dublin.

NOTES

1. Colm O'hEocha, Chairman's Introduction, The Arts Council, Annual Report 1990.

2. Patricia Quinn, 'The Art of Managing the

Arts, first conference responses', Circa, No. 61

Jan/Feb 1992, p. 38.

3. Ibid.

4. Pat Cooke, 'A modern disease, art and

heritage management' in Circa, op. cit. p. 30.

5. Maurna Crozier, 'Broadening Horizons:

Cultural Traditions in Northern Ireland'.

IHEN conference paper 1991, p. 1.

6. Pat Cooke, 'Cell Art: changing the image of a

gaol.' IHEN conference paper 1991.

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