Theatre Forum meet The Arts Council

Representatives from Theatre Forum had a meeting with The Arts Council at the start of March, and the report is on the Theatre Forum website.

I was particularly interested in this part;

By early May a new draft theatre plan will be published. The Arts Council feels the model currently used for funding needs to be re-imagined. Among the areas looked at will be production hubs and production companies. Theatre Forum stressed the need for a rounded policy which would take into account not just the need to safeguard the larger companies, but also a coherent regional policy, a wide breath of work for audiences; how a further cut in production would affect venues and their audiences. We offered to put some ideas in writing in the next few weeks in advance of the draft being published.

There will be a consultation with the whole sector as soon as the draft theatre policy is published. Quite how that will work e.g. small focus groups/written responses will be decided shortly.

I’ve heard a lot of alarmed talk about these Theatre Hubs in Dublin, but I’m going to keep an open mind for now. There is a lot I’d like to see changed about the Irish Theatre Industry so let’s give them a chance and see what they suggest. May will certainly be interesting!

The whole thing is only 3 pages long so take a look for yourself. You can download it here.