Belfast City Council gives The Vacuum the brush-off / awards for Ireland/Wales art activities (Friday, 3 September 2004)
compiled by Isobel Harbison
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| Recent Issue of Belfast's The Vacuum. Image held here |
Following a special meeting held by the Belfast city council on Wednesday night the monthly cultural magazine The Vacuum has been refused further funding, due to what the council considers offensive content (see our initial report on the 'Vacuum affair' here ).
The magazine, published by the art publishers Factotum, promotes itself as a satirical magazine written by academics, artists and journalists, and is partially funded by the Belfast City Council arts office. Two months ago it released a double edition with the joint themes of God and Satan. In the Satan issue articles included I peed in a Church , and an interview with an exorcist entitled Encounters with the Devil . Local politicians immediately reacted against the theme, claiming that they were hugely offended, with Eric Smyth of the DUP and Jim Rodgers of the Ulster Unionists demanding that the council reassess its funding policy.
On the left hand Eoin O'Broin, a Sinn Féin councellor and chair of the Council's arts subcommittee seemed slightly more skeptical at the time, and was reluctant to act as censor to any creative project within the arts. The decision was, however, put to a vote this week and the outcome was a 24- 12 victory for the more disgruntled politicians. The outcome is that the magazine will recieve no further funding until it prints a full apology to councellors and the people of Belfast for the offence caused to Christians. Tarred and feathered, the representatives of this modern publication may not give up quite so easily.
In a press release from Factotum, the editors of the magazine, Richard West and Stephen Hackett, claim that the councellors are in fact acting against the advice of their solicitors. The magazine is adamant that they adhered to every condition in the application process for funding and that any introduction of new conditions by the council ascertaining to the publication's religious views is strictly illegal.
In an previous interview printed in the Worldwide Religious News the editors asked
Do we really want our cultural life to be dictated by the divisive political whims of the day or would we like our representatives to take a longer view of the importance of artistic expression and free speech?
I know what I think but perhaps I shouldn't say...
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| Recent Issue of The Vacuum, with a Satan theme. Image held here |
For your own peek into The Vacuum click here . To see some of the reactions we got to the last Vacuum news item, click here .
CCAT cashflow
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| Maud Cotter's Flesh 2000. Cotter is one if the CCAT 2004 grant recipients. Image held here |
CCAT (Cultural Co-operation and Touring) is an EU development scheme that promotes co-operation between cultural practitioners in Ireland and Wales, and has just allocated 68, 000 euro to five Irish performance and visual artists and organisations. The awards were decided by the CCAT Artistic Advisory Panel on 19 August, a panel which includes Enrique Juncosa, director of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, and Caoimhín Corrigan, Arts Officer, Carlow County Council.
Maud Cotter , a Cork-based artist and the Rubicon Gallery, Dublin, jointly received 15,000 euro. Clare Langan , who represented Ireland in the 2002 Bienal in São Paulo and whose work is in the collection of IMMA, also received 15, 000 euro.
But don't feel glum, people. CCAT aren't letting the fun stop there. No, no, no, indeed there are even more funds avaliable. The organisation is inviting applicants for round 3 funding. Applications are welcome from artists or organisations involved in dance, literature, music, theatre, multi-media, theatre, opera and visual art. Applications are unwelcome after the 14 October, so get creative writing to those bountiful organisers. For arty money click here
Comment 1 on 2004-09-10 14:47:57
Haven't we given Factotum enough press coverage. This is getting very dry and boring.
Comment 2 on 2004-09-13 19:20:33
sorry but censorship is an important issue and if you find it boring, then stick to your anodyne glossies
Comment 3 on 2004-09-14 20:01:52
Its interesting to see the DUP being offended by this kind of thing. As creationists they should also be pulling the funding fron W5 for putting on a dinosaur show - if thats not blasphemous I don't know what is.
Comment 4 on 2004-09-15 09:18:38
Comment 1, yes Factotum is getting very dry and boring
Comment 5 on 2004-09-17 13:14:59
What exactly, is dry and boring about factotum?
Comment 6 on 2004-09-24 13:43:51
Comment 1 & 2: is that Factotum or The Vacuum? have you any real idea about what you're critising?
Comment 7 on 2004-09-27 18:08:43
Comment 6 please patronise us with your answer.
Comment 8 on 2004-10-27 12:48:15
galleries adult
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