...the news inevitably sounded echoes of two earlier art-world controversies, one surrounding the departure of Declan MacGonagle from the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), the other relating to the decision not to renew the contract of Project Arts Centre's visual arts curator, Valerie Connor. Both these disputes had legaceis of great bitterness and it would be a shame to see the same thing happen in Galway, where it is widely acknowledged that the visual arts have traditionally had too low a profile and where Dempsey has made considerable impact, both through his role at the Arts Centre and through his pivotal position in the city's fledgling festival of visual arts, Tulca...
Opinion among many artists concerned at events in Galway seems to distil down to two points:
The following is based on items in the Visual Artists' New Sheet, July / August 2005.
The artists' tax exemption scheme in Ireland is widely admired. It is currently up for review and the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, John O'Donoghue, who is sympathetic to the scheme, has asked artists to make their views known to him. He needs this information to support a stronger case at Cabinet level for retaining the scheme.
As the Introduction to the July /August edition of The Visual Artists' News Sheet states (p. 2) "At present the greatest threat to the scheme is the apathy of individual artists to speak up in support of the scheme."
For information on the scheme and the text of the submission made by the Sculptors' Society of Ireland, log on to: http://www.sculptors-society.ie
The Minister can be contacted as follows:
John O'Donoghue TD,
Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism,
Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism,
23, Kildare Street,
Dublin 2.
Also at:
Frederick Buildings,
South Frederick St.,
Dublin, 2.
E-mails may be sent to: artsunit@dast.gov.ie
