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via The Irish TImes
DEIRDRE FALVEY Arts Editor
THE ARTS sector is worth €782 million a year to the economy and employs 26,519 people, research released yesterday has found.
Assessment of Economic Impact of the Arts in Ireland, a report by Indecon Economic Consultants, commissioned by the Arts Council and written by economist Dr Alan Gray, suggests the economic impact of the arts may be larger than generally perceived.
“Previous figures bandied about significantly have overestimated the economic impact of the arts sector,” Mr Gray said at a briefing on the report yesterday. Because they overstated the economic impact of the arts they were not taken seriously and “led economists and policymakers to believe the arts had no impact or minimal impact on the economy.”
But this Indecon report “shows the arts sector does have significant economic impact”.
Some €76 million of Arts Council funding to organisations in Ireland supports more than 3,000 jobs, generates €192 million in turnover, and €54 million of it returns directly to the exchequer in taxes, the report found.
Arts Council chairwoman Pat Moylan said: “At last we can back up what we have known by instinct – the Arts Council is making a very significant contribution to the Irish economy, and can help to generate hundreds more jobs right now, for a proportionately small extra investment.”
Dr Gray said the research was rigorous and independent and the analysis showed the arts and cultural sectors had a significant economic impact. “While I do not believe that the arts should be evaluated solely on economic grounds, it is clear the sector is an important and labour-intensive one. It also makes a significant contribution to exchequer revenues.”
MARCH FOR THE ARTS
Arts workers throughout the city and county are coming together to ensure the place of the arts in our country’s recovery, in a March For The Arts at 2pm on Saturday 14 November beginning at Daunt Square. Cork artists and arts workers are proud of their contribution to Cork’s designation in the Lonely Planet Best of 2010 Guide as one of the top ten cities in the world to visit and the significance that this has had to the local economy.
At a meeting in the Everyman Palace Theatre on the 29th of October, arts workers in Cork came together to discuss what they could do locally to voice their support for the National Campaign for the Arts (www.ncfa.ie).
The National Campaign for the Arts asserts the fundamental importance of the arts to economic recovery and calls for:
1. Retention of Culture Ireland, the agency for the promotion of Irish arts worldwide.
2. Retention of The Irish Film Board, development agency of the Irish film industry.
3. Maintenance of existing levels of funding to the Arts Council.
4. Retention of the artists’ income tax exemption scheme.
5. Commitment to retain the arts portfolio at cabinet as part of a senior ministerial portfolio.
There was a very strong feeling at the meeting that, as well as contacting TDs and local representatives to make the case for the arts, a public action of sorts needed to be made, not only by arts workers, but by the general public who are supporters of the arts and who are concerned about the effects of cuts to arts funding. Cork artists and arts workers are proud of their contribution to Cork’s designation in the Lonely Planet Best of 2010 Guide as one of the top ten cities in the world to visit and the significance that this has had to the local economy. It is hoped that with the maintenance of current levels of Arts Council funding, the arts in Cork will continue to draw visitors to the area and that Cork can capitalise on the spending power of these visitors..
So on Saturday November 14th, all concerned parties will gather at Daunt Square and march down Patrick’s Street and gather again at Emmet Place. The main objectives are to raise awareness and inform people of what’s at stake for the Arts in the forthcoming budget and to ask people to add their signatures to an online petition (http://www.petitiononline.com/ncfa/petition.html) in support of the cause.
For more information on the march, visit www.corkarts.org.
An extra special event will take place at 1.30pm, just before the march – for more information on how to be involved, email letmrblueskyin@gmail.com.
–
Julie Kelleher
0863774104
corkartsworkers@gmail.com
http://corkarts.org
Via the Irish Times, September 23rd 2009:
The arts cement our reputation abroad, are crucial to our smart economy, provide employment at home, fuel cultural tourism, and help form the nation’s psyche – they are vital to our national recovery, writes GERRY GODLEY.
IRISH ARTISTS, your country needs you. If there was a consensus among the high achievers of the Irish diaspora gathered in Farmleigh last weekend, surely this was it. A roll call of totemic figures, including financier Dermot Desmond, philanthropist Loretta Brennan Glucksman, film-maker Neil Jordan and a forthright Minister for Arts, Martin Cullen, all avowed the importance of culture in the economic heavy lifting to come. Earlier this year, its potency in international affairs was underscored by Brian Cowen in New York, when he spoke of how “most Americans encounter Ireland today through culture: whether that is Irish dance and music, Irish film, Irish writing or an Irish play on Broadway”. Mary Robinson asserted its importance in a social fabric context speaking in August at the annual Béal na mBláth commemoration, when she said: “We should listen to our creative artists.”
Like the rest of us, they are each in their own way drawing from the well of our remarkable achievements. Each successive nominee or winner of an Oscar, Tony, Grammy, Golden Globe, Mercury and Man Booker, not to mention this week’s Emmy success, our Nobel Laureate and the world’s most successful rock band, is a jewel hewn from the rich seams of artistic expression that permeate every stratum of Irish life, representing levels of participation surpassed only by our great sporting traditions.
The arts have a vital role to play in our national recovery in five distinct areas.
According to the article, these are the arts and our reputational capital; the arts and the smart economy; the arts and cultural tourism; the arts and employment; the arts and the national psyche. The full text of Godfrey’s excellent article is held here.
via eflux:
Following its bankruptcy and closure in New York at the beginning of the global economic crises in February 2008, e-flux’ PAWNSHOP proprietors Julieta Aranda & Anton Vidokle will now try their luck in China. Starting this Wednesday, September 16th, the PAWNSHOP will open its doors again at the shop, Beijing, its inventory comprised of artworks, bought and sold.
the shop is a new experimental space in Beijing initiated by Vitamin Creative Space, seeking to engage with art as it comes into contact with, and grows from, everyday life. For the PAWNSHOP, the shop acts as site but also as facilitator and partner in this economic experiment, which is also an experiment in institutional relations to a project built around the dynamics of risk and profit.
Come browse works for sale by more than 60 artists, including: Ayreen Anastas, Julie Ault, Fia Backstrom, AA Bronson/General Idea, Cao Fei, Paul Chan, Rutherford Chang, Chen Chieh-jen, Chen Wengbo, Chen Wei, Luke Ching, Heman Chong, Chu Yun, Keren Cytter, Duan Jianyu, Michael Eddy, Claire Fontaine, Rene Gabri, Simryn Gill, Gong Jian, Diango Hernandez, Elaine Ho + Gao Ling, Karl Holmqvist, Hu Xianqian, Hu Xiaoyuan, Huang He, Huang Xiaopeng, Jiang Zhi, Jin Shan, Kan Xuan, Kang He, Lam Tung Pang, Lee Kit, Leung Chi Wo, Li Qing, Li Zhenhua, Lin Yilin, Liu Ding, Liu Wei, Liu Zhizhi, Lu Chensheng, Ma Yansong, Mian Mian, Olaf Nicolai, Pak Sheung Chuen, Martha Rosler, Anri Sala, Nedko Solakov, Sun Xun, Tang Yi, Wang Wei, Wen Wei, Doris Wong, Kacey Wong, Ming Wong, Xiao He, Xu Tan, Xu Zheng, Yan Jun, Jun Yang, Yangjiang Group (Zheng Guogu, Chen Zaiyan Suan Qinglin), Zhang Da, Zhou Tao and many more…
GRAND OPENING: 4 – 6 pm, Wednesday, September 16th, featuring a public conversation about garage sales, pawnshops and art galleries by Julieta Aranda, Anton Vidokle, Martha Rosler, Hu Fang & Michael Eddy; followed by an open discussion with participating artists and public.
ARE YOU AN ARTIST IN NEED OF FAST CASH?
Forget gallery hassles: GET CASH NOW! High! Fast! Immediate cash payments! Come on down today!*
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In a statement issued on Monday 7 September 2009, the Arts Council has said that it is to argue for the continuation of the Artists’ Tax Exemption Scheme. The Arts Council has reported that it will make a strong case to Government for the retention of the tax exemption scheme, the discontinuation of which was recommended by the Taxation Commission’s report, also published on Monday.
Ms Pat Moylan, Chairman of the Arts Council, was quoted as saying that the Arts Councilís unequivocal advice to the Minister for Finance and the Government will be that the tax exemption scheme should be retained in its entirety. Outlining the issues that the Arts Council has with the Commission’s recommendation 8.98, Ms Moylan emphasised the detrimental effects that the removal of the Artists’ Tax Exemption could have on artists who would be directly affected by an abolition of the scheme and on the country’s global cultural profile:
“The Arts Council disagrees with the recommendation of the Commission on Taxation. As the Diaspora event at Farmleigh will confirm when it debates this matter in two weeks’ time, Ireland has a tremendous opportunity to promote itself in a positive way through our global cultural profile. If the exemption was withdrawn, a situation would be created where there would be pressure on that profile,” Ms Moylan said.
“If the exemption goes, we could lose entirely, or in part, to the art world or other jurisdictions, a considerable number of artists. This would not be for the public good.”
She warned that if the exemption were scrapped, it would discourage artists who might think, at the early stages of their careers, that they have the potential for very significant commercial success from staying in Ireland. It could also discourage people from continuing with a career in the arts.
“The artists’ exemption scheme is not a ‘rich man’s’ relief as has been portrayed in some quarters. The greatest number of its beneficiaries struggle for financial viability on a year-on-year basis. This is true of relatively unknown beneficiaries, as well as certain of Ireland’s most internationally renowned and critically acclaimed artists.
“Arts Council research has shown that over half the beneficiaries of the Scheme have average earnings of less than half the minimum wage. Of the two per cent who are considered high earners, most of whom are in popular music and writing, only one-third of their income qualifies for the relief.
“It is important for Ireland to have artists of world renown resident in Ireland, just for example Seamus Heaney, Roddy Doyle, John Banville, Patricia Scanlan, the Corrs, U2, Enya, Westlife, Boyzone, the Cranberries, Paul Brady, Louis le Brocquy, Robert Ballagh, Jim Sheridan, Neil Jordan, Maeve Binchy, Cathy Kelly, Marion Keyes – and there are many others.
“Apart from the global perception this creates for Ireland, it has helped put in place world class local infrastructures in artistic management and technical expertise. For up and coming artists, this is of considerable assistance. Without the high earners, who support the infrastructure in a major way, this professional layer would be lost to Ireland.”
“The Arts Council, based on figures from a few years ago, had worked out that if the exemption were scrapped and artists leave Ireland, the Exchequer could be foregoing some €36 million in tax revenue – far more than it will bring in!”
from Arts Council News
Belated thanks to Niall de Buitléar for contributing this week's feature: Knitted Village, where mimicking the world in miniature contributes financially to its upkeep.
'A knitted replica of a Kent village with 100 features including teenagers smoking in a bus shelter has been put up for sale. The model of Mersham, near Ashford, has been knitted by members of the village's 40-strong Afternoon Club over the past 23 years.
The group has raised about £10,000 for their village hall by exhibiting it. But the creation is now to be split up and sold off because it has become too large to be transported. Since 1986, thousands of hours of handiwork have gone into the village.
The preparation involved taking pictures and mocking up cardboard templates of the properties and objects. Afternoon Club member Joyce McDonagh, 82, a retired market researcher, said: "It will be a shame to see it all broken up but it has become something of an elephant. Most of the members are now of pensionable age and we haven't got the men to lift the stuff. It wouldn't be so bad if there were just two or three items but there are at least 100 now. It's massive and that's the problem." via BBC News (video available) Image held here Amateur Hour is a showcase for exciting new learning, skills, entertainment and public actions. Submissions in any form welcome to selfinterestandsympathy@ gmail.com.
September 7th 2009 via Visual Artists Ireland
In the Taxation Commission report published today we see another attack on the Artists Tax Exemption Scheme. In the recommendation 8.98 the Commission has called for a complete abolition of the tax exemption. The fact that individual artists are one of the most economically deprived groups that punch above their own weight in their contribution to Irish society has been ignored.
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(Unrelated) image held here
Bergen Biennial Conference, Norway
17th – 20th of September 2009
http://www.bbc2009.no /
http://www.kunsthall.no 
The Bergen Biennial Conference will bring together an international group of curators, critics, artists and art historians so as to benefit from their discussions of their findings, and create the occasion to reflect collectively about the practice and potential of biennials as institutions. Based on an earlier Call for Biennial Knowledge the organizers of the conference have identified and explored existing knowledge from different regions of the world. The conference will be made up of lectures as well as seminar style workshops with young and leading experts in the field. It will be complemented with an extensive publication, The Biennial Reader, aiming to be an important resource, and including existing seminal texts on biennials from around the world as well as newly commissioned essays.
As scholars and curators have acknowledged, the history of exhibitions is both one of the most vital and, paradoxically, ignored narratives of our cultural history. And given the increasing role of biennials and other perennial exhibitions of contemporary art in contemporary culture, it seems all the more necessary to critically examine them today. The impetus to do so now comes in response to the Bergen City Council’s plans to establish a biennial for contemporary art in Bergen, for which the Bergen Kunsthall has taken up the task of organizing an international conference and think tank to study and discuss the status of the biennial as an exhibition model, and also to launch a debate concerning the plans for a biennial in Bergen.
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The effects of changing funding
conditions for contemporary art
A symposium at Stockholms Stadsteater,
Lilla scenen, Stockholm, 7-8 November 2009
Conditions for funding of contemporary art have changed rapidly, but we are rarely aware of exactly how. Lack of knowledge and misconceptions about these issues abound, making constructive discussions difficult. The purpose of this symposium is to find out where the land lies in terms of public and private funding for contemporary art, mainly within a European context, and what repercussions this has on art production itself.
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They say all good things in life come to an end. Today we announced that Kodak will retire KODACHROME Film, concluding its 74-year run.
It was a difficult decision, given its rich history. At the end of the day, photographers have told us and showed us they’ve moved on to newer other Kodak films and/or digital. KODACHROME Film currently represents a fraction of one percent of our film sales. We at Kodak want to celebrate with you the rich history of this storied film. Feel free to share with us your fondest memories of Kodachrome.
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