Literature written off grants list
The sums involved were relatively small, amounting to €750,000 - a figure equivalent to about one-third of what the Irish sailing team received going to the Olympics. But the literature sector's share of just over 1% - under €10,000 - nationwide was taken by us as an indicator of just how out of touch the Arts Council is with an ongoing crisis of severe proportions.
The support structures for writers in this country are depressed and under- resourced relative to:
1. The support available to the literature sectors in other countries.
2. The resources available to other art sectors in Ireland.
The literature sector receives €2m in annual revenue grants from the Arts Council; music receives €5m; drama €15m and visual arts about €8m. In addition, music and visual arts receive support from the Department of Education running into tens of millions where creative writing receives nothing.
There are huge swathes of the country where schools have never had a poet or a novelist visit.
The small amount which the Arts Council provides for the writers in school scheme is simply not adequate and in any case I believe the Department of Education should be funding this scheme.
There are no residencies for writers in our hospitals or prison systems as there are in other countries. There is no mentoring system in place for young writers, as there is for artists of all major sectors. There is a dearth of writers' work studios provided in our urban centres while studio spaces and rehearsal spaces for drama activists, visual artists and musicians abound. The days when an author needed only a pencil stub and scrap of paper are long gone, but the notion that writers require less resources than other artists still persists.
The country has well-developed networks of galleries, theatres and concert halls but huge areas of it provide no opportunities for readings or residencies by authors; in other words, income- making opportunities.
Poets cannot earn a living from the publication of poetry alone, just as the average actor cannot be expected to survive on the sale of audio recording or a visual artist on sales of postcards.
Poets need opportunities to engage directly with an audience and these are not being adequately provided throughout the country.
There are plenty of small literature festivals failing in their applications to the Arts Council. The White House poets in Limerick have a vibrant reading programme but no money to pay its guest authors. There are many literature groups and organisations around the country which could make good use of financial resources if they were distributed fairly.
Literature must start receiving financial support from various governmental organisations. Such support must be on a par with other art sectors and reflect the proportion of cultural activity and international prestige literature contributes to our nation.
If literature was an Olympic sport, Ireland would consistently be among the top five medal-winning nations. That contribution is going unrewarded and unrecognised.
Patrick Cotter
The Munster Literature Centre
Frank O'Connor House
84 Douglas Street
Cork
