Current Campaigns

Introduction

In this section we identify and outline the main issues that we are currently campaigning on. Full details of each of the issues and associated campaigns can be found within the main menu on the left.

An Bord Snip Nua Report

Facing the Challenge: Visual Artist Ireland encourages artists and artworkers to take the case for the arts funding to the doors of politicians.

In the current and forthcoming economic conditions, the seriousness of the funding situation for the arts sector cannot be underestimated. The Arts Council’s 2009 grant from government was reduced, however due to the Council’s management of this, the impact of the reduction was somewhat softened for the arts community compared to what we can expect in 2010. Further cuts to the Arts Council by government can be expected; and this time there is little hope of the effects not being directly felt by artists.

Even if the Arts Council were to receive standstill funding at the 2009 rate, it would in effect suffer a €6.6 million cut for 2010. Moreover if the recommendations of the McCarthy report were to be implemented – which suggests that the Arts Councils grant be cut by €6.1 million, then the agency would actually have €12.7 million less to spend in 2010 that it did in 2009.

In light of this situation, the visual arts lobby has become more and more important. Visual Artists Ireland is currently active in this area with political parties and also with members of the Oireachtas Culture Committee. The publication of The Social, Economic and Fiscal Status of the Visual Artist in Ireland has proven to be timely and also effective in getting the attention of both politicians and the media.

The Arts Council are also very active; with the important Indacom report due out soon that will indicate the arts contribution to the economy. Prior knowledge of this report indicates that 50,000 people are employed in the arts in Ireland – compared to the 70,000 employed in the information, communication and technology sector. Arts jobs are indigenous and spread countrywide; and individuals working in the arts are creative, flexible and innovative – exactly the people valuable to the ‘smart economy’. Cultural tourism contributes €5.1 billion to the Irish economy; and represents the only part of the tourism sector that has seen growth in recent times.

We are now in a time for activation rather than passive acceptance. Nothing can be left for granted! As we have seen in the An Bord Snip Nua report and also in other reports back to government, the arts are under serious threat. An Bord Snip Nua have made a series of recommendations that at the very least would throw Ireland’s cultural industry back to the 1950s. Their recommendations include, but are not exclusive to: the reduction in funding to the Arts Council; the discontinuation of The Department of Art, Sports and Tourism as a department in it own right; and to abolish the allocation (of funding) Culture Ireland. The cancellation of government funded artistic programmes (for which no definition is given), and the removal of the provision of arts in some rural areas. Other reports directly recommend that removal of the tax exemption scheme for artists.

The extent of the implementation of these recommendations is currently in discussion as the government parties prepare for the 2010 budget. As you will see there are many reasons for us to contact our local representatives and therefore VAI would like to encourage our readers to join both national and local area initiatives such as the constituency groups, that are taking our case to the doors of politicians at national and electoral areas.

Politicians are very anxious to maintain their seats, therefore now is a good time to remind them that we are the voters who provide them with their place in the Dail. Further information on who and where your local group is can be found at http://www.theatreforumireland.com/index.php/tf/Notice-Board/Facebook-groups-an-update

Visual Artists Ireland will continue its work at the government level; and we will publish our list of current recommendations to government in the next issue of the Visual Artists News Sheet.

Visual Artists Ireland submission to government and political parties

Public Art Commissions
Visual Artists Ireland is currently undertaking a series of projects designed to support and develop the design and delivery of public art commissions.

Advisory Service To Commissioners:
As part of our help desk support, we provide an advisory service gratis to organisations who are preparing to advertise a commission. If you need support or advice with regard to initiating the commissioning process simply email us at: info@visualartists.ie

The Artists Brief - Advisory Document:
Visual Artists Ireland has also prepared an advisory document that provides commissioning bodies with a series of checks that they can use to assess the 'health' of their calls for proposals. See here for more info.

Professional Development Training for Artists and Commissioners:
In parallel, Visual Artists Ireland provides specific training for artists and commissioners. The workshops that are currently part of our Professional Development Training programme for 2008 are:

- Public Art Commissions: The preparation and design stage
- Public Art Commissions: The delivery.
- Working With Architects

More info on our Professional Development Training programme here.
.

Artists Tax Exemption
The Artists Tax Exemption is just one of a wide range of tax schemes currently under review by the Department of Finance. Since the announcement of the review in late 2004 there seems to have been much negative publicity surrounding the Artists Tax Exemption with some calling for the scheme to be capped or abolished. Visual Artists Ireland believes that the scheme should stay in full. We believe the scheme is extremely successful, that it benefits the arts in Ireland in many ways and that abolishing or capping the scheme would be detrimental to the arts in Ireland and could end up costing the state more money. We have worked in partnership with the representative organisations for other creative artists on a campaign to ensure the scheme is retained in full. Click on the Tax Exemption button on the main menu on the left to find out more.

In advance of the introduction of the ARR, Visual Artists Ireland worked together with the Irish Copyright Licensing Agency to establish an artist’s copyright collecting society which would be able to efficiently manage the ARR on behalf of its members. This society is called the Irish Visual Artists Rights Organisation (IVARO). IVARO has over 1,300 members and has been successfully collecting royalties for artists on the resale and reproduction of their artworks.  

Ireland is one of just a few EU Member States that do not currently provide a post mortem Resale Right.  However from 1 January 2010 all Member States are required to apply the Right to works authored by deceased artists and which are protected by copyright. However, Member States are permitted to apply to delay implementation for two years until 2012 if more time is required for the market to adjust to the existence of the Right.

Visual Artists Ireland and IVARO are campaigning to ensure that artists are able to make provision in their wills to bequeath their Resale Right to their beneficiaries as soon as possible. Like writers of books and composers of music, artists are entitled to decide who should benefit from their resale royalties following their death. This provision is mandatory in the European Directive and we do not believe the Irish Government can justify any further delay beyond 2010.

The Irish Intellectual Property Unit opened a consultation to assess the likely impact of the ARR and the derogation for deceased artists on the Irish art market.  The consultation closed on 30 September 2008 and results are expected before the end of December.

Apart from extending the ARR to artists’ heirs, IVARO is also campaigning for the threshold from which the right applies be reduced from €3,000 to €1,000 so that a greater number of artists can benefit from this right.

See the menu on the left for more information on both the Artists Resale Right and IVARO. 

. 

UNESCO convention
UNESCO is the United Nations Educational Cultural and Scientific Organisation. UNESCO has recently adopted a controversial Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. This is essentially aimed at protecting the rights of individual nations to develop and maintain policies on cultural issues. Such rights are increasingly under threat from world trade agreements, which aim to limit any initiatives or incentives, which promote indigenous artists and indigenous cultural practices so as to make it easier for multi national entertainment corporations to compete. The Convention therefore protects the notion of state subsidy for artists and for industries such as television, film, music and publishing. The Americans who have led the campaign against this convention would see such state funding of the arts and culture as being counter to fair competition. See the main menu of the left for more information.

Fees, payments and contracts
It is an unfortunate fact that more often than not artists get a poor deal when it comes to financial arrangements about the showing and presenting of their work. On the issue of fees and payments to artists Visual Artists Ireland is committed to the principle that artists should be paid an acceptable professional rate for the work they undertake as artists. We believe there is a particularly strong case to be made in instances where artists are dealing with organisations that receive significant public funding. In partnership with the Irish Playwrights and Screenwriters Guild and the Association of Irish Composers we have submitted proposals to the Arts Council on measures we hope might address this issue. We have also used the 2005 Arts Council Strategy Review consultation process to highlight this issue. The Arts Council's new strategy includes commitments to providing stronger guidelines to grant aided organisations regarding their relationship with the individual artist. See the menu on the left for more details. See also the current research section where we outline plans for a review of rates of pay for professional artists.