A queer divine dissatisfaction and on with the show
Haunting lamenting variations by Martha Graham Company: picture from Tonya Plank's blog
The Conference over, its On with the Show for the 350 or so of us who enjoyed our two days in Galway. In a programme packed with powerful speakers, provocations and passion and with more hot tips more than hot air, there is much to think about. Helpfully, podcasts, videos, images and presentations are on the Conference website so review and reflection is possible. You can see Darragh Doyle’s brilliant guide to social media (and, for feline lovers, his pix of cats, lions etc), listen to Peter Daly’s insightful and humorous guide to managing a career as an actor (oh, and an accountant), be inspired and thrilled by Gabriel Byrne:
Don’t follow the system, the system will come looking for you
Our audience with Ken Davenport opened up the world of one of Broadway’s youngest and successful impressarios. (In their spare time (LOL), the Theatre Forum team are playing Ken’s board game, Be a Broadway Star). Sessions on crowd and community funding and international co-production fuelled practical planning.
As well as the inspiration, there was the disquiet and the doubt. Colm Croffy spoke for many when he said he left feeling ‘elated, edgy and renewed’. Several of the sessions challenged our beliefs, traditions, myths and legends. Responding to Niall Crowley’s charge of elitism and complacency amongst Irish theatre and arts professionals, Sarah Glennie declared that, in the 21st century, its not the role of artists to change the world – but the role of Facebook.
There was a big digital and social media theme at the conference. Niall Doyle shared the hard facts about the business model for live streaming while Deborah Dignam and Jessica Fuller shared the artistic and audience developments. Phillip McMahon in his lightning talk named and shamed Irish theatre companies in a Facebook league table while making an empassioned plea that this would be the last conference with (yet another) introduction to social media for the luddites in the room. At the same time, Stephen Faloon pointed out that its radio, radio and radio which sells tickets for the Grand Canal Theatre regardless of any social media activity.
John Knell struck at the heart of cultural leaders and campaigners quoting Bill Ivey before laying down the gauntlet to the conference to get beyond justifying the arts in instrumental terms and to undertake some robust research which will really revalue the arts:
case-making arguments are often delivered into an unreceptive void. If we want to modify this reality, our sector needs research that links citizen contact with a vibrant arts system to overall quality of life, so the health of our cultural, transportation, and health care systems are one day considered to be of equal value by policy leaders
Many delegates contrived to avoid the session they felt would be least comfortable – Theatre and Climate Change. In fact this session included artistic inspiration from Rosa Casado and was packed full of practical tools to save energy and money. This subject won’t go away..
Old media v new media, radio v social networking, instrinsic v instrumental, cultural tourism v home markets, exporting to America v staying at home – these arguments showed that opposites are not mutually exclusive. The theatre community’s core stability and resilience is strengthened by a bit of wobbling and uncertainty.
The last word then to Garbriel Byrne, quoting Martha Graham
No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others
Dissatisfaction, wobbling, uncertainty. On with the show then.
Grit in the Oyster: images from day 1
Lots of food for thought after this afternoon’s sessions. Niall Crowley’s provocation, Sarah Glennie’s even more provocative response, Darragh Doyle’s eye-widening social media tricks…..
Already some dawnings… we need to speak not just to ourselves but to others in civil society, in business and to be much smarter about how we do it..
Patrick Sanders’ brilliant drawings of today speak volumes
Gabriel Byrne at the Irish Theatre Forum Conference
In a last minute addition to the conference, we are thrilled to announce that Gabriel Byrne will take time off from being Ireland’s Cultural Ambassador to talk to the Irish Theatre Community.
The extra session will be on Friday.
Gabriel Byrne in Conversation with Róise Goan
Gabriel Byrne, appointed last year to the new position of Cultural Ambassador for Ireland, is a legendary Irish actor known the world over as a star of stage and screen. For the Irish theatre community, his understanding of contemporary arts and theatre, the role of the artist in society, his support of innovation and new talent and his role as Cultural Ambassador offer inspiration and admiration. Of equal fascination to professionals is his personal journey as an artist.
Gabriel will join Roise Goan in conversation about theatre, Ireland and the role of Irish artists and the arts community at home and abroad.
Gabriel Byrne
Byrne started his acting career with Ireland’s world renowned Abbey Theatre, later joining London’s Royal Court Theatre and the Royal National Theatre, where he played leading roles before moving to the United States.
On Broadway, he received a Tony nomination for his performance in Eugene O’Neill’s “Moon for the Misbegotten” and won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Actor for his performance in another O’Neill play, “A Touch of the Poet.”
Byrne has worked with some of the cinema’s leading directors, including the Coen Brothers, Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch, Ken Loach, John Boorman, David Cronenberg and Bryan Singer. He has starred in more than 35 feature films including, “Excalibur,” “Miller’s Crossing,” “Into the West,” “The Point of No Return,” “Little Women,” “The Usual Suspects,” “Dead Man,” “The End of Violence,” “The Man in the Iron Mask,” “Vanity Fair, “Jindabyne” and “Wah-Wah.“
His television credits include HBO’s “Weapons of Mass Distraction” and “In Treatment.” For his work on “In Treatment”, Gabriel has been nominated twice for an Emmy and received the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama. His producing credits include the Academy Award nominated “In the Name of the Father” and “Into the West.”
Gabriel Byrne is also well known for being an advocate of Irish talent on an international level. In recognition of this commitment, Gabriel was appointed as Ireland’s first Cultural Ambassador in March of last year.
Róise Goan is the Director of Dublin Fringe Festival. Dublin Fringe Festival (DFF) is a curated multi-disciplinary festival and year-round organisation focusing on new and innovative approaches to the arts. DFF supports the development and presentation of new work by Irish and international artists of vision, nurturing artistic ambition and excellence across a range of art forms. Prior to her appointment at DFF in 2008, she was the company director of Randolf SD and freelance producer with companies including Loose Canon on Phaedra’s Love. She worked at The Ark, A Cultural Centre for Children and wrote for television including the award winning series Aifric for TG4 directed by Paul Mercier. She participated in the first edition of The Next Stage as part of Dublin Theatre Festival 07 and spearheaded the development of Project Brand New, where she co-programmed showcases of new work in development at Project Arts Centre in 2008. She was appointed to the board of the Abbey Theatre in 2011.
Personal Branding vs Typecasting
Pierce Brosnan as 007
Another blog by John Deely who will share career management tips at the conference
Personal Branding. Now there is a concept that was unheard 10 or even 5 years ago and now there exists not only, swathes of information on the subject but personal branding strategists if one peruses the top 10 career bloggers in the USA.
The propensity for people to “brand” others is not a new phenomenon, and we are hard wired to categorise people and situations for good reasons. In the context of work, people’s career path and decisions can ultimately brand them in a career limiting way. An example of this in the arts world is typecasting . This kind of typecasting is often a conscious or sub-conscious part of how people judge candidates in interviews, especially if a candidate has spent a lengthy period in one company or role. “He is a Dunnes guy” and that can evoke strong positive or negative sentiments. “Their background is marketing and marketing people don’t get press.”
One question for those working in the theatre sector is how has your career to date branded you? There are many practical and good reasons for certain chapters in our career. A decision is made to take on a role or a project to tide you over. An opportunity came along. The nature of careers especially in an industry like the arts is it can at times be highly reactive. One thing leads to another, you develop a competency and reputation for a particular area over a number of years. If you fell into something that fires you up, then that’s great.
If not, you’re boxed in. It will then take a degree of slogging and imagination to re brand, reposition or reinvent yourself. There are several ways of doing this. It can involve an investment in extracurricular industry related commitments, for example, the bio of the newly appointed CEO for the National Concert Hall highlights how their core offer is complemented by extracurricular activity
If you leave it too long to think about how your brand matches your career aspirations, you may have to make a metaphorical walk through reception in your underwear as Pierce Brosnan did in his first post Bond movie.
The parallel session on “How to manage your career” by John Deely on Thursday June 9th at 5pm is designed to provoke your thoughts not on personal branding but on your future career activity and career management.
The next stage of the Imagine Ireland programme was announced yesterday by cultural ambassadaor Gabriel Byrne. A report in the Irish Times quotes Byrne applauding the Government’s recognition of the value of culture
This Government – Enda Kenny, Jimmy Deenihan and Eamon Gilmore – understand that they have a huge asset, and that asset is culture, arts and heritage.
But the same article also reports
Minutes earlier Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan, caused a distinct frisson among the assembled arts practitioners when he insisted that there was “a major onus on the arts to repair the damage” done to Ireland’s reputation by the recent economic catastrophe
This chimes with Niall Crowley’s provocation at the conference.Has the Celtic Tiger Deadened Ireland’s Creative Persona?
A frisson, a chill wind, or will it all blow over?
Making the Case for the Arts beyond the Economic
Making the case:Fitrovia's flyer for Edinburgh Art Festival www.fitzrovianoir.comThe Edinburgh Festivals Impact Study published this week charts new territory in articulating, evidencing and advocating for the value of the Edinburgh Festivals. Moving well beyond bednights, a measure essential for Failte Ireland’s Festivals and Events Strategy, the study looks at social, environmental annd sustainability measures as well as the economic.
The study resonates with several of the conference sessions:
Food for thought for our cultural tourism session, looking at the impacts of the Festivals in terms of the overnight visitors and the local.
Julie’s Bicycle have measured the environmental impacts
and the study’s search for a meaningful way of measuring the non-economic is grist to the mill of John Knell and his session on Revaluing the Arts
More on the Study
Cultural and civic leaders first began articulation and evidencing the impact of major investment in culture with John Mysercough’s pioneering study on the economic impact of Glasgow’s 1990 City of Culture programme. Until that point, the arts were largely funded because they were the arts but an increased recognition of their role in delivering other social and economic objectives led to new investment in return for impacts in these areas. Over the last 30 years most of the Western world has largely valued financial growth above all so its not surprising that we have created a highly developed niche service industry which weighs and measures economic impact with increasing refinement.
But the Edinburgh Festivals Forum has recognised the limitations of measuring only the economics. After the collapse of the banks, society has moved beyond financial monotheism and returned to valuing our non-material journeys and actions as individuals and communities. In that context, a contemporary cultural impact study should, as this one does, involve looking for impacts of positive individual learning, enlightenment and learning, and social development. And, in the context of the twin challenges of climate change and shrinking public expenditure, the study identifies that impact will need to be evidenced through the lenses of environmental impacts and financial sustainability, a concept the authors BOP link closely with the Festivals’ diversity of income streams.
Theatre Forum Pecha Kucha: call for submissions
We know you have a lot to contribute to the conference. As well as all the programmed events, the twitter Back Chat #tfconf, the bar and coffee networking, we are running an additional session – or sessions depending on the interest and ideas – in the Pecha Kucha format. Pecha Kucha is the Japanese term for the sound of ‘chit chat’, and originated in Tokyo as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public.
It rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It’s a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace – not that the pace wont be fast at the conference! Any delegate who has opted in to present an idea at this session will be included.
If you have an idea you want to present, send a brief outline of it to: anne@b-k.co.uk. so that we can arrange the sessions by theme.
Swampoodle: The Perfomance Corporation and Solas Nua production in Washington photo Ciaran Bagnall
As Ireland prepares to welcome Barak Obama and ponders where he will visit, it can celebrate that he is the 22nd US president with Irish roots. With 12% of the US poulation being of Irish descent and Irish emigration to USA once more on the incline, the love affair between Ireland and America is in one of its most passionate phases. Cited as the highest reasons of the top 15 reasons why Americans Love Ireland are Literature, Actors and Musicians – well before language, luck and leprachauns. The New York Times described Dublin as off off off Broadway.
The love affair between Irish theatre and the USA which began a century ago with Yeats, Synge, Beckett and Wilde, has reached a new intensity in 2011. The gargantuan Imagine Ireland programme has seen unprecedented touring in the USA.
Is this a win win for Irish theatre? Or does the creation of work for an international market skew the product both at home and abroad?
Debating this will be Eugene Downes, Director of Culture Ireland, Louise Donlon, Director of Dunamaise Arts Centre and Tim Smith of Druid Theatre.
And Jo Mangan of The Performance Corporation will be giving a lightning talk on her experience.
Is Irish theatre open to international influence?
I Am the Wind, at the Young Vic, London. Photograph: Guardian
The garguntuan Imagine Ireland programme has seen Irish theatre tour throughout America at an unprecedented level. The conference theme, Ireland and the World, will include an interrogation of this and the implications for theatre at home in Ireland, checking the balance.
In response to the call for Lightning Talks on this theme, Ann Henning Jocelyn asks:
“What about ‘The World and Ireland’? Are we open enough to influences from outside?”
Ann Henning Jocelyn will give a lightning talk about her efforts to introduce Irish audiences to the work of Jon Fosse, the world’s most performed playwright, with 900 productions world-wide in the past 15 years. His most recent production was I Am The Wind, directed by Patrice Chéreau, at the Young Vic in London and has just been acclaimed by Michael Billington. The Luminous Darkness: the theatre of Jon Fosse by Leif Zern, translated by Ann Henning Jocelyn, has just been published by Oberon Books.
The links between Fosse and Ireland go way back to his early career when he spent time in Spiddal, Connemara, and my work with him started in 1999, shortly before he exploded on to the world stage. I see aclear connection between Patrick Lonergan’s excellent book on Theatre and Globalisation and Zern’s book – a link few Irish people would be aware of.
Five Patterns of Extraordinary Careers
Career Management, Progression Planning and Succession are under the microscope at the conference. Organisational psychologist John Deely shares some thoughts in advance of his participation at the conference:
“We are where we are” is an oft-used catchphrase that politicians deploy to move a point of debate from post mortem to planning.
Successful career management demands it own periodic post mortems and planning. The problem with a lot of that activity is that it is done on a reactive basis. A vacancy is advertised, the opportunity for promotion is looming, a contract is coming to an end, or maybe you are struggling. These are common triggers for career reflection and planning, however delaying the reflection until these signposts appear can undermine the momentum needed for successful career moves.
The authors of the Five Patterns of Extraordinary Careers assert that while careers paths differ greatly, your career is likely to experience three distinct phases, the promise phase, the momentum phase and the harvest phase. Momentum is about creating the energy to move your career forward and the ultimate objective of the momentum phase is to generate different career options based on your track record.
Even though the question about where will you be in 5 years time is an interview chestnut, thinking about one’s future career can be a somewhat ambiguous reflection as “careers take numerous twists and turns and the future is often murky”
Sitting down and compelling yourself to write how you think the next 12 months will be captured on your CV is more specific and demanding exercise. Could this paragraph be captured by “doing well whatever my current role throws at me” or is it something more? Does it provoke your thinking on what you will do and how that contributes to your momentum?
Your thinking may include big initiatives like the decision to do further learning or smaller objectives like what you are going to get from the attendance of the TFI conference 2011.
The parallel session on “How to manage your career” by John Deely on Thursday June 9th at 5pm is designed to provoke your thoughts on your future CV among other things.
