Cuts and fringes at Belltable
Its annual Unfringed festival begins next Wednesday, and the Belltable Arts Centre is still exiled from its home on O'Connell Street. Alan Owens talks to Belltable artistic director Joanne Beirne about the festival and the future
OSTENSIBLY, Belltable artistic director Joanne Beirne is meeting the Limerick Leader to discuss the programme for the upcoming Unfringed Festival, which was launched this week. However, there are simply too many questions regarding the theatre and its future - and past - that need to be dealt with first.
The arts centre is facing an uncertain period, awaiting news of a funding decision from the Arts Council, while early this year details were revealed of a report by independent auditors Deloitte & Touche for the year ending 31 December 2008, which stated that the Belltable's financial position at that time indicated a "material uncertainty, which may cast doubt about the company's ability to continue as a going concern", highlighting a reliance on Arts Council funding.
The company operated at a loss of close to €45,000 that year, but the Leader understands that figure drastically improved for 2009.
The news is also better for the Belltable as, in recent days, the Limerick Theatre Hub initiative - spearheaded by Joanne - has been nominated for a judges' special award in the Irish Times Theatre Awards.
Work has also gotten underway on the renovations to 69 O'Connell Street, and the Belltable expects to be rehoused there in the autumn of this year.
"We had to be very careful on what we spent our money on in terms of programming," says Joanne in reference to 2009 and questions about the auditor's report, while stressing this is not strictly her area, but accepting that she is "equally responsible for how the money that we receive is spent".
"We are not unique in that we are an arts organisation that experience a deficit - you would be hard pressed to find an organisation that didn't.
"In the context of that year (2008), we relocated to an off-site space that had to be reconditioned. There was change of artistic director, and also, the transition to an off-site space was a big thing. I am not trying to discount it and I am not blaming it - but the move from 275 capacity to 100, reduces your capacity to attract work that generates revenue.
"In 2009 we got a cut of €30,000 - and we made cuts, we made huge cuts. We were dark for August, we cut back on advertising, we took on more efficient ways of communicating with our audience.
"But, artistically, I was very happy. Limerick Theatre Hub was a huge amount of work and effort for everybody, it was heavily subsidised by people's labour, but there was a commitment to the project that was reflected in the quality of the work produced. There was a sense of real energy and that is what was absent."
She adds, with a defiant air, "what has been achieved in the last 12 months I think has been hugely significant for the future of the arts in Limerick."
In the more immediate short-term there is the matter of a dynamic and exciting programme for the UnFringed Festival, the Belltable's clear commitment to commissioning, producing and presenting new and innovative work in the city.
The five day programme is bursting with theatre, music, comedy and dance; world and Irish premieres; shows like Cirque de Legume, where two idiots try to put on a Cirque du Soleil-type circus show using nothing but a chair and a box of old vegetables.
The length of the programme has been reduced, due to financial factors, but this may in turn lead to an increase in the energy generated by the festival.
"I felt last year that for the first weekend of the festival that there was a great buzz the first weekend and there was a lot of activities on the Saturday, in different locations," says Joanne.
"But, I felt last year that the audience was split, because people went back to work on a Monday and it is difficult to come out on a Monday night. This year we really wanted to capture that festival feeling."
"Obviously there were economic considerations, financially, UnFringed is a huge outlay in the first month of the year. So with that in mind, we slimmed it down, but I don't think the quality has been compromised, or the energy."
There are several highlights in a packed and bustling programme, with the focus on the specially commissioned site-specific theatre piece, Memory Deleted, which will be performed in the Boutique Hotel on Denmark Street.
"I think it is going to be really interesting," says Joanne.
"You will get, when you go to the hotel, a room key, and you will see what unfolds. It will make you think about a hotel the next time you go in - experience it in a different way."
Other highlights include the Lords of Strut - a "high-energy comedy acrobatic show"; the Irish premiere of Bookshelf's Beast by the up and coming playwright Elena Bolster; rehearsed readings of Ken Bourke's Laetitia; fellow local playwright Helena Enright's Aquero, and Amalgamotion's Dos Palabras. Local music acts Windings, Nick Carswell will perform over the five days as will Daghdha Dance Company, plus other locally based independent dancers, .
Expect the unexpected, that is the key to the UnFringed Festival, which has established itself as one of the premier fringe events in the country.
There is an air of optimism in the Belltable, despite what might be coming in the post from the Arts Council with regard to this year's funding. Joanne is working with Cork and Galway-based companies to develop a programme of rehearsed readings with different practitioners and professionals, which will see regional relationships fostered.
Plus, the recent nominations confirm that the Limerick Theatre Hub initiative was a successful one, that the Arts Council have taken notice of.
"I would be really positive about where we are at the moment, but I know the year ahead is not going to be easy," says Joanne.
"I think the hub has put Limerick theatre back on the map and the initiative and the energy created was something that was recognised nationally.
"We are trying to engage and communicate with an audience and I am very open to suggestions, if people have ideas - this is their arts centre, it is public money and we are there to provide a resource for the city."
The UnFringed Festival 2010 begins next Wednesday, January 27, running until the following Sunday. For more see www.belltable.ie.
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