Behind the Scenes Archives

NIAMH BRENNAN’S RETICENCE

June 15, 2017

AN UPCOMING meeting of the Niamh Brennan-chaired board of the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) will need to make a decision... Read more »

Quietly Does It

June 15, 2017

RECORDS ARE thin on the ground on recent developments in the arts world, involving the Abbey Theatre and the Arts Council. In the... Read more »

THE TAXMAN COMETH TO FILM LUVVIES

June 15, 2017

THE REVENUE Commissioner has just published this year’s first quarter list of beneficiaries of the Section 481 tax wheeze beneficiaries. Although termed a... Read more »

NO PIZZA FOR SELINA CARTMELL

June 2, 2017

AS SHE gets started as the new director at the Gate Theatre, Selina Cartmell seems intent on doing all she can to break... Read more »

STILL ON THE HUNT

June 2, 2017

STILL NO sign of white smoke at the Hunt Museum in Limerick, where the former Director, Hugh Maguire, exited exactly one year ago.... Read more »

MICHAEL O’KEEFFE’S €5M

June 2, 2017

THERE WAS good news for assorted producers last month when Michael O’Keefe’s Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) dished out over €5m in grants... Read more »

HEATHER HUMPHREYS DOES IT, AGAIN

May 17, 2017

IT WAS a select group of 150 film and TV movers and shakers, insiders to a woman and man, who were quietly brought... Read more »

JUMPING THE GUN AT ABBEY

May 17, 2017

AS PREDICTED by Goldhawk (see The Phoenix 5/5/17), arts minister Heather Humphreys has appointed Frances Ruane, former director of the Economic and Social... Read more »

COOKING UP A STORM

May 17, 2017

NEXT MONTH sees the publication by Mercier Press of the debut book by the latest celebrity chef to hit the airwaves, known by... Read more »

EXITING THE CORK FESTIVAL

May 3, 2017

NOW THAT the May 17 Cannes Film Festival junket is coming into focus, one subject of discussion, among the Irish contingent at least,... Read more »

SMALL CHANGE FOR THE NATIONAL LIBRARY

May 3, 2017

THIS WEEK should see the publication by Sotheby’s of the catalogue for next month’s auction of the historic collection of rare books and... Read more »

‘EXTRA-ORDINARY’ generosity at the NLI

April 19, 2017

WITH THE papers of Conor Cruise O’Brien now on the list of acquisitions being targeted by the National Library of Ireland (NLI), it... Read more »

DUKE V GARRAHY

April 19, 2017

GOLDHAWK’S OLD friend Michael Duke has popped up in the court lists after filing High Court proceedings against Elizabeth Garrahy’s Arts For Peace... Read more »

IFB Shuts The Door

April 19, 2017

ANNIE DOONA’S Irish Film Board (IFB) recently closed its screenplay development funding scheme due, it said, to a need to reassess the fund... Read more »

FAT LADY PREPARES TO SING

April 19, 2017

THIS WEEK is the deadline for shortlisting applicants hoping to become the go-to company for producing main-scale opera in Dublin for the next... Read more »

PATRICK SUTTON’S RESIGNATION

April 5, 2017

A FILING in the Companies Office last week showed, Patrick Sutton, long-time Director of the Smock Alley 1662 theatre in Dublin’s Temple Bar,... Read more »

CRAFT COUNCIL CANDIDATES

April 5, 2017

THE CLOSING date has now passed for those who fancy serving on the board of the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland (DCCI),... Read more »

ANNIE DOONA’S AGENDA

April 5, 2017

WHILE THE new board members of the Irish Film Board (IFB) get their feet under the table, and chair designate Annie Doona awaits... Read more »

THE ABBEY’S UNPAID CHAIR

March 23, 2017

WITH A new chair of the Abbey Theatre to be appointed, following the retirement of former High Court judge Bryan McMahon, the list... Read more »

ARTS COUNCIl MONEY MAN

March 23, 2017

A NEW adviser is in place at 70 Merrion Square, whose job it is to advise Arts Council clients how to tap the... Read more »

IFB MEMBERS’ ‘RELATED TRANSACTIONS’

March 23, 2017

COMPARED TO much larger statutory bodies like RTÉ, Annie Doona’s Irish Film Board (IFB) has always taken its time when it comes to... Read more »

GARRY HYNES FEELS THE HEAT

March 9, 2017

WITH Druid Theatre’s artistic director Garry Hynes coming in for fierce criticism over the lack of female playwrights in the company’s latest programme,... Read more »

AND THE AWARD GOES TO …

March 9, 2017

THE ANNUAL gong show season is upon us again and after the Oscars debacle, Áine Moriarty and Deirdre Hopkins at the IFTAs will... Read more »

NO €40K HIKE FOR RAINBIRD

February 23, 2017

Sean Rainbird (Left) WHILE THE National Gallery of Ireland (NGI) has been generating plenty of publicity courtesy of the touring Caravaggio exhibition, a... Read more »

HEATHER’S POT OF GOLD

February 23, 2017

WITH THE economy throwing off more cash, arts minister Heather Humphreys was able to dish out millions of euro to assorted arts and... Read more »

SOS FROM ARDMORE SAS

February 23, 2017

LAST WEEKEND, there were 3,314 signatories to the Save Ardmore Studios (SAS) online petition, the numbers slowing to a trickle over the last... Read more »

KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILY

February 9, 2017

FOLLOWING THE exit at the end of 2016 of Sarah Lynch, general manager of Galway’s Druid Theatre for the previous 18 years, there... Read more »

Hot Chocolate

February 9, 2017

AN ARTS centre on King’s Street in Dublin 1, the Chocolate Factory, has initiated legal action against Dublin City Council (DCC), although nobody... Read more »

FILM BOARD’S FAMILIAR WINNERS

February 9, 2017

THE IRISH Film Board (IFB) has just published its fourth quarter offers for 2016 and it transpires that “loans” amounting to €2m were... Read more »

WHY FIACH IS SMILING

January 25, 2017

NOW THAT the Irish theatre industry’s annual navel-gazing exercise is just over a month away, it’s time to tally up the nominations for... Read more »

IRISH FILM BOARD’S LATEST AUDITIONS

January 25, 2017

AN ARTICLE earlier this month by Colm McCarthy in the Sindo characterising the Revenue’s Section 481 tax credit as grants will not have... Read more »

HEATHER’S ‘IMPLICIT POWER’

January 25, 2017

THE DECISION by arts minister Heather Humphreys to add a surrender letter signed by Pádraig Pearse to the register of cultural objects has... Read more »

Vacancies at the IMC

January 25, 2017

A YEAR after their terms expired, Heather Humphreys has advertised for applications to sit on the board of the Irish Manuscripts Commission (IMC).... Read more »

CONFLICTS AT THE ARTS COUNCIL

January 12, 2017

A LITTLE late in the day, arts minister Heather Humphreys managed to make appointments to the Arts Council board just before Christmas where... Read more »

CHILD’S PLAY AT THE BAI

January 12, 2017

HOT ON the heels of the move by Dee Forbes (D4 as she’s known in Montrose) to disband the in-house children’s programme unit... Read more »

DOWNEY STEPS DOWN

December 14, 2016

GOOD TO see Caroline Downey, wife of promoter extraordinaire Denis Desmond and co-owner of MCD, taking the opportunity to put in a good... Read more »