Hi,
I got some figures in an Irish Arts Council document a week or so ago
which surprised me. Here they are - "survey of comparative arts
Spending in Europe, 1999 figures" it's labelled. (It appears Europe
is bigger than I thought.) First figure in each line is Euro/capita
and the second is % of GDP:
Sweden 79.16 0.350
Finland 48.90 0.300
Quebec 33.18 0.270
Scotland 33.35 0.210
Australia 32.87 0.190
England 30.77 0.190
N.Ireland 27.35 0.150
Ireland 13.15 0.090
USA 4.74 0.019
This doesn't tally with a general sense I've had, and heard echoed
from elsewhere, on this and other lists, that Ireland is,
financially, a comparatively comfortable place for artists to live.
I'm not surprised to find us below Sweden or Canada, but to find us
after Australia and the UK???
There are two additional factors which may soften the case in
Ireland. Firstly, a sort of Academy of Artists (called Aosdana),
whose members (capped at 200) can apply for a means-tested stipend,
currently about 1000 Euro a month. I'm lucky enough to have been
elected this year, but as I'm the only "innovative" (apologies for
shorthand) poet I know within the walls, I can't see that
ameliorating things much.
Also, all income from one's 'artistic production' is taxfree in
Ireland, but this is more likely to benefit Bono or Van Morrison than
Geoff Squires or Catherine Walsh.
So, are all of you people in the UK, US, Hawai'i, Australia, and in
similar Euro-states really having it as easy as this table would
suggest? If not, then where's the catch?
Best,
Trevor
--
------------------------------------------------------
http://www.soundeye.org/trevorjoyce
|