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Irish Times
27-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
The Irish Times view on basic income for artists: keep it going
Reports this week that Minister for Arts Patrick O'Donovan supports the continuation of the Basic Income for the Arts (BIA) scheme will be welcomed by the sector. Introduced on a pilot basis by the Minister's predecessor, Catherine Martin, in October 2022, the scheme provides a payment of about ¤325 per week to 2,000 full-time artists selected by lottery from a larger group of 9,000 applicants. The intention was to gather robust data on whether such payment delivered meaningful benefits to the working practice of participants. Virtually every political party in the Dáil committed during last year's election campaign to the BIA's continuation. But there was more ambiguity on the matter in the Programme for Government. That was perfectly reasonable as the data required examination before any decision could be made. But it caused disquiet among artists' groups as the expiry date in August approached. The Minister has now confirmed he will seek funding to 'extend and expand' the BIA. His comments follow the release of a report which found it 'significantly impacts the subjective experience of financial uncertainty in the lives of recipients'. The scheme is a response to the fact that precarity and low incomes are a reality of life for many professional artists. This diminishes their ability to reach their full creative potential. It also acts as a barrier to entry for those from economically marginalised backgrounds, perpetuating the stereotype of the arts as a middle-class playground. For these reasons, the basic income is an imaginative and positive addition to more traditional funding mechanisms such as the Arts Council. READ MORE The challenge for O'Donovan and his officials will lie in redefining the scheme and securing the necessary funds. How many artists will be supported in future and will their participation be time-limited? The BIA currently costs the department ¤35 million per year, compared to spending of ¤300 million overall on arts and culture, so any expansion could have significant budgetary implications. None of this should be insuperable, though, and the Minister has made the right call.
Irish Times
26-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Chambers refused to back open-ended RTÉ redundancy scheme, documents show
Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers was 'not prepared to give consent' for a multiannual voluntary exit programme for staff at RTÉ , newly released official documents show. The Department of Public Expenditure said in a letter in March to the Department of Arts and Media that any such move would 'deviate from the typical approach to exit schemes in the commercial semi-State sector and may pose challenges in terms of the oversight of the scheme's implementation'. The letter said the Minister believed 'RTÉ may seek consent for a further voluntary exit programme in 2026'. Former Minister for Arts and Media Catherine Martin gave her approval for the RTÉ redundancy scheme last year but the Department of Public Expenditure had sought further clarification on issues before final authorisation was granted at the end of March. READ MORE As part of its sanction, the Department of Public Expenditure said the Department of Arts and Media must be satisfied that implementing the scheme 'would not lead to additional direct exchequer funding in 2025, 2026 and 2027'. 'There should be no presumption as to what Government may decide as to any exchequer funding for RTÉ in 2026 and 2027.' It said the Department of Arts and Media and RTÉ 'should not make any assumptions about the front-loading early in either 2026 or 2027 of any exchequer funding as a primary mitigating measure to cash exposure'. 'The exclusion of senior management from the voluntary exit programme is approved on the basis of RTÉ's assurances that there will be no further voluntary exits from the leadership team. If this changes during 2025 any exit package will follow the terms of voluntary exit programme 2025.' It said the Department of Arts and Media 'must be informed before any exit package being agreed with a member of the leadership team'. Official correspondence shows the Department of Public Expenditure was anxious over a number of months that the proposed redundancy scheme at RTÉ should not be open-ended. In January it told the Department of Arts and Media it would be necessary for it to review and reauthorise any scheme on an annual basis. 'This may involve changes to the scheme to control costs,' it said. The Department of Public Expenditure said staff at RTÉ should be made aware that the terms of exit scheme being run in 2025 were 'specific to this iteration' and there were no guarantees that scheme or the terms on offer initially would be maintained in later years. On February 24th the secretary general of the Department of Arts and Media, Feargal Ó Coigligh, said in a letter to the Department of Public Expenditure: 'While I appreciate that multiannual voluntary exit programmes have not been previously sanctioned, as has been set out in previous submissions, a degree of flexibility is required to enable the transition from in-house to commissioned and independently produced content. This is a process which requires lead-in times for replacement content, and by virtue of the voluntary nature of the exit scheme, the potential redeployment of resources within RTÉ.' RTÉ said last Friday it had received 325 applications for its voluntary exit programme. The scheme formed part of a five-year strategy announced in 2023 where the broadcaster outlined a plan to reduce staff numbers by up to 400. In an email to staff last Friday RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst said applications to leave under the programme would be approved where 'it is confirmed that the role can be suppressed or that equivalent savings can be made by suppressing an alternative post and/or redeploying an employee into that role'.
Vogue Singapore
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Vogue Singapore
Catherine Martin takes us inside her upcycled Miu Miu collaboration
When Miuccia Prada reached out to her friend Catherine Martin and suggested that they collaborate on a capsule collection for Miu Miu, Martin immediately thought of the graceful, supremely sporty, sometimes slightly androgynous fashions you might have seen in the South of France in the 1920s. 'It was this idea of the world between the wars,' Martin muses. 'You have a lot of expatriate artists like the Fitzgeralds going to live on the Riviera because it was inexpensive, and the weather was beautiful, and you got to escape to a more hedonistic place where lots of things were possible.' Catherine Martin. Hugh Stewart Martin, a much-lauded costume and production designer (four Academy Awards! six BAFTAs! a Tony!), has been escaping the rules for decades. She had also worked with Prada before—on costumes for The Great Gatsby and Elvis, both directed by her husband, Baz Luhrmann. (Martin is currently working with him on an upcoming film about Joan of Arc.) She was instantly taken with the idea of Upcycled by Miu Miu, the series of special collections first launched in 2020 that have included reworked secondhand dresses, a collaboration with Levi's, and a group of denim and patched handbags. The far-from-modest proposal informing Upcycled by Miu Miu is its commitment to circular consumption—and doesn't it make perfect sense that this brand, so beloved by young consumers, would take a stand on an issue so close to their hearts? Who says being glamorous means you have to be wasteful? Even though the project is fiercely forward-facing, Martin looked into the mirror of the past for inspiration. She gleefully embraced upcycled jersey and denim, sourced from vintage markets all over the world, along with gossamer lace rescued from pre-loved lingerie, and employed these fabrics in everything from a rowing blazer fit for punting on the Cam to a sailor-collar jacket slated for Tadzio in Death in Venice. Martin's film features a cast which could be the louche descendants of expat bohemians loafing in Saint-Tropez a century ago. Catherine Martin If it would be a challenge to create a collection that eschewed the vast range of materials Martin can access for her film work and relied instead on a narrower roster, she was all in. Then again, the collection is full of lovely surprises—just take the cashmere in the mix, which Martin says is the product of amazing new technologies: 'They can either break down existing yarn and respin it, or just use bits of fluff…. They can take those scraps and remake them into garments.' In Martin's case, this reinvigorated cashmere shows up in cheerful oversized striped pullovers. The players drifting through Martin's dreamy film include Daisy Ridley, Eliot Sumner, Willem Dafoe (seen here), and a host of other beautiful people. Catherine Martin She began this work by making up characters. 'I wrote three tiny little paragraphs about them, and kind of gave them a world, and then I did some storyboards and sent them over to Miu Miu.' The distinctive, if imaginary, individuals she envisioned in those early storyboards come alive in the short film that she made—her first, in fact—to illustrate the collection. It features a cast who might be the louche descendants of those expat bohemians loafing in Saint-Tropez a century ago. The players drifting through this dreamscape include Daisy Ridley, Eliot Sumner, Willem Dafoe, and a host of other beautiful people clad in gauzy frocks and provocative bralettes. Martin, at work on her film. Ruby Bell What unites these contemporary sybarites with their stylish forebears is a powerful longing for freedom. In those long-ago halcyon days, Martin says, 'you basically see the modern world as we know it coming into being—the liberation of women being able to wear their underwear as outerwear after everything being so hidden for so long, and that idea of liberation from corsets, and then the bias-cut dresses being so shape-conscious—women were not ashamed of their bodies anymore.' With the launch of this collaboration, you, too, can proudly swan around this summer in a flimsy slip dress that started life as an Italian silk bedsheet, now enlivened with a crush of vintage lace added to extend its length, and then—surprise—sewn atop a T-shirt. And if a certain beloved swatch of fabric was in places almost too frail and shredded, well, would that have bothered Zelda Fitzgerald, pirouetting in the sand at la plage de la Garoupe? 'We've used the good bits—and then added other bits to make it wearable and precious,' Martin says, adding that the results are meant to be not just playful but also 'so completely disruptive. And I love that idea.' This story was originally published on
The Journal
20-05-2025
- Politics
- The Journal
Digitalisation of 1926 Census one step closer as Cabinet to hear next steps
MINISTER FOR ARTS and Culture Patrick O'Donovan will bring a memo to Cabinet today outlining the next steps in the digitalisation of the 1926 Census. The Government intends for the 1926 Census website – the first Census in the Irish Free State – to go live on 18 April 2026. It will enable people to search and view the individual returns of the 1926 Census free of charge, making available for the first time the personal information related to the almost 3m people living in Ireland on the night of 18 April 1926. Personal information entered on individual census forms can be published 100 years after a census is taken. Today's Cabinet update comes two and a half years after €5m in funding for the project was announced by then Arts and Culture Minister Catherine Martin. At the time the project was announced, the 1926 Census was stored in 1,344 boxes, containing over 700,000 return sheets, each measuring approximately 630mm x 290mm (A3 is 297x430mm). Advertisement The digitalisation work is being undertaken by the National Archives of Ireland in close cooperation with the Central Statistics Office (CSO). On that night The 1926 census collected 21 data sets such as name, age, sex, marital status, religion, housing conditions and ability to speak Irish. On the night of 18 April 1926, the population of Ireland was 2,971,992 with 49% female and 51% male. At the previous census in 1911, the population was 3,139,688, demonstrating a reduction of 5.3% in the population in 15 years to 1926. Dublin was the only county to record an increase in population of almost 6% in the intercensal period, while all other counties recorded a loss. In 1926, a total of 92.6% of the population was Catholic and 18.3% could speak Irish. Of those employed, 51% were in agricultural occupations, 4% were fisherman, 14% were in manufacturing and 7% were domestic servants. Details are published on the CSO website . Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Irish Times
19-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Catherine Martin's arts department backed pay rise for RTÉ director general
The Department of Arts and Media under former minister Catherine Martin backed increasing the €250,000 pay rate for the head of RTÉ , as it said it had fallen considerably in real terms due to rising living costs. The department also supported a higher salary for the director general of TG4, which stands at just over €160,000. The department told a recent government-established review of pay for chief executives of commercial State companies that the salaries attributable to the director general positions in both broadcasters had 'declined significantly in real terms since 2016 and have not taken account of cost of living pressures'. It said the Central Statistics Office had estimated that the cost of goods and services rose by more than 22 per cent between October 2016 and May 2024. READ MORE The review by the Government-appointed Senior Post Remuneration Committee (SPRC) found pay packages for chief executives of almost 30 commercial State companies had fallen behind the market. On foot of the SPRC's recommendations, the Government last month signalled it would update rules to allow a 'market rate' to be paid to chief executives of commercial State companies. The €250,000 salary for RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst effectively sets a benchmark for other pay rates in the broadcaster. Reforms introduced following a 2023 controversy around hidden payments at RTÉ set out that no individual, including top presenters and broadcasters, would be permitted to earn more than the director general after existing contract arrangements expired. The SPRC in June 2024 asked Ms Martin, as minister, for her views on top-level pay rates at RTÉ and TG4 as both came under her auspices. In a reply on behalf of the minister on July 29th last year the department said neither the post of director general of RTÉ nor that of TG4 received a pay increase for about eight years. 'As both directors general are not part of a collective pay agreement, the relative level of their remuneration since 2016 has significantly declined, compared to other employees in their organisations,' the department said. It did not specify to the SPRC what pay level it envisaged for the posts. It said that given the directors general were the editorial, operational and creative leaders of their organisations, there was a need to recruit and retain people with the necessary skills. Director general roles are 'complex and multifaceted requiring personal traits', such as understanding the broadcasters' values, being a compelling communicator and being resilient to challenges that may arise, it said. Also 'essential' to success in the role, it said, is editorial judgment, creative leadership, strategic thinking and commercial acumen, while a director general should also have significant senior relevant experience in a creative organisation. The department urged the SPRC, 'given the limited scale of the Irish broadcasting sector', to take these factors into account alongside conditions in comparable public and private roles abroad. It said the RTÉ and TG4 directors general at the time had been previously employed by Ofcom, the UK broadcast regulator, and the BBC. It said remuneration 'should reflect the unique challenge and privilege of leading RTÉ or TG4″, as well as the fact they are financed by licence fee payers and public money.
