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For Immediate Release

Signalled Intention of ACNI to Withdraw Funding from CMC

Dublin, 25 August 2004

The Contemporary Music Centre (CMC) is Ireland’s national archive and resource centre for new music. Since its foundation in 1985, it has operated as the focus for contemporary music on the whole island of Ireland.

This arrangement is widely supported by the many national and international musicians and members of the public who use the Centre as an integrated resource for the music of both North and South. It is made possible by funding from the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon in the Republic and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland (ACNI).

Since 1992 CMC has received modest annual revenue funding from ACNI as a contribution towards its annual activities associated with the promotion and representation of Northern Irish composers. In a meeting last May between officers of ACNI and CMC, there was clearly signalled a change of strategic direction in ACNI's support for new music in the future. This envisaged services for composers being localized in Northern Ireland rather than sourced from CMC in Dublin.

These proposals have given rise to considerable concern on the part of those likely to be affected, who believe that there is a critical mass arising from a group of 100 composers within the island as a whole that cannot be achieved by the 20 or so composers living in Northern Ireland, particularly in the context of a 25-country European Union where perceptions of internal borders are increasingly irrelevant.

It is very much the wish of the CMC Board and Executive to continue to operate on an all-Ireland basis and all the feedback we are receiving supports this. Our current funding contract with ACNI expired on 31 March 2004 and due to a missed application deadline (for which CMC accepts responsibility), no funding from this source has been made available to the Centre for the current year.

Nevertheless the present debate between CMC and ACNI has arisen not because of this one-year hiatus, but because of the change in future funding policy so clearly articulated by ACNI. In the context of what both parties agree has been a fruitful 12-year relationship we believe detailed consultation with those concerned is now required. In order to facilitate this we are providing full services to all composers until 1 October. Naturally CMC's wide-ranging promotion and documentation services on behalf of ACNI carry a cost and it is simply not feasible to carry them beyond that without subvention. However we remain entirely open to any reasonable resolution that may be proposed.

Issued by the Board of Directors and Executive of the Contemporary Music Centre.