Is it worth the risk?
Is it worth the sacrifice?
Is it worth the money?
How much more worth it can it get?  

Parallel Sessions
Time: 14:15 – 15:30
Location: O’Rahilly Building 

 Delegates are asked to choose one of the following four simultaneous sessions. Each session is convened by practitioners with a particular interest in the topic. Each group will be asked to make a brief record of what issues were raised by the topic, and a summary of what follow-on work, if any, Theatre Forum could usefully undertake to explore or improve practice in the area. 

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 Session I:
 Is it worth the risk?
Convenors: Colin Dunne & Ronan Smith 

There’s no avoiding the risk of failure when making art. Are there situations when it needs to be contained? How is it assessed? Is it a necessary part of the creative crisis out of which good work emerges? And how do you best set
about recovering from failure when it comes? 

 Convenors:
Colin Dunne is a dancer and performed internationally as the lead in Riverdance. Since that time, he has pursued a highly individual career path that risks an innovative combination of contemporary dance and traditional dance. 

 Ronan Smith is a former actor and Artistic Director of TEAM Educational Theatre company, currently Executive Producer with the commercial companies Abhann and River Productions. 

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 Session II:
 Is it worth the sacrifice?
Convenors: Stephen Brennan & Paul Johnson 

Often called ‘the hidden subsidy’, theatre and dance practitioners frequently accept consistently low pay, extreme job insecurity and having to work outside their chosen profession for sustained periods. Is this how it has to be? Are there other less obvious costs to this current reality? And what, if anything, is to be done to change it? 

 Convenors:
Stephen Brennan is one of Irish theatre’s most established and renowned actors. He was previously a full-time company member of the Abbey Theatre’s now disbanded repertory company, and is a member of an extended family with many theatre practitioners in various fields of work. 

 Paul Johnson is Chief Executive of Dance Ireland and has long experience in the dance sector in Ireland, including a period working as an officer in the Arts Council.
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 Session III:
 Is it worth the money?
Convenors: Una Carmody & Willie White 

 Most theatre events charge for admission. This puts a market value on the experience, and is often a critical part of the financial planning that makes the theatre event possible in the first place. Where should this price be pitched? At a low level to encourage access? At a high level to encourage a sense of worth and to generate resources? And how does this factor influence issues of subsidy and other supports? 

 Convenors:
Willie White, as Artistic Director of Project Arts Centre, works with many different theatre production companies on pricing policy, and has to balance and re-balance many different perspectives on this issue. 

 Una Carmody is presently Chief Executive Officer of The Helix. She has worked in the past with the Royal Shakespeare Company and The Abbey in
the subsidised sector, as well as with a variety of independent companies in the commercial sector. 

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 Session IV:
 How much more worth it can it get?
Convenors: John Browne & Ray Yeates 

 Certain areas of theatre activity deliberately place themselves in a context that declares a very specific purpose, and clearly claims a potential value as an agent for change. Is this kind of theatre automatically of greater value than other theatre work? Are the claims of being an agent for change justified? Does the clearer purpose lessen the art? 

 Convenors:
John Browne is an Irish composer working mainly in opera and music-theatre. Since 2006, he has been visiting Rwanda to create a music-theatre piece with survivors of the genocide. 

 Ray Yeates is a former Deputy Artistic Director of the Abbey and has worked extensively as a director in Ireland, England and America. He is currently Director of the axis arts and community resource centre in Ballymun.