‘Ecologies of Cultural Production’ report published

We welcome the publication of the report Ecologies of Cultural Production by the team at Trinity College, Dublin.

The 15 month research project was led by Professor Ruth Barton and Research Fellow Dr Denis Murphy of the Department of Film, School of Creative Arts, Trinity College. In August 2019, Caitriona was invited to give a keynote at their industry event in Dublin and that talk informed some of the recommendations of the report.

The Ecologies of Cultural Production was based on in-depth interviews with a large group of prominent actors and directors in Irish film, TV drama and theatre. These findings underline the importance of public cultural funding for building and maintaining a successful career. The need for targeted programmes to tackle an imbalance in gender, class and ethnic diversity is also highlighted.

The purpose of the project was to inform public policy on funding for culture and to establish a methodology that might be applied to all sectors of cultural production.

Major findings include:

• Two thirds of prominent creative workers have received public subsidy in the form of direct grants or other financial supports.
• This public subsidy is acknowledged as crucial for career development.
• The major subsidies benefit men more than women.
• Artists in the research are highly centralised in Dublin and London.
• There is a very high degree of movement between the film, TV drama and theatre sectors;
• There is a high degree of dependence, at different career stages, on supplementary work, most of which is carried out in advertising and education and training fields.
• Networks, often formed at early career stages, are highly important for career development, finding work, generating ideas, and moral support.

On the back of this report its authors recommend measures should be put in place to encourage the development of stronger female representation in senior and strategic roles.

The report also emphasised that if creative skills are to be developed in future generations there is a strong need to embed creativity in the school curriculum, and fund career development training targeted at increasing diversity and mobility across all sectors.

The report can be found here. Details of the project and video recordings from the seminar are available here.