Dear [firstname]

Ta dah!

We are delighted to announce that our new website has just gone live today. We think it’s a huge improvement and we hope you agree.

Please have a wander around the site. We have reorganised the site in what we hope is an intuitive way. As a member, you now have your own ‘dash board’. Just log in using your existing username and password. Check out the profile we’ve created for you. Add in more details if you like, such as your Twitter handle or Youtube channel.

It’s now much easier for you to post your own notices and job ads. Log in and add images, video clips plus you can tweet or add them to Facebook directly. The site is dynamic, media rich and packed with useful information for the sector. We really hope you like it and would love your feedback.

Here is the latest news from us:


MAKE 2011

MAKE

We had tremendous interest in MAKE our residential artists development programme which we organise in partnership with Cork Midsummer Festival, Dublin Fringe Festival and Project Arts Centre. 82 people applied for ten Irish places and 39 for five international bursaries. The programme takes place 10-18 March 2012 with three renowned international mentors: Ruth Little, Florian Malzacher and Richard Gregory. MAKE is organised in partnership with Project Arts Centre, Dublin Fringe Festival and Cork Midsummer Festival.

Details of the successful candidates will be on our website very soon.

OPEN SPACE Members meeting

Theatre Forum holds at least one regional Open Space a year. We kick of in 2012 with a meeting in Waterford. For those of you unfamiliar with the format, Open Space is a very dynamic and democratic way of organising a lot of discussions simultaneously. All the arts community on Waterford city and county are invited as well as neighbouring counties. You can find out lots more about Open Space meetings here.

It will take place on Friday 17 February in the Large Room in City Hall at 10.00am. Raymond Keane from Barrabas Theatre Company will facilitate the day. All members of the arts community in Waterford and beyond are welcome. To RSVP click here.

Irish Times Theatre Awards

Warmest congratulations to all the Irish Times Theatre Award nominees many of whom are members of Theatre Forum. The award ceremony itself will be held in the Great Hall in the Irish Museum of Modern Art on Sunday February 26^th. We are delighted the Irish Times continues to support these awards so generously.

As you know the awards are decided by three judges (Jack Gilligan, Seona Mac Réamoinn & Christine Monk). Just for the craic we have created an audience vote to see what you, the theatre community, feel about their choices. Have your say on our online poll. Votes are anonymous and we will announce our results on Friday February 24th.

Contact details for this year’s judges are below. PLEASE add them to your invitation list. Remember they need as much notice as possible of opening nights as they are travelling around the country trying to see every new production.

• Sinead MacAodh (Ireland Literature Exchange) sinead@irelandliterature.com

• Damien Downes (NCAD, formerly Kilkenny Arts Festival) downesd@ncad.ie

• John Fairleigh (Stewart Parker Trust) johnfairleigh@eircom.net

Comings and Goings

Sarah Glennie, Director of the Irish Film Institute, is the new Director of the Irish Museum of Modern Arts.

Niamh Byrne, formerly General Manager with the Gaiety School of Acting, is the new General Manager of the Civic Theatre.

Maria Fleming, formerly General Manager with Barabbas Theatre Company, is the new Theatre Programmer with the Ark, A Cultural Centre for Children.

Sarah Durcan, formerly Acting General Manager with Dublin Theatre Festival is now Acting General Manager with Dublin Fringe Festival.


Illustration Patrick Sanders

Pay in the sector

Thanks to the venues, festivals and production companies who sent back details of their pay scales before Xmas. We have now analysed the data.

There are some very interesting findings, including how many organisations had to make staff redundant or imposed salary cuts. Some salaries have risen since the last research in 2009, but worryingly in a low pay industry, wages have fallen in many areas.

The full results are in the members only section here.

You will also see that we have now divided all our factsheets into 4 broad categories which are: 1) Funding Analysis; 2) Arts Marketing & Audience Benchmarking; 3) Payscales & Employer Info and 4) Venues - VAT, rentals, legislation. We hope this will make it easier for you to find factsheets on the site.

Finally, by now you will have received your membership invoice for 2012 and huge thanks to all those of you who have already renewed. Theatre Forum relies and survives on its membership subs so we really appreciate your support.

As ever we would love to hear from you so please feel free to get in touch with us on email or on (01) 874 6582, talk to us on Twitter or Facebook or why not drop in to our office and say hello (our boardroom is available for meetings by prior arrangement, we have free Wifi and nice coffee!)

Best wishes,

Tania, Irma & Eoin

Theatre Forum
15 Bachelor's Walk
Dublin 1