Theatre For Sligo Plan Explained to Corporation

“At no time in the forseeable future will this country be able to afford to give every town in the land its own theatre or its own arts centre, but the country can and must do the next best thing. Ireland like all her European partners, must have her own thriving, vibrant and indigenous regional arts centres. Sligo is the capital of this region, Sligo has the tradition and the indigenous material, Sligo is demonstrating the demand but above all, Sligo and the region has the need. Now id the time before the possible becomes the unthinkable and the opportunity no longer favourable”, commented Mr. Liam Mc Kinney, when he led a deputation on behalf of “A Theatre For Sligo Founding Fund” at a meeting of Sligo Corporation on Monday night.

The deputation explained their Theatre for Sligo project fully to members of the Corporation who agreed to further discuss the matter at a later date. At the outset, Mr. Mc Kinney said Sligo was the natural capital of the North West region. In recent times it had become an accepted norm in industrial development that certain areas by their geographical location existing industries, community needs and demands had become industrial growth centres and these growth points had, in the main, been the regional centres of areas of certain indigenous qualities. He added, “So it is that we who have involved ourselves in this project over the past few years feel and indeed find support for our feelings in the publications of such powerful bodies as the United Nations, the EEC Commission for Social Affairs, the Arts Council in Britain and the Arts Council in Ireland – that what is true of industry in this respect is also true of the arts”.

“Sligo has all the prerequisites of an artistic growth in tradition, regional location, demand and need. In the areas of public service and education, Sligo is the accepted regional capital. We think it should be the capital in the field f the arts as well”. Sligo had already been designate a growth centre and it was projected that in the not too distant future the population would have doubled. The drive to attract substantial and sophisticated industry to Sligo had been imaginative and vigorous, but if the city was to keep its place in the national spread of things and to share fully in the material benefits of the future, this imaginative and vigorous approach had not only to be maintained but had to be enlarged upon, he added.

“The project we have embarked upon is of great importance to this city and we know that now is the time to ensure by our commitment to this project hat the correct balance between cultural and commercial development is ensured and enshrined in our articles of faith for Sligo. Nobody wants a one-sided city that is dull but rather one that is alive to all the aspirations of all its people – proud of its past, concerned with its present and committed with pride to its future. The building of a home to house Sligo’s living theatre is a project worthy of the aspirations of our people and one that will be a source of pride to all”, Mr. Mc Kinney went on. Speaking of the benefits of the project to tourism, Mr. Mc Kinney said that because of its connection with the Yeats family, Sligo had, for many people throughout the world, become a place of pilgrimage and these people in turn became great ambassadors for Sligo.

In the past six years, he revealed 15,000 people had seen productions by Sligo Drama Circle and it was estimated that the figure would be touching 20,000 by the end of this year. “How much more attractive and memorable for these people would their visits to us be if we could provide them with the opportunity to see in comfort, in a well appointed theatre of modern design and stage facilities, a play by Yeats or of the classic Irish theatre. Just as Siamsóiri na Riochta have in recent times become such an important force in Kerry and the south west, so Sligo Drama Circle and the living theatre in Sligo are becoming an equally important facet in Sligo and the North West”, he continued. But it was to future generations the greatest benefits would accrue, he said. Educationalists the world over agreed that drama in its many and varied applications was of the utmost importance in child development.

For a number of years, Sligo Drama Circle members had been working closely with local schools in this field but without real theatre such work could only develop so far, for while it was of the highest importance, because of lack of fuller facilities it had to end with the school. “This is a great pity and in many ways I often think that what we are doing is akin to the bad old days when we were educating people for dead-end role in life with no follow up. In the theatre, we are proposing there must and always will be a place for this very important work and those of us who have initiated this project have pledged ourselves to this end. We are conscious that what we build now must be for all to enjoy and those who will run it, either now or in the future, must never be narrow or inward looking. They must always know that it was built for Sligo. Sligo Drama Circle is of its nature, reflective of the Sligo community – open to all who wish to work voluntarily in this form of artistic expression and that they may continue to be so, great pains have been taken in recent months to enshrine these principles in our articles of association – so that at no time can he theatre ever become the preserve of the privileged few or the frustration of the many”, he went on.

Sligo Theatre, he added, was a living fact, but what was also a fact was that it was one of Sligo’s bigger growing families without a home. “It is towards the ending of that state of affairs we have been addressing ourselves over the past few years and now for the first time in our history we address an appeal such as this for help. We make our appeal first to those whom we know have the true interests of Sligo and her people at heart and who by their leadership can ensure the success of this venture. Your leadership and example, like that displayed by Dublin City Council for a similar project, and the generous example set by His Lordship, the Bishop, in giving us a site, is the further act of faith which is needed to make this project a fact for all time. Our promise is that we will not fail that leadership and to ensure the steadfastness of our promise, we have gone to some considerable pains and expertise to set up the machinery and organisation where leadership such as yours can be most effective”, Mr. Mc Kinney said.

While the theatre should be a fitting and and eloquent symbol of the the aspirations of the people of Sligo, it had also to be of a simple and fundamental character because of economic necessity. In that respect, they were deeply conscious that everyone’s feet had to remain firmly planted on the ground at all times. In order to ensure that such was the case and to ensure that their energies were channelled along the most effective and objective course, Sligo Drama Circle had engaged the Wells Management Consultancy of London to advise them. A permanent theatre office had been established and a full time project director injected into the operation. Up to now, most of the time had been taken up in examining and setting up correctly constituted organisational structures. These structures were of great importance to the whole course of events, he concluded.

from The Sligo Champion, July 4th, 1975