Tag Archives: writing

This is the Arts Council’s ‘RTÉ Moment’ and Serious Change Must Follow

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The Arts Council has written off €5.3m on ‘substandard work’ and an IT system that was ‘not fit for purpose’ while artists try to make ends meet. This has to be the beginning of real change, writes Toner Quinn. [Article irst published in the Journal of Music on 13 February 2025]

There were many surprising and infuriating aspects to the Arts Council’s announcement yesterday, in which it sketched out how it spent €6.675m and then wrote off €5.3m on a new grants management system that never worked, but few satisfactory explanations.

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How Ireland Thinks About Music – Lecture at the 2024 William Kennedy Piping Festival

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Saturday, 16 November 2024
Armagh Robinson Library

Good afternoon everyone. 

It’s a real pleasure to be here in Armagh to give the 2024 William Kennedy Lecture, and thank you to Brian, Ciarán and Caoimhín of the festival for the invitation. I have never been to Armagh before though I have been aware of this incredible festival for many years and the extraordinary work of the Armagh Pipers’ Club.

Ciarán Ó Maoláin kindly sent me the book collection of William Kennedy Lectures edited by Brian Vallely, which is a fascinating read, and I can see that my lecture will be one of the few that doesn’t focus on piping, although I think a lot of the ideas that I’ll discuss will resonate with the piping community as much as any part of traditional music.

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Publishing Desmond Fennell

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A lecture given at the first Desmond Fennell Summer Seminar on 14 June 2024 at Sandymount Hotel, Dublin 4, organised by Gerard O’Neill, Finbarr Bradley and James Bradshaw.

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Good morning everybody.

I’m delighted to contribute to this seminar on Desmond Fennell. Thank you Finbarr, James and Gerard for organising this event and for inviting me to speak.

Today I would like to explore the publishing dimension of Desmond Fennell’s work, including his ideas on book and magazine publishing, and I’d like to talk about my own publishing relationship with Desmond and discuss the current publishing scene.

I have been enjoying re-reading Fennell’s work over the past few weeks in preparation for this talk, and I want to thank Desmond’s son Oisín for providing me with books and essays that I didn’t previously have, and also for giving me access to some fascinating correspondences with publishers, which provide further light on Desmond’s publishing world.

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