Public Forum on Copyright Review on Monday in Dublin

SIPTU is encouraging music and theatre practitioners to attend a Public Forum on proposed reforms to copyright law taking place in the Royal Irish Academy, Dawson Street, Dublin on Monday, 9th December, at 5.00 p.m.

SIPTU Organiser, Des Courtney, said: “We support the campaign of the Association of Artists Representative Organisations (ARRO) against the proposed report of the Copyright Review Committee.

“We are asking all practitioners who are available to register and attend the public forum in the Royal Irish Academy on 9th December at which they can voice their concerns with the proposed changes to copyright law.”

He added: “For artists and creators, copyright is not primarily about property or possession. It is about freedom, independence, integrity and democracy. In order to exercise these rights society and the State must acknowledge and protect our ability to live by our own creative efforts.

“Copyright law was a crucial enabler of that process. To undermine copyright in the manner proposed by the recently published Report of the Copyright Review Committee is to push creative activity back into the arms of powerful patronage and return artists to the position of dependence from which copyright helped to free them.”

To register for the Public Forum on reforms to copyright law please email copyright@djei.ie

Copyright is about freedom

For artists and creators, copyright is not primarily about property or possession. It is about freedom, independence, integrity and democracy.

Copyright is about freedom. We must be free to make our own work. In order to have that freedom, society and the State must acknowledge and protect our right to live by our own creative efforts. They must acknowledge and protect our right to be free from exploitation by those who would appropriate those efforts for their own advantage. Those who do not control their own imaginative creations cannot be imaginatively free. [Read more…]

Arts & Culture sector representatives meet with Minister Deenihan

equitybannerRepresentatives from the Arts & Culture Sector met with Minister Jimmy Deenihan on November 7th 2013 to discuss difficulties faced by those seeking to make a living within this sector.
[Read more…]

Brían Ó’Suilleabháin

Brían Ó’Suilleabháin is a graduate of the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama and has a First Class Honours BA in Drama Performance. He has trained at both the Gaiety School of Acting and Bow Street Academy.  As an actor he has toured theatres across Ireland, Belgium, France, and Luxembourg, performing in productions of Shakespeare, children’s theatre and contemporary Irish drama. He is a native Irish speaker, avid cyclist and an accomplished trombone player. As a new member of Equity, he hopes to serve as a strong voice for the concerns of young actors and performers.

John O’Brien

John O’Brien has 60 shows to his credit as director and has been an Equity member for many years. Following the economic crash in 2008 he took a Masters Degree in Business and Management and completed a dissertation on the economy of the Irish Culture sector. Part of the research involved a survey of actor income from film and TV (including royalty payments) over a ten-year period.

[Read more…]

Colm O’Brien

Colm is a Dublin based actor, he trained at Drama Centre London and Bow Street, Dublin.

Colm believes in, and endeavours to develop, an industry that is fair, open and vibrant. Where artists and arts workers are properly remunerated, respected and treated. Colm firmly believes in increased funding for the arts.

Colm’s credits include: The Rivals (Smock Alley Theatre), The Crown and the Red Cross (Dublin Castle), Deeds of Deceit (Speckintime), The Poor Little Boy With No Arms (One Duck), King Lear (Second Age), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Mouth on Fire), Vikings Season 3, The Last Right (Feature Film).

He is a member of Theatre Forum.

Irish Equity AGM

Read the Minutes from the Irish Equity AGM which was held in Liberty Hall on Sunday 13th October 2013 READ MORE

For the attention of all members

Dear Member, Our colleagues in the Irish Collecting Society Recorded Artists Actors Performers Ltd (RAAP) have advised us that the Spanish Collecting Society AIGSE have collected, on behalf of Irish Artists, the sum of €80,000. READ MORE

Irish Equity condemns Budget 2014 for further erosion of arts funding

Job losses and a reduction in Ireland’s tourism potential are the inevitable outcome of plans in Budget 2014 to implement a sixth successive year of funding cuts in the arts sector, according to SIPTU Arts and Culture Sector Organiser, Karan O’Loughlin.

Overall, the arts sector is due to see its funding reduced from €250 million in 2013 to €233 million in 2014, an overall cut of 7%, under plans announced by the Government in Budget 2014 on Tuesday (15th October).

Karan O’Loughlin, said: “The cuts will greatly affect actors, musicians and theatre workers as the already limited pool of work dries up even further. [Read more…]

Irish Equity to complain to RTÉ concerning use of non-professional actors

Irish Equity intends to lodge a formal complaint with RTÉ concerning television productions use of non-professional actors.

SIPTU Arts and Culture Sector Organiser, Karan O’Loughlin, said: “Irish Equity has expressed exasperation at the continuing debate concerning the employment of non-professional actors on professional productions in the Republic of Ireland.

“With only a limited amount of work for actors, Irish Equity believes there is no reason for any producer to hire amateur actors when the professional standard in is so high. It appears that the profession of acting is just not taken seriously. [Read more…]