Mr. Feargal Cavanagh:

The Association of Irish Musical Societies, known as AIMS, was started in 1965 as the governing body for musical societies. It now has more than 120 musical society members based throughout the entire island of Ireland. Within these societies, over 14,000 members are involved in performing or bringing to the stage close to 200 different productions, giving in excess of 800 live show performances every year, from full-scale musical theatre productions to Christmas pantomimes and concerts. This is giving us a total audience of in excess of 500,000 people annually. While we are seen as an amateur arts organisation, our many member societies stage their shows to a very professional standard, and with an average cost of somewhere between €40,000 to €50,000, give us an overall spend in the region of €8 million a year.

Between all our member societies, we employ directors, musical directors, choreographers and many musicians for all our orchestras. In addition, we employ many technicians, lighting operators, sound technicians, set builders and painters, costume suppliers, props and hair and make-up crews. Also, many volunteers are involved in stage crews, front-of-house teams and catering staff. There could be approximately 100 people working on each production, with a substantial number of them doing so on a voluntary community basis.

Our AIMS societies perform in many theatres, town halls, community halls and schools nationwide. Our societies are a vibrant and vital part of our communities, and for many young people throughout the country this is the first introduction to musical theatre and West End shows. During the Covid-19 years, we have certainly appreciated how vital live theatre entertainment is to the country we live in. Local and community arts, such as musical theatre, give the opportunity to audiences to socialise, meet friends and family, get out of the house, have somewhere to go, switch off and be fully entertained. At the same time, it is a chance for all members to do the same thing, but also to learn develop their talents and be educated in singing, dancing, acting and well-being, all while making friends.

Most societies rehearse a production for an average of three months, which in many cases will carry them through the winter months. Being part of and working as a group, in developing a person’s acting, singing and choreography, is especially good for the body and the mind and is very positive regarding everyone's mental health. Our AIMS member societies perform mainly from September to mid-May. These activities galvanise a community, not just local communities but also neighbouring communities that support each other in these activities and create a complex web of social and cultural interaction and networking that is unique to Irish society.

Our individual society members range in age from infants to people in their eighties. We positively embrace and encourage all age groups, irrelevant of class, gender, orientation, religion or creed. We encourage all to join their local musical society and enhance their individual talent, whether that is onstage or whatever role within the musical society suits them best.

We have been invited here today to discuss local and community arts and what can be done to enhance and further develop them throughout the entire country. AIMS societies cover the entire country, from Buncrana in Donegal to Killarney in Kerry, and everywhere in between. Throughout the regional communities, we have built up a network of individuals with the both artistic talent and organisational skills to continue to develop the community musical theatre arts sector. However, a major issue for musical theatre continually is creating the funds to keep every society on the road. While every society will have its paying audiences, and while all our cast are amateur, this is never enough to cover all the costs which, as has been mentioned earlier, for many societies will be in the region of €40,000 to €50,000. Therefore, every society relies on fundraising. We realise that the Arts Council states that it is not in their remit to support local community arts. They state that this is the remit of the local individual councils to support and assist local community arts in their area, principally through their arts office. However, in practice, this varies considerably from council to council without any one scheme being available to all, as does the amount of support that may be available in any one year. No musical society can feel certain that funding will be forthcoming from year to year. This is a major issue for societies when they try to plan and budget their upcoming shows when, at the same time, they cannot be sure of what may be available in support schemes via the council. It is quite usual for one to apply for grant assistance for a scheme whose guidelines say it is for to €5,000, but you will actually get €1,000. We understand that it depends on how many apply and how much is available, but it still leaves musical societies with serious uncertainties to cope with.

All our local community musical societies-----