Professor Frances Ruane:

We welcome this opportunity to discuss with the committee the current model of production and presenting and co-presenting in the Abbey Theatre. This is an evolving model whose content and roll-out are also evolving. What triggered this meeting, as we have just heard, was the letter written by the 312 signatories in January. We immediately put in train arrangements to try to meet with the signatories' representatives. We believe a dialogue is required. That planned dialogue has, I think, been very much welcomed by everyone as the appropriate way forward. We are sitting down with many technical details of the matter in hand. For this reason we will concentrate our engagement with the committee today on the specific areas it has identified because we do not wish to pre-empt or create preconditions for what we hope will be a constructive and direct conversation on Friday and beyond. That is our current position.

I wish to brief members on the Abbey's history, our current governance and our strategy. Mr. Neil Murray will then talk about the more specific details of our approach to production. In 1904 W. B. Yeats and Lady Gregory established the Abbey Theatre, and their stated manifesto was "to bring upon the stage the deeper emotions of Ireland". I think many members who have seen theatre in the Abbey in recent years will have seen some very deep emotions of Ireland brought forward to the audiences. In 1925 the Abbey became the first State-subsidised theatre in the English-speaking world, which is something we are all very proud of. This State support has fostered great playwriting and theatre-making, with the production of many memorable plays over 90 years. I think I was at the Abbey for the first time in 1965. I have every programme from the Abbey Theatre back to 1968, when I started as a college student.

In 2008 a new governance was put in place following discussions up to that period, establishing the Abbey as a company limited by guarantee. The recurrent funding comes from the Arts Council, which acts at arm's length from the Department. It was very much part of the decision at the time that there should be that space. Given the scale of the funding, and the Abbey's role as a national cultural institution, the theatre operates in full compliance with all the legislation overseeing those in receipt of significant financial aid from Government. We see this as extremely important. That is our second hat, which is as a national cultural institution, and the scale of funding requires that we be compliant. The memorandum of association establishes the key elements of our responsibilities, which include promoting the performance of dramatic arts to the highest standards, producing and co-producing plays, commissioning plays and promoting appreciation of drama.

In 2014 an independent review of the Abbey Theatre was commissioned by the Arts Council and conducted by international experts Bonnar Keenlyside. It recommended a reprioritisation of the Abbey's activities to address a lack of touring and of community and education work, the under-involvement of visiting companies and the underutilisation of the Peacock Theatre as a space for artistic experimentation. In the period since, the Abbey has implemented the review's recommendations. In 2015 the board appointed Mr. Neil Murray and Mr. Graham McLaren as its co-directors with effect from July 2016, and with ownership of the programme from January 2017. They were given a clear mandate to increase the activity levels of the Abbey while maintaining financial sustainability. Slides 5 and 6 in the pack refer to these figures.

In November 2015 the publication of the Waking The Feminists report, showing the lack of gender balance in the 2016 programme, led the directors to prioritise the improvement of gender balance as soon as possible as a key objective. Following my appointment in May 2017, we began the process of undertaking a strategic review, culminating in our five-year strategy, which has been circulated to the committee. It was very much informed by the Bonnar Keenlyside report and feedback from the Arts Council as well as developments in theatre internationally. If one visits the website of the National Theatre in London, one will find its discussion of what a new works department is. This is a new way of creating theatre that the national theatre and others are following. It also reflects the Government's strong ambition for and commitment to the creative arts, which has been a fantastic development in recent years; a desire to build a young, diverse audience, which is crucial and which the Abbey did not have as it tended to have an older audience, which has now changed dramatically; and the requirement to be financially sustainable.

I wish to refer to that for a moment, because it was mentioned in passing. At the end of 2016, there was indeed no accumulated deficit. This was wrongly put out in the statement from the Abbey. It was corrected as soon as it was brought to the Abbey's attention. Accumulated losses were expressed as an accumulated deficit, which, as an economist, I know is an entirely different thing. We absolutely regret and apologise for the distress caused by this. What it did mean was that when the Abbey came in, our reserves were under €500,000, which for a theatre with a budget of approximately €10 million is a very low level of reserves, and accountants could not recommend this as a sustainable way to continue. It is absolutely the case that there was no deficit but it is the case that the level of reserves was not and remains not at a level to support what we need to do.

Our new strategy, which is highlighted on slides 2 and 3 in the pack, compels us to move forward in a spirit of collaboration. This is what we have sought to do and that is why the interaction with small and large companies throughout the country was seen as a positive thing. It was felt that it would be beneficial to have more involvement with smaller and larger companies throughout the country, and this will develop in different ways. At heart is our robust commitment to the arts, the art form and audiences throughout the country and internationally when the Abbey tours as an important part of Government policy. The strategy is driven by our core values, which are excellence, inclusivity, diversity and equality. As I mentioned earlier, gender equality continues to be prioritised.

From my perspective as chair of the board, I have observed some very important achievements over the past two years. These include the exceptional progress in increasing gender balance, which members will see is recorded in the statistics on slide 8; the greater activity levels in the Peacock Theatre, which everyone openly welcomes and is delighted to see; the presentation of new and overlooked voices, different kinds of companies getting their opportunity on the Abbey stage, which then allows them to travel internationally with the reputation of having been in their national theatre; increased numbers, which we detail on slide 9; and the changing profile of the audiences. I think everyone who has been to the Abbey will have noticed just how different the audience mix has become and how much more socially and demographically wide-ranging it is than it has been in the past. It has brought to the stage some very challenging social issues, and we can talk to a whole range of these that have come up in the past year which are extremely relevant. Again, it is important to maintain annual expenditure in line with annual income.

In celebrating these achievements, which have definitely been what the board set out to achieve, there have been significant changes. In any organisation significant changes have some unintended consequences, and I am delighted to see that there is recognition that these are unintended consequences. In the past four months, these unintended consequences have been under very active discussion between the Abbey Theatre and the Arts Council. They have been on the agenda and have been widely discussed to see how we might deal with them. As the recent Theatre Forum research illustrates, the working lives of artists are precarious and making a decent living as a freelancer is very hard. To make theatre, an openness to criticism as well as creativity is required. The Abbey regrets that large numbers within our artistic community feel that our journey towards a more collaborative national theatre has contributed to their personal hardship. We commit to engaging with them and to do what we can as the national theatre to address their concerns and show leadership in strengthening and enriching Ireland's theatre sector. I hope we can use the opportunity of Friday's meeting to commence a constructive dialogue towards this end.