AOSDÁNA ELECT LUNNY
Donal Lunny has been elected to Aosdána, the Irish state-sponsored academy of artists. The influential musician, arranger and producer is the first professional traditional musician to be elected to this body.
A welcome initiative, it is not only an honour well deserved by Lunny, but also, through setting a precedent, inevitably widens the perimeters for election to Aosdána. It was not, however, as a practising traditional musician that Lunny was elected but as a ‘traditional music composer’, which of course he is, but the great majority of his work, and the basis for his international reputation, is as a superb traditional musician and arranger. It is a reminder that the thrust of the 2004 Arts Council document on the traditional arts still holds: in order to receive Aosdána recognition, traditional musicians have to be ‘something else’ – they cannot be what they are. Nonetheless, it is a positive sign of change.
The election of Donal Lunny brings the number of music members to 21, or almost 10 per cent of a total membership of 220, the other 199 members coming from the fields of literature and the visual arts.

ARTS COUNCIL FUNDING
The Arts Council revenue funding decisions were announced in January, with 30 music organisations receiving a total of €4,407,575. A total of €1,172500 was awarded to 10 traditional-arts organisations, while €294,470 was also awarded to 14 general music organisations for specific traditional-arts activity. Four opera companies received a total of €2,170,500. The Arts Council also recently announced that they spent an additional €800,000 on the traditional arts in 2005. In addition, €344,747 has been awarded so far under the Deis traditional-arts scheme, which has been running since September 2005. Deis is an ongoing scheme and is open to all those seeking funding for traditional-arts activity.
Visit www.artscouncil.ie for more information or phone 01-6180200 for an information pack.

REICH WEEKEND
Too late in the month to include a comprehensive review in this issue, but the recent RTÉ Living Music Festival focusing on the music of Steve Reich (with the composer present for the entire weekend) was an extraordinary success, attracting huge audiences. Congratulations to all involved in creating a milestone in Irish musical life. A review of the festival by Jürgen Simpson will appear in our May-June issue.

NOVA HIGHLIGHTS
Nova, RTÉ lyric fm’s new music programme, which is broadcast every Sunday from 8 to 10pm, is also available to download at www.rte.ie/lyricfm/nova/ on Mondays. Presented by Bernard Clarke, Nova is a blend of contemporary classical, electronic, experimental and more, featuring composer interviews and profiles, plenty of Irish works, as well as concerts from home and abroad. This March and April, highlights include: recordings from the RTÉ Living Music Festival as well as the Horizons series; a programme devoted to contemporary Irish music on 19th March; a preview of the upcoming Sligo New Music Festival; and the premier of four new Irish works specially commissioned by lyric for the 2006 AXA piano competition.

JAZZ MUSICIANS PROFILE
The Improvised Music Company has published on its website an important new survey of jazz musicians in Ireland. Carried out in 2005, the main objective of the research was to understand more fully the working lives of practitioners of jazz, especially those who pursue it as their main profession. To download the document visit www.improvisedmusic.ie

INISHOWEN SEMINAR
The annual Inishowen Folk Song and Ballad Seminar will take place on March 24–27 in the villages of Ballyliffin and Clonmany, Co. Donegal, an area still vibrant with traditional song. Invited guests include John Kennedy (Cullybackey, Co. Antrim), Mick Quinn (Mullaghbawn, Co. Armagh), Bruce Scott (Liverpool, England), Sean Mone (Keady, Co. Armagh) and Johnny Collins (Dublin). The programme includes scholarly talks and both organised and informal singing sessions. For more information visit www.tradsongs.com/inishowenseminar.htm

JOE HEANEY FESTIVAL
Féile Chomórtha Joe Éinniú (Joe Heaney Festival of Traditional Singing) takes place in Carna, Conamara, Co. Galway, on April 28-30. Events include singing and music sessions, sean-nós dancing, a sean-nós singing workshop, a children’s competition, a traditional-music concert, and céilí & set dancing.

Among the visiting performers are Séamus Tansey, Seán McKiernan, John Carty and Ciarán Somers. For more information, phone Micheál Ó Cuaig at (095) 33599 or e-mail michealocuaig [at] hotmail.com

FOR PARENTS
Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin (piano) and Mel Mercier (percussion) will be performing at the Ark Cultural Centre for Children in Temple Bar, Dublin 2, on Saturday 18th March at 1pm and 3pm. Tickets €8.50 each.

IAMS CONFERENCE
On 6-7 May, the Irish Association of Music Schools will hold a two-day conference entitled ‘Music Matters’ at Bloomfield House Hotel, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath. Comprising a range of workshops, the conference will also incorporate the AGM of the IAMS. For more information and a booking form contact Nuala Kelly (tel: 0503-74345 or email nkelly [at] laoiscoco.ie).

IPNM
The third concert of Ireland Promoting New Music, set up in 2005 by composer Siobhán Cleary, takes place at the National Gallery, Dublin 2, on Sunday April 23rd at 3pm. Pianist Hugh Tinney will perform works by Pawel Szymanski, Tom Johnson, John Cage, Gerald Barry, Fergus Johnston, Iannis Xenakis, Giacanto Scelsi and Gyorgy Ligeti.