Comedian Ailish McCarthy has launched a petition to have stand-up, improv, and sketch comedy supported by the Arts Council. We caught up with the comic to find out more.
Ailish McCarthy has spent the past number of years rising through the ranks of Ireland's comedy scene, thanks to her stand-up performances around the circuit as well as viral-worthy videos on TikTok.
Recently, while continuing her pursuit of a career in an industry that often calls for both time and money to develop material and apply to festivals, McCarthy began to sift through her options for financial support in Ireland.
"There was a narrative that the arts don't support comedy in this country," Ailish told RTÉ Lifestyle.
"Specifically, speaking about stand-up, improv, and sketch. I wanted to see if it was true or false so I started doing a bit of research; I reached out to the Arts Council, the Department of Arts, Culture & Tourism, I reached out to Irish Theatre Institute, Theatre Forum, the Nighttime Economy Forum, Creative Minds - loads of these institutions within the arts."
Cutting to the heart of the issue, Ailish wanted to find out if these institutions recognised comedy as an art form and if they would support comics in the same way they support other performers.
"I got a really good response from a lot of these institutions," she said, noting that the Irish Theatre Institute has workshops for performers on how to apply for support schemes, while the Nighttime Economy Forum categorises comedy as its own individual art form.
One obstacle that McCarthy did come across in her research was with the Arts Council (an Chomhairle Ealaíon) - the national agency for funding, developing, and promoting the arts in Ireland.
The Arts Council offers a wide range of financial support for those working in the arts, with the aim of supporting artists "whose work seeks to engage in a meaningful way with audiences across Ireland and beyond by supporting the creation, development, production, and dissemination of theatre".
Although the council supports comedians who wish to put on a comedic play, they do not currently fund stand-up, sketch, or improv, despite the fact that the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport, and Media agree that the Arts Act 2003 "could be interpreted" to include these categories under the genre of theatre.
Since corresponding with the Arts Council, Ailish has been told that although they do not currently consider stand-up, improv, or sketch to qualify under the genre of theatre, the council does have a new multi-disciplinary department that is reviewing policies.
"I would like to work with the Arts Council to cater to comedians in stand-up, sketch, and improv because I don't think it's covered and I think that's quite unfair. We do equal work," said Ailish, who fears that talented comics will continue to leave Ireland to pursue support and opportunity in the UK and further abroad.
"The Arts Council has grants and bursaries for actors, theatre, performers, and playwrights, but not stand-up comedy and improv. I just think that is inequitable."
Hoping to work with the Arts Council to review their policies, McCarthy has launched a petition that has caught the attention of comedians, audiences, and institutions hoping to acknowledge live comedy as an art form in Ireland. It has even led Minding Creative Minds to set up comedy as an art form and deliver mentorships to comedians.
"I started the petition just to demonstrate that there is an appetite for this," explained Ailish," and to show that there are people who want this, especially arts organisations and institutes who are also signing it - it's not just comedians who want this."
When contacted for comment, the Arts Council said: "We will consider this as we develop a multi-disciplinary arts policy and we hope to progress this further over the course of the coming year."
