Colm Tóibín: 'It takes wisdom and skill not to be brilliant and then go broke'

If Irish bankers, politicians and civil servants are looking for lessons in how to govern and inspire, in how to build continuity and trust, then they should look carefully at the astonishing levels of skill, good governance, flair, continuity and sheer inspiration that arts festivals and institutions in Ireland have offered to the nation.

Anyone studying how the Wexford Festival Opera, or the Kilkenny Arts Festival, or the Galway Arts Festival, or Listowel Writers Week, or the Dublin Theatre Festival or the Graphic Studio Dublin, or Poetry Ireland, to take just some examples, have survived and thrived, how they have offered continuity and inspiration, how they have managed public money and public trust, would realise that it would help enormously if senior figures from these organisations were placed on the boards of our banks, and were asked also to advise on how to rebuild trust between government and society in Ireland.

These institutions have offered inspiration because many people work for them as volunteers; they put in long hours as a way of serving, as a way of creating something valuable and wonderful as an end in itself. Others serve on the boards of these organisations, offer expertise, advice and serious commitment for no money at all, merely as a way of making a vision come real. As anyone who has been involved with these arts organisations can attest, those who work for them full-time could easily, with the special skills they possess, have made a fortune for themselves had they not been more interested in creating social capital and serious magic within their communities.

Continuity has been a hallmark for these organisations. Their success is not merely a flash in the pan arising from luck or sudden bursts of energy. It has taken thought, much planning, business flair and then a sharp sense of judgment to keep the standards as high and as consistent as they have been over the decades at, say, Wexford, Listowel, Dublin, Galway and Kilkenny.

It is easy to be brilliant at programming a festival; it takes wisdom and skill not to be brilliant and then go broke. These organisations work on shoe-strings; they produce business plans; they watch every penny. They operate at the highest level to deliver both a balanced budget in financial matters and a sensational level of excitement when it comes to the night.

This did not happen by accident. It arose because of government policy. This was to fund the arts in Ireland via the Arts Council rather than directly from any government department. It has meant that a change of government does not mean a change in which some arts organisations are favoured and others dismissed; it does not involve a cosy or client-subservient relationship between politicians and artists. It means that the arts remain above and beyond politics; the arts are independent and free to offer inspiration and challenge, to give pleasure, to make something beautiful on its own terms. It has meant that the Arts Council, in as much as it is possible for any institution, can develop coherent, responsible policies and implement them with independence and clear judgment and transparency.

At the end of all this comes magic, comes the soaring voice at the Wexford Festival; the wonderful and affordable prints made at the Graphic Studio; the inspired choices at the Dublin Theatre Festival; the hushed glory of St Canice's in Kilkenny during a performance there; the way poetry is celebrated and treasured; the mad and brilliant parade through Galway during the festival, or the visiting shows; the workshops and readings at Listowel which can change your life.

This controlled energy is something which is still working wonders in Ireland. Again this year, it will display itself for all it's worth. It takes work, it takes time, and it takes commitment. And it takes money. Those in power have a lot to learn from it. As a society, it is important that we continue to treasure it and provide for it.

Colm Tóibín is a multi-award winning novelist and critic