Is this still going on?

[philbo]

i mean....i moved back home for one month....but i dont think i missed that much in one month...

bar the opening ceremony, there hasnt really been too much of note going on....theres not enough awareness of events that are taking place, etc...

i mean, in the space of two weeks, the Galway Arts Festival managed to put on a better show than the few months cork has had so far, with better organisation, etc....

and the only thing they're digging up is eyre square! :lol:

 

[STEVIEG]

It could be like a counter event to the hurling final
See what takes longer
Diggin Eyre Square v Diggin Pana
Both marathon events



Check jungles thread though there's been stuff on alright ya just have to dig for it (if ya pardon the pun)

 

[philbo]

that the problem though, isnt it?

ya have to go looking for whats on, if ya want to go to anything...

i know i keep referencing the galway arts festival, but it is the best arts festival in ireland, and the only thing we can really compare this too...

but they had booklets, full of every event, gig, performance, etc...that were available for free, all over the city. they had full page ads in the galway advertiser (the free paper, delivered to everyones doorstep), and generally, just had a whole atmosphere of a carnival or a festival for the entire time...there was always a minimum of 5 buskers on shop street, and they'd be different everyday....

all i have seen in cork has been one old man who plays harmonica, a couple of electric guitars/drumkits and the 3 acrobat lads...

i took a look in the cork 2005 shop on patrick street, and it didnt really tell me anything...it had the whatson thing, which ya can pick up in any other shop...

theres just not enough promotion, and not enough going on....I work in a coffee shop in town, and walking around one day, i passed an english family, and even the kids were saying it's the most uncultural place they have ever been to!

 

[Samarkand]

It does feel like it's finished doesn't it? This Autumn / Winter brochure is just depressing. Ooh, that Liebeskind sculpture is still down in Fota. Wow, they're still knitting the map. Ah, you can still wear a ring and dance a jig when someone else is wearing one too.

The thing is that Cork has loads of culture. Everyone who's spent more than a couple of days here must surely agree that Cork's got the 'unmeasurable culture' of an interesting daily life (wit / attitude / spark / particular vocabulary / lively traditions etc. etc.) in spades. It also does pretty well on 'measurable culture'. Musically Cork is amazing - I could go on for ages. We have practically the greatest density of visual artists in Europe and although the standard is pretty variable the top end is superb. We have the best film festival in Ireland and produce many of the best writers. Theatrically we're patchy but sometimes very, very good. The Glucksman is shortlisted for the top architectural prize in the world.

Given this the failure of 2005 to be any more than this damp squib is pathetic. I quote from a booklet of theirs that was released in 2004: "We have planned occasions of mass celebration, of collective joy - but we think of these occasions as crowded and colourful islands in a sea of making". (There are plenty of crass statements in there but this one is the most clear general aspiration.)

1/ 'Sea of making' - we can all agree that quite a few people have been given quite a few quid to do stuff that they wouldn't have done otherwise. Many of the (financially) big ones have pissed most people off (the knitting, Liebeskind (wtf?)) but there have been some good events / projects. I have tended to get more of a kick out of events that didn't have anything to do with 2005 and I am royally pissed off at this financially bloated organisation co-opting events that have nothing at all to do with them because they didn't have the wit or knowledge to actually program much that people might actually care about. (Most obviously the marquee - this had nothing to do with them but was given a page in their summer in the city brochure).

2/ 'mass celebration, of collective joy' - for god's sake. 2005 must be given some credit for: the opening ceremony, Relocation and 39 Evening Echo articles about U2 maybe coming down here. And precious little else. I didn't actually expect it to be like Galway / Edinburgh / Avignon all the time (it's easier to do something for 2 weeks than for a year) but I expected a bit more than a surfeit of banners.

 

[celsis]

Very quiet

I remember when Glasgow was city of culture, you couldn't move anywhere in Scotland without being reminded of the fact! even the buses in Edinburgh carried ads proclaming Glasgow as the city of culture!

Being originally from Edinburgh, I didn't visit Glasgow very often, (how many Corkonians visit Dublin if they don't have to?) but when I did, there was a real buzz in the place. I reckon this was because they actually went to the people and asked them what they wanted from the event and not just the arty farty crew.

I've been really disappointed with the effort here in Cork. You have to look for events whereas they should have been advertised all over the place! We should now be complaining about the overabundance of events, not the low key approach.

All in all, a disappointing excercise and a chance missed to pronote Cork as an alternative to Dublin.