Capital of Culture - People power to triumph over neglect

CORK’S reign as European Capital of Culture 2005, which gets under way in January, promises a spectacle of theatre, art, music, dance and literature reflecting the life and times of the city and its people down the centuries.

As the first city to solely hold the coveted title as European Capital of Culture, Cork will offer Europe and the world an exciting insight into the multi-coloured fabric of Ireland at national, regional and local level.

It will be the biggest celebration of its kind since Cork 800, or indeed the great exhibitions and imperial set pieces of a century ago.

By any yardstick the programme unveiled yesterday for the celebration is unique.

In a highly imaginative and totally different approach to similar events elsewhere, the organisers put out a call for local people to submit ideas and proposals on how to celebrate their city.

In a remarkable response, they received over 2,000 submissions and though the bulk were rejected, the cream has been taken on board.

In a quintessential way, the programme is the true voice of Cork. With the exception of some key events, ideas and suggestions for most of the cultural happenings have come from the grassroots. So, rather than being imposed on the people, the events have been proposed by them.

Starting in January, the centrepiece of the opening celebrations will be a spectacular performance on the Lee, the river the gives Cork its unique character.

Anticipated to be one of the most exciting outdoor performances ever in this country, it will recall the city’s legendary birth in a battle between St Finbarr and a giant serpent.

Rising from the waters in a dramatic spectacle, it will combine pyrotechnics, water and lighting effects, music, theatre and the spoken word. Setting a pattern for the year ahead, it will be a contemporary re-enactment of Cork’s own myths, symbolising how the river was shaped when the mythical creature was defeated by the city’s patron saint.

Arguably, the only blot on an otherwise bright horizon is a chronic lack of capital investment by Government to help put the regional capital on the global map.

In contrast with Britain’s decision to pour hundreds of millions of pounds into Liverpool, which assumes the title in 2008, this Coalition Government has put a meagre amount into developing Cork as a premier city.

Significantly, this niggardly approach is not confined to any one city. The likelihood is that if Waterford, Limerick or Galway had been chosen as the epicentre of European culture, they would also have found themselves starved of badly needed funding.

However, reflecting the skewed policies of this Government it is fair to suggest that if Dublin had won the crown, money would have poured into the capital.

It is time the Government realised that people living outside Dublin are tired of the Coalition’s tendency to promise much but deliver little.

Thanks, for instance, to its foot-dragging on the long-promised plan to rebuild its school of music, Cork will be left without that shining jewel in its cultural crown next year.

Yet, despite this neglect of towns, cities and regions across the country, 2005 promises to be a triumph of people power in Cork, a glowing example of how citizens in urban communities can transform their own city into Europe’s Capital of Culture.