Jazz festival director sacked: Decision must be explained

Cork has enthusiastically promoted itself as a city of festivals for decades.

Film, food, traditional and choral music and folk dance are all celebrated. So too is jazz.

The longevity of these festivals means that some year’s carnivals are better than others, that some programmes are best forgotten but that others live long in the memory.

In some cases, organisers become jaded, sponsors circumspect and the public loses interest. Once-great festivals try to survive on reputations won in the long ago.

Unfortunately, the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival had fallen into that trap. It had become a parody and surrendered the authenticity that won international credibility over most of its 40 years.

That decline was reversed when Sinéad Dunphy was appointed festival director last year.

She was recognised as a driving force behind the festival’s rejuvenation and all that means to the city. This was reflected when the festival won one of the Cork Business Association’s top awards recently.

Despite that success, her position as festival director was terminated last week, just over a year into a three-year contract.

Ms Dunphy is, for the moment at least, precluded from making any comment and Diageo has made nothing but the most cursory statement.

The festival has served the city well but the city has been a welcoming host too.

If the festival is to preserve its reputation those who removed a successful festival director must give a full and credible explanation.