Irish Examiner view: Arts strike back at gloom of Covid

Next Saturday, a section of the arts community will respond by launching a winter series of online concerts from Cork Opera House, the first event hosted there in eight months. Pictured is Eibhlin Gleeson CEO of Cork Opera House.

When the clocks went back last weekend many of us, metaphorically at least, looked over a shoulder fretting that the bright days of summer and then autumn had passed for another year. 

That wistfulness reflected an unusual sense of foreboding, a sense that an unusually challenging winter lies ahead. That is true but as ever that challenge has been met with no little degree of defiance.

The arts community, especially those artists who rely on live performance to pay the rent, have been particularly hard hit by pandemic limitations. Next Saturday, however, a section of that community will respond by launching a winter series of online concerts from Cork Opera House, the first event hosted there in eight months. 

Though not by any means the first online event provoked by the pandemic it is an opportunity to support an important section of society - especially if we hope to enjoy the arts as we did before Covid-19 changed our world.

Sign up, pay up and look forward with enthusiasm.