Cork 2005

Poor auld COrk…. its been the poor cousin in all this Celtic Tiger boom business.

in fairness now lads, as one of my colleagues on another bulletin board pointed out, it does have the longest corridor in Ireland 😉

http://www.p45rant.com/boards/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35053

probably, but they don’t seem to have told anyone else.

Part of the Cork 2005 submission was based on what Cork has at present: namely Irelands longest running Film Festival, One of the worlds largest Jazz Festivals, the Choral festival, the Opera House, The School of Music etc etc etc. There were no capital projects to speak of – which is one of the primary reasons the guy charged with running the 2005 show walked after a few months of being in the job. The only project of note is the new art gallery going into UCC – which looks very cool indeed.
It’s not really fair to say the Celtic tiger bypassed Cork – sure in terms of overheated overpriced poor quality apartment developments it doesn’t figure – and the centre of the city hasn’t exactly benefitted from years of contstant diggging for the necessary main drainage projects. But it does have a much better infrasturcture than the rest of the country in terms of the road network throughout. And let’s be honest places like Limerick and alot of inner Dublin were in dire need of alot of more rejuvenation.
There is a sense that certain problems are being addressed – the main streets are being upgraded and archaic planning for the centre has been revised to correct years of bad management in terms of zoning.
2005 is a catalyst for this.

Well in the last two months something’s clearly been going on for 2005. Was down last weekend – from no new development whatsoever to nothing but cranes and wholesale clearance/demolition of nasty derelict sites all over the city. Some slightly nicer than an average IFSC office block type development on quays on both sides of the Lee, and some below average. Still it beats an empty site with car wrecks etc…
Loads of new hotel activity, plus as of yesterday immediate start to the snazzy new airport terminal. So it seems Aer Rianta can do something when they feel like it!

Also read that a list of undeveloped buildings/sites has been compiled and all owners that are refusing to redevelop these are being CPO’d by the city council (ala Carlton on O’Connell St). Some sites have been acquired already and are being refurbished. The others have taken the hint – example: Jacob’s Mill – a protected structure left rot for 30 years is FINALLY having something done with it.

That whole messy main drainage thing is still Cork’s biggest problem – the centre is a mess of trenches still – but the moves to improve the streetscape as well as the built environment should all come to fruition as the drainage thing is finished up… I’d say by 2005 they’ll have the place only gorgeous (like).

The 5m euro Awakenings Ceremony – see http://www.cork2005.ie – looks set to be pretty spectacular, especially the River display. It will be shown live on RTE between 5pm and 6:30pm this Saturday 8th of Jan. The problem with the event, and the subject of much criticism is that only 26,000 tickets were made available for a city (greater) with a 325,000 population. It’s a bit of a farse really – 4 tickets were allowed per person and some outlets only issued 100 tickets, meaning, only the first 25 people at a particular outlet received tickets. The Irish Examiner is providing relative coverage of the proceedings leading up to that main event. Ticket issues aside – the opening ceremony is gearing up to be an eye-catcher – the amount of work taking place by Cork 2005, Spraoi and many others on the river is pretty substantial. Though I’m sceptical on the year of Culture as a whole – there are a lot of good ideas and proposals lined up for the reign and I really would like to see everyone get behind it and help postively enforce the title-ship.

I see Cork 2005 as an ‘all of Ireland’ event – but it’s nice to see Cork get a little limelight for a change too. 😉

Today is the day the official reign kicks off – Cork as European Capital of Culture 2005.

At 2pm – a spectacular carnival will proceed from South Mall through to MacCurtain Street (via Grand Parade and St. Patrick’s Street) – dozens of floats, street performers, acrobats, light spectacles and revellers will proceed through the streets in a party never before seen on Irish soil.

The city quays will open to ticket-holers only for the multi-million euro Awakenings Ceremony at 3pm, due to start at sunset 5pm. Spraoi will be co-ordinating the spectacle of light, fireworks, river-floats, music, dance, acrobatics and a 70-ft serpent which will weave under and over the city’s famous bridges along the Northern Channel of the Lee. The all-over-water based spectacle will be the largest of its kind in Europe this year and one of the largest ever full-stop. I’m really glad Cork 2005 have embraced the prime water frontage of Cork (with its strong merchant and naval history – the once proclaimed, ‘Venice of the North’ – a title now held by Stockholm) in this event.

Whatever about the rest of the Cork 2005 reign, Awakenings looks set to be something pretty damn awe-inspiring. There is such a good vibe around the city right now – and cold as it is, thank God the weather has cleared up overnight for this once-in-a-lifetime event.

People, get down to Cork for 2005!

Looked fantastic alright! There really is nothing like fireworks – forget all modern distractions, both adults and children are still captivated by them, even if high-tech wizardry is used nowadays to operate the things!
If the gushing report on Six One last night was anything to go by, it must have been good – you should have seen it… 😮

Just a small comment:

the recent press flurry regarding the ‘failings’ of Cork2005 to raise sufficient funds and provide an effective year as city of culture have irritated me somewhat.

Yes, at 13m euros, I do not believe Government funding for such a relevant appointment was adeqaute. Yes, the 20m euro budget was sub-par. Yes the response by businesses has been somewhat disappointing, many of which, only seem now to be getting off their financial behinds – however, it’s the typical old Irish response of ‘moan and let moan’. If we spend the year complaining, then yes, the year will be a failing. It’s only 4 months on, and quite frankly, I don’t think it has been bad at all. In fact, for the culturally minded, there has been a feast of activity from Choral displays, street art, the Awakenings, Liebeskind, Art Festivals, Tournaments – and the year isn’t even halfway through.

This year, Cork businesses and the city council, should be focusing on the promoting Cork as a place to do business and to help draw continued inward investment. It is essential that, for an inclusive and superb docklands to emerge, a core, critical mass of financial and business activity is needed to sustain such development. The city has much to offer, so much – but local business will not solely promote and help assist viability of creating the docklands as envisaged. We need to look up, look out and embrace this year not only as a celebration of local and European culture, but also as a unique opportunity to go out there and bring businesses back with us.

I for one, tire of this backward ‘always find fault’ mentality – yes, let’s not deny the problems, but more importantly, look to how we can solve them – and look how we can use what we have to our advantage.