New directions at the Triskel

There's a stiff breeze gusting through Cork's Triskel Arts Centre these days, writes Kevin Barry. Its new administrator, Deirdre Enright, formerly the County Arts officer in Wicklow, took up the position just before Christmas, and has embarked on a six-month nuts-and-bolts review of the entire operation.

Some subtle shifts in emphasis at the Tobin Street venue are likely. "We must programme right across the spectrum of the arts, and while 1998 saw a lot of work on the visual arts and film, this year we'll also be concentrating strongly on literature," she says.

To this end, the Triskel is one of the venues for the Munster Literature Centre's Eigse na gCige festival, which runs from February 3rd to 7th and features 20 authors from Connaught and Munster, giving readings, hosting workshops and generally chewing the fat. A series of monthly readings is also planned, with Paul Durcan kicking off in March.

While the £400,000 Phase Two Triskel extension (new gallery space, offices, a smart cafe) is now up and running, Enright says that expansionist notions are re-surfacing. "We still don't have enough room for everything we want to do, so yes, in the future, we hope there will be a phase three. We want to develop our music and theatre programmes fully and the Triskel would need to expand again to do so." On the visual arts front, the annual Inter-media extravaganza will be staged in May, but for the moment the line-up of artists remains a guarded secret. Other recent developments include the opening of two new studio spaces at the Triskel which can be occupied for six months at a time by artists, and the staging of the Rhizome events, monthly multi-media events drawing a youngish, clubby crowd.