Organisers of Cork 2005 expect to attract 60,000 visitors and generate €100m
The organisers of Cork's European Capital of Culture 2005 yesterday presented a €20 million programme of more than 200 events which they expect will attract 60,000-plus visitors to the city and bring in an estimated €100 million in spending in the greater Cork area over the course of next year.
Cork 2005's director, Mr John Kennedy, said other cities that had hosted the European Capital of Culture had experienced a 15-20 per cent rise in tourist numbers. Given that visitor numbers for Cork city in 2002 were about 300,000, it was reasonable to assume that more than 60,000 would visit because of its hosting the cultural event, he added.
Mr Kennedy also said Cork 2005 had received €13.5 million in public money which, together with funds from partnership arrangements, gave it a budget of around €20 million.
In light of the 5:1 return to spend ratio in the world of the arts, this should result in up to €100 million being spent by people coming to Cork for the Capital of Culture, he said.
"We're getting €6.5 million from the Government, €6.5 million from Cork City Council and €500,000 from the EU - that's the public money side of it and we have set ourselves a target of €5-€7 million in commercial sponsorship - some of it is benefit in kind, some of is cash - that will give us a total budget of around €20 million," he said.
At the official launch at the Crawford Municipal Art Gallery yesterday, Mr Kennedy said he was delighted with the programme which features up to 236 events distilled from more than 2,000 submissions received from as far away as Tasmania and China in response to a call to the public for ideas.
"As the smallest city ever to be awarded this prestigious designation, Cork faced the challenge of taking its place alongside some of the great European cities that have previously held the title - Copenhagen, Madrid, Helsinki and Prague to name but a few. Cork has emphasised that challenge emphatically and in its own unique and personal way," he said.
The Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue, spoke of his delight at Cork being awarded the designation.
"Cork is a beautiful city - hidden and unexpected but in 2005, through the designation of European Capital of Culture, Cork, will take its place on the European stage," he said.
Cork's Lord Mayor, Mr Seán Martin, said it was appropriate that the "brilliant programme which the team at Cork 2005" had created was coming to fruition alongside a €196 million rejuvenation of the city's streets and infrastructure. "As Cork 2005 welcomes Europe, we as a city and a people are ready to embrace our year as European Capital of Culture," he said.
Cork 2005's deputy director, Ms Mary McCarthy, said the programme in the city and county was divided into eight separate categories: architecture, design and visual arts; festivals: film media and sound; literature publications and conferences; music; residencies, research; sport; and theatre and dance.
An estimated 40,000 people are expected to attend the opening ceremony featuring Spraoi's reworking of a myth about a giant serpent in the River Lee. Other major events include a series of productions by local and foreign theatre groups at unusual venues including a Shakespearean-inspired tragedy at Elizabeth Fort, a reworking of the Frankenstein story on the Grand Parade and a Merchant of Venice on the quays of Cork.
CORK 2005 HIGHLIGHTS
ARCHITECTURE, DESIGN AND VISUAL ARTS: Daniel Liebeskind, whose award winning designs for Ground Zero have been internationally acclaimed, brings his design, Eighteen Turns, to Cork and gives a lecture at Millennium Hall in City Hall on May 5th 2005
Keeping Peace: an exhibition of photographs by acclaimed photographer Simon Norfolk that interprets the day-to-day lives of Irish troops serving in Kosovo and Liberia.
monte notte: a specially commissioned collaboration between actor Fiona Shaw and artist Dorothy Cross
FESTIVALS: Pat Metheny and Band play the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival October 28th-31st
PROJECTS: Cork Travellers Women's Network research and build a traditional life-sized barrel top traveller's wagon. On display at Cork City Museum from April 2005.
LITERATURE: Frank O'Connor International Short Story Prize organised by the Munster Literature Centre in September 2005
Second City Trilogy of plays, When I was God, The Cure and After Luke by Conal Creedon
Cork 2005 World Writing Series - among those appearing are Doris Lessing, Seamus Heaney, Kenyan novelist, Ngugi Wa Thiong 'O, Anthony Cronin, Nuala Ní Dhómhnaill, Claudio Magris.
MUSIC: Rory Gallagher Exhibition: Celebrating the Years of Rock and Roll June 21st to September 3rd at City Hall
Former Microdisney frontman Cathal Coughlan (left) presents a specially commissioned narrative song cycle, Flannery's Mounted Head, Fr Matthew Hall September 16th
SPORT: Re-launch of the city centre Lee Swim, a swimming race dating back to the 1930s and last held in 1992, North Gate Bridge to City Hall on August 20th
EU Chess Championships hosted by the Cork Chess Club and Cork 2005 March 21st-31st
Festival of Football: tournament involves four teams from cities that have either previously been European Capital of Culture or have been selected for the honour in the future.
THEATRE: Corcadorca stage The Merchant of Venice on the quays, Compagnie Jo Bithume from France combine circus and symphony in Victor Frankenstein on Grand Parade, Teatr Biuro Podrozy from Poland stage What Bloodied Man is That at Elizabeth's Fort and Grid Iron from Scotland stage The Devil's Larder.