HOPES are high that Cork RTC may soon have a new campus in West Cork. And there is a strong consensus that West Cork's very numerous arts community would have a part to play in shaping the syllabus.

The governing body of Cork RTC has just approved the feasibility study prepared by the college's Registrar, Brendan Goggin, and it will then be submitted to the Minister for Education. Skibbereen, Bantry, Clonakilty and Dunmanway have all pitched for the RTC, but according to Goggin, new technology ("telematics") would in any case make distance learning possible.

Vivienne Roche of the Arts Council, who is on the board of governors of the RTC, says that arts marketing is one area of teaching that has been explored. Though the potential input of West Cork's 200 visual artists has been looked at most closely, the musical community might also play a role, and film and video training might also be a component.