The Arts in Cork were put on a firm footing yesterday when the Lord Mayor, Mr Damien Wallace, launched the Cork arts development plan 2000-2005.
The plan is made especially relevant by the city's seeking the title European City of Culture in 2005. This year will see new investment in the cultural life of the city under the plan, the city's second.
One of the major innovations of the scheme is the establishment of a city centre cultural information service, including a centralised box office. It is hoped that this will attract larger audiences - both tourists and local people - to the arts.
"It will be a shopfront for the arts in the city centre and a focal point for festivals," says the corporation's arts officer, Mr Mark Mulqueen. "It's due for 2000, so we have to get cracking."
To highlight and promote the talent and skill in Cork's artistic community, an arts database will be created and made available in print, on a website and on CDrom.
The fields of literature and film are among those which will get greater support through the plan, under which many bursaries and awards have been created.
Cork will have a writer in residence scheme supported annually by the Arts Council, and there will be a short story writing award for new works in honour of the Corkonian master, Frank O'Connor.
Mr Mulqueen says the corporation hopes this prize will be international, and is actively searching for major sponsorship.
Film-makers will have their own annual bursary, as well as the chance to get a film start-up grant. The corporation also undertakes to establish a screen commission, and to increase funding for the city's film festival.
In the visual arts, drama and arts in the community, there will be annual bursaries open to all artists in the city. The Firkin Crane Dance Development centre will have a choreographers' award, worth £10,000, to attract more dancers to the city.
The corporation will run a series of masterclasses introducing local musicians to leading performers on a wide range of instruments. There will also be an award to assist tuition and third-level education costs. The plan recognises that "the exhibition space in the city does not satisfy the needs of local artists", and the problem is to be studied.