Balancing everyone's expectations is difficult, but the team behind Cork 2005 has listened to its critics, writes John Kennedy.
On January 8th, 2005, an extraordinary thing happened in Cork. It stopped raining. During a miraculous break in a horrible weather pattern, 100,000 people took to the streets to celebrate the opening sequence of events that marked the beginning of Cork's tenure as European Capital of Culture.
Since that extraordinary weekend, Capital of Culture has continued apace, and five months into the year we can begin to assess successes so far. Statistics gathered at the end of March tell us that there is a 25 per cent increase in traffic through Cork airport; more than 350,000 people have attended official Cork 2005 events; 51 international TV crews have visited the city; over 200 international press titles have reported on the activities; hotel bookings are 12-15 per cent higher than for the same period last year; cultural institutions are already reporting a 30 per cent increase in visitors; events as diverse as a public lecture by renowned architect Daniel Libeskind, readings by Doris Lessing and Seamus Heaney and contemporary Catalan dance by Sol Picó have all sold out.
This weekend, with the launch of our summer programme, the city centre hosted the world premiere by French Compagnie Jo Bithume of Victor Frankenstein, the largest outdoor theatre spectacle ever staged in Ireland. In Cork Harbour, hundreds of people from all over the country and further afield took part in Ocean to City, the largest boat race ever staged in Ireland. There were also exhibitions ranging from historic maritime paintings to the urban art recently created by local and world renowned graffiti artists; the Libeskind pavilion at Fota House; live bands and DJ sets; film documentaries made by local communities in the city; a 35-piece French navy pipe band; and contemporary Polish art.
Of course it hasn't all been plain sailing - Capital of Culture projects are extremely complex. Since 1985, 48 cities have held the designation. All have wrestled with precisely the same issues that we are encountering. Balancing the expectations of community groups, business groups, political groups, cultural and artistic groups, the general public and tourism entities is difficult. We have wrestled with the difficulty of communicating vast amounts of information to an extraordinarily diverse audience. We have, perhaps, not fully engaged the citizens of Cork in the wider sense of the programme ambitions for the year. We have listened to our critics and are taking corrective measures - we launched our summer programme, publishing a new summer brochure, opening a new information office on Patrick's Street and embarking on a nationwide communications campaign.
The Capital of Culture programme is massive in its intensity, in its variety, in its diversity of scale, and in its broad interpretation of what culture is, to the city, to the country, and to Europe. Recent media attention has highlighted the complexities of this prestigious designation and perhaps, more importantly, raised the wider debate about culture.
The 2,000 submissions we received, consisting of proposals, thoughts, ideas, aspirations, dreams, followed by hundreds of meetings with individuals and groups, resulted in a year that is challenging, intense and ambitious. Presenting a programme of activity that entertains, informs and challenges diverse audiences is an enormous challenge; to somehow represent the culture of "local place" as well as bring cultural activity that represents the Europe we now live in is not easy. To do this continuously for 12 months and not cause massive audience fatigue adds to the mix that makes these projects unique. Our audience is local, national and international, and the need to service each of these segments is at the heart of what we do.
In every Capital of Culture project, legacy becomes the holy grail. What is left? Who benefits? Why do it at all?
Some expect signature buildings; others expect significant political change. Yet more expect that the city will become a visitor magnet. There are those who expect a re-envisioned city; commercial entities expect increased revenues.
Although these expectations might seem idealistic, they are achievable through hosting the designation - but they won't all happen in one short year. Glasgow, still considered as the most successful City of Culture, did not record significant change until at least five years after its year as City of Culture. There is evidence to show that cities that use the designation as the beginning of a change process are the cities that succeed.
The cultural programme is but one element of a complex mix that ultimately contributes to a city's future. Aside from the arts and cultural community, there is an onus on many other groupings to play a part in what happens next. Indeed to expect the arts and cultural community to single-handedly take responsibility for future change is to miss the point of their raison-d'etre and ultimately to restrict the role of the arts and culture.
At the core of our programming ethos is a desire to enable and facilitate others to do what they do. As the programme evolved from our public call for idea submissions, new networks have also evolved. Mary Leland, writing in this newspaper, spoke of having difficulty seeing where Cork 2005 ended and other organisations began programme delivery. This is exactly the point.
Rather than adopt a curatorial role and become cultural enforcers, Cork 2005 has tried to make it possible for existing individuals and groupings to present their work in a better way, to a bigger audience and at a new level.
A new network initiated by Corcadorca, and facilitated by Cork 2005, has resulted in a series of significant international site-specific theatre productions; a new network of local writers translating the work of European poets has enabled the Munster Literature Centre to publish 12 books of poetry; up to 100 international, national and local artists are working with community groups through several residency programmes. New commercial networks are also taking shape, and companies who have come on board as sponsors have begun to cement future relationships with arts groups in the city.
Change is slow. Change is quiet. Real change takes time. Presenting a complex and varied Capital of Culture programme demonstrates that Cork is capable of performing on a larger stage.
Combining local and global cultural activity in a way that both reinforces and stretches a place can only be but one of the necessary building blocks that support future development across the whole range of options presented as a result of Cork being European Capital of Culture.
Cork 2005 is not an end in itself. Rather, it is a beginning.
Visit this city; enjoy the programme of events, celebrate this unique year. But don't let yourself think that this programme is all that Cork has to offer.
John Kennedy is director of Cork 2005: European Capital of Culture