NICK REED,
Madam, - Fintan Vallely's opening comments regarding The Helix are most welcome (October 29th), and I read his thoughts on the programme for the gala opening concert with interest.
Inevitably, the restrictive format of a two-hour concert could not conceivably hope to embrace the breadth of performance types which are possible within a unique building like The Helix. Mr Vallely's suggestion that this event should have been an exhaustive pan-generic roll call is unrealistic, and he implies a wider programming bias that is unsustainable with even a cursory glance at the opening season of events at The Helix.
Three days after the opening concert The Helix hosted an open day with guest appearances by Kila, performers from the Royal Irish Academy of Music, the Glasnevin Concert Band, The Soukious Allstars, Glasnevin Musical Society and many more performers from both around the corner and around the world. The same evening The Helix hosted performances by both the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and Kieran Goss, typifying the diversity on offer.
Even without public subsidy, The Helix aspires to be more artistically and socially inclusive than most cultural institutions specifically funded to meet these criteria. Hick and, by implication, highbrow, are not distinctions we readily recognise, and we look forward to building on the huge enthusiasm which has greeted the opening season at The Helix over the coming years. - Yours etc.,
NICK REED, Director, The Helix, Dublin City University, Dublin 9.