News from the world of the Arts
Chinese culture comes to Ireland
Last Thursday afternoon Richard Wakely, the Irish commissioner for the Chinese cultural exchange, went to Dublin Airport to welcome the Beijing Dance Academy to a damp and dreary Ireland. Whatever the group of dancers - from what he described as a dry and dusty part of China, not far from the Gobi desert - thought of the soft rain, thank God, they were whisked straight down to business. That business was the programme announcement at the IFI in Dublin of the festival of Chinese Arts and Culture, which will visit Ireland over the next few months.
Last year's foray into China by Irish art - the Irish Festival of Arts and Culture in China - is followed by this reciprocal festival, and after Thursday's launch the Beijing Dance Academy were straight off to Galway for two performances, last night and tonight, then on to Siamsa Tíre in Tralee (tomorrow) and the Helix in Dublin (Wednesday).
The China Conservatory of Music opened the Chinese season in Galway on Thursday. Before they came over they asked Wakely to fax them some traditional Irish tunes. "Make of that what you will," said Wakely.
He enthused about the opportunities for spontaneous interaction between Irish and Chinese cultures in Galway with so many Irish musicians around, and the possibilities of Irish tunes on the one-stringed Chinese violin or the pipa (a cross between a bazouki and a mandolin).
After Galway the conservatory head to Earagail in Donegal, then to Temple Bar as part of the "Diversions" programme for tomorrow's open day (see below).
Despite the massive differences between Irish and Chinese cultures, Wakely reckons "what they have in common is more than you might think - the crucible of world music demonstrates the commonalities - you hear those instruments and realise that the musical resonances are not that dissimilar."
The preparations for the Chinese-Irish festivals have been going on for some time now, with plans early last year interrupted by SARS.
Wakely comments that the "cultural differences in the way people do business are very wide indeed. They have a more bureaucratic approach in China. And we have dealt with that by taking the time to get to know our colleagues, we've spent a lot of time and emphasis on building trust between my office and our counterparts and cultural partners in China."
It's yielded dividends he says, evidenced by the reaction to the Irish festival in China, which "exceeded our expectations".
As well as the Beijing Dance and the Conservatory, the Chinese programme here includes performances from the world-famous Peking Opera House of Beijing, music from the Shanghai Percussion Ensemble, theatre from the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre and the Beijing People's Art Theatre, an exhibition of contemporary art from the Shanghai Art Museum, and "China in Focus", a festival of contemporary Chinese film.
About 250 artists and performers are travelling from China, and events will take place all over Ireland from Galway to Dublin and Letterkenny to Cork, largely in established arts festivals and venues, between now and mid-November.
New Cork literary prize
This year's Davy Byrne's Irish Writing Award offered a €20,000 prize for a single short story (won by Anne Enright). Now, Cork 2005 has upped the ante and more than doubled that - with a prize of €50,000, but this time for a collection of stories.
The new international literary award, a one-off event, is a key plank of poet and novelist Thomas McCarthy's literary programme for the capital of culture, and aims to re-assert the importance of the short story as a literary form.
The judging panel is being appointed, the prize will be administered by the Munster Literature Centre, and the award money will be contributed by Thomas Crosbie Holdings, which owns the Irish Examiner and is a sponsor of Cork 2005.
The culmination of a campaign for the acknowledgement of the importance of the short story by the Literature Centre, which is based at the restored birthplace of Frank O'Connor, the competition is open to writers of a collection of stories in English - including translations - published between January 2004 and June 2005.
The prize fund is hefty for a literary award, even if some might say it could have been used differently to achieve different ends - a prize of, say, €30,000, would still be impressive, leaving enough for two €10,000 bursaries. But let's not quibble.
Poet, Arts Council member and Cork 2005 board member Theo Dorgan welcomed the prize and said it would be good to think that this commitment to the values of prose fiction would continue beyond Cork's year as European Capital of Culture and would be followed by a long-term support of quality writing in Ireland.
"Cork", said Dorgan, "has lived on the laurels of O'Connor and Sean O'Faolain for far too long and this international prize is an opportunity to restate, and remake, a tradition. It signals the beginning of an on-going commitment to contemporary writing in Ireland on the part of a long-established and well-respected newspaper. If it were to continue beyond 2005 it would be a marvellous thing. One dares to hope!" The prize will be presented during the annual Frank O'Connor Festival of the Short Story which will be held in Cork in September.
Temple Bar opens up
Following claims that it is élitist and that people aren't aware of what the arts institutions in Temple Bar get up to, the area is hosting a second cultural open day tomorrow afternoon, involving more than 40 organisations. Last December's open day went well, according to Temple Bar Properties, and tomorrow involves more events in public spaces and lots of family activities, including performances, readings, concerts, exhibitions and tours to showcase the creativity and energy generated among all of the artists and cultural organisations there.
Highlights include family-oriented activities on Meeting House Square that include a free photographic workshop for children, an interactive percussion workshop and a performance of Chinese traditional music by the China Conservatory of Music. For adults, from mid-afternoon the Meeting House Square stage will showcase an eclectic music programme featuring jazz, rock and electro-acoustic sounds - 10-piece jazz collective Fuzzy Logic, contemporary Irish composer Fergal Dowling, and young rock bands from the Temple Bar Music Centre's Noise Party. There are plays, exhibitions, open rehearsals, readings, dance performances, film screenings and more all over the area.
The sustainable living centre, Cultivate, and the Genesis project have activities on the theme of movement and mobility, and you can take part in a workshop to write, direct, act and shoot your own movie scene. For details Tel: 01-6772255, or click on www.templebar.ie
Short cuts
Making dreams come true: As preparations hot up for tomorrow afternoon's Macnas parade at the Galway Arts Festival - a welcome return after a two-year gap - the company known for street spectaculars has an interesting angle in dream fulfilment in recruiting a new artistic director. "If you have the dreams, we can make them come true," it says. Yesterday's ad eschewed conventional qualifications in favour of "a head full of ideas, a vision and an ambition to work on a scale that has only existed in your imagination."
For its Choreographic Platform next week, Ballet Ireland commissioned three choreographers - Jane Magan, Ingrid Nachstern and Morgann Runacre-Temple - to create three pieces of new work that will be performed in Tallaght's Civic Theatre. Ballet Ireland provided the choreographers with professional dancers from the company and three weeks' rehearsal space, as well as technical advice.
Ballet Ireland says the Choreographic Platform is the first of its kind in Ireland and its aim is to encourage and identify young talent of the future. Though there have been several opportunities for those working in the contemporary idiom, up to now there have been few opportunities specifically for those wishingto choreograph and experiment in the classical idiom, and certainly no showcase events like this, says Ballet Ireland. The performances are on July 20th, 21st and 22nd, at 8 p.m, at the Civic Theatre, Tallaght. Tickets cost €8/concessions €5.
Composer Tom Cullivan returns to the Taibhdhearc on July 20-22 to play his 6th and 7th piano sonatas, and a number of his Piano-Clasaicí Gaelacha.