ArtScape: Last weekend's Cork 2005 opening had a good Cork vibe, as befits a programme with a Cork flavour. But in the capital of cribbing in the republic of begrudgery, not everyone was happy.
It's a cliché in Ireland that the agenda starts with the split. In fact it took a while to mobilise, but the Cork "dissidents" were well up and running by last weekend, just five weeks since first coming together. In the run-up to the official opening there was a feeling that the citizenry wasn't engaged with Cork 2005, and was unsure about the details of the programme - which, in fairness, are contained in an unwieldy book of events that is hard to get a handle on.
A taxi driver in the city dismissed the festivities to me as "just the usual bunch of intellectuals, a bunch of broken-down old actors cadging free meals". Though his perception is hilariously inaccurate, it does give an indication of the gap that the Cork 2005 team has to bridge to carry the people along. The weekend's entertainment was the start of this.
From this background emerged Where's Me Culture? (WMC), the fringe or dissident grouping that had its first outing on Saturday night with its Big Party after the day of street entertainment and evening of spectacle and fireworks.
"It's fair to say that there's a deal of frustration and disaffection and foreboding, and a desperate desire for people to participate in 2005," comments Mick Hannigan, owner of the Kino Cinema and a WMC steering committee member. He stresses that "there are great things in the programme, things that people will fight to get tickets for. But there are gaps in the programme, in terms of street or youth or music culture". He says many people's expectations were not met, and that "the programme didn't hold the promise of fun and of a year-long party. It lacks inclusiveness".
The argument about inclusiveness, mind you, only goes so far. One of the many Cork 2005 tasters on show last weekend was the Cork Traveller Women Network's restored traditional barrel-topped caravan. The impressive result is surely an example of a marginalised culture being included in the programme. An older (male) Traveller, John Carroll, who last built a barrel-top 39 years ago, had the prototype in his head, and nine Traveller groups in the city worked to build, decorate and kit it out.
Mary O'Sullivan told me that some older Traveller women who came to see it wept at the memories it brought back.
Still, others are not pleased with the programme, or with the way it has been communicated. The Cork 2005 director, John Kennedy, has said in the past that resources were put into the programme itself, rather than into communicating it, and some have been critical of that gap in explaining what a city of culture is about.
Hannigan sees the problem not as one of communication but as one of consultation. Cork 2005 was programmed from the response to an open invitation for submissions, but Hannigan claims there were no open meetings and no relationship between organisers and citizenry.
But Hannigan says he is delighted that the city manager, Joe Gavin, has welcomed WMC into the fold. Besides, fringe groupings are a sign of engagement.
WMC's Big Party on Saturday picked up on the perceived youth-culture gap. Around 20 acts, including many of Cork's top bands, took to the many stages at the Mardyke, a huge club venue near UCC, with different venues and floors within it. There were up to 1,400 people at the party, and the €10 tickets sold out that afternoon. All the performers worked free and the money generated will go into a WMC kitty for future events.
Thus far Where's My Culture? is mostly talk, and Saturday's party was basically a club night with lots of acts. But organisers say future events will be more inclusive. There's talk of a family day, a visual art treasure hunt, and web projects. In fact, the website www.wheresmeculture.com has a lively chatroom where ideas are tossed around. The group is relying on "imagination and co-operative spirit, not budget", says Hannigan.
Una Feely (Kino and Cork Film Festival programmer), another member of the steering group, feels that WMC has "captured the imagination of the ordinary people on the street. It's a movement at this stage".
But WMC is "not preoccupied with criticism of Cork 2005," says Hannigan. "We're doing our own thing, including as many people as possible and having fun. Cork people are proud of the city and enthused at the prospect of being Capital of Culture."
www.cork2005.ie
Shame about the journey
The weekend in Cork impressed, but the means of getting there certainly didn't. We decided to let the train take the strain, which meant a dirty, rattling old thing with no breakfast facilities or even coffee (at 8.30 a.m.!) on Saturday, and the same on the way back to Dublin on Sunday evening. On the return journey there wasn't even anywhere to put larger luggage and, again, a cup of coffee was out of the question. For this service we paid the standard €56.50 per person, plus €17 for parking at Heuston, adding up to a staggering total of €130 for two thoroughly unpleasant journeys. I won't be doing that again.
Irish head, English heart
English National Opera (ENO) has had a stormy time of late, and this week the Belfast man and former Perth Festival director, Seán Doran, now artistic director and chief executive of ENO, unveiled his first fully curated season and outlined his thoughts about the company's future direction.
Doran has committed himself to ENO's three key elements of identity - English, National and Opera - and has adopted Benjamin Britten as house composer, planning a new Britten cycle over the next five years, to include ENO's first Death in Venice. English opera will be the backbone of his programming, with Vaughan Williams and Purcell featuring in 2005-06 in new productions of Sir John in Love and King Arthur. Doran is also committed to commissioning new works in English and to seeking out existing new work. Interestingly, an RTÉ/ENO co-commission, the world stage première of Gerald Barry's The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, is seen as part of the "English" element in the programme - presumably as a language rather than as a national designation!
In February 2006 ENO will première Gaddafi, by Steve Chandra Savale of Asian Dub Foundation, which is being developed in the ENO Studio. Including the first ENO revival of John Adams's Nixon in China, eight operas originally written in English will be performed out of a total of 16 operas in the season.
One of the ways Doran will reaffirm the "national" element of the company's identity is by ensuring that ENO's work is accessible to all by putting more than 30,000 tickets on sale at £10 or less.
Doran also announced the inauguration of a Monteverdi cycle, with Orfeo to be followed by The Coronation of Poppea, The Return of Ulysses and Vespers of 1610. And in terms of exploring opera as a 21st-century form, he has invited collaboration from artists with non-operatic backgrounds, including Anthony Minghella (with a new Madam Butterfly) and Chen Shi-Zheng (with Orfeo). Opera-ballet will also be represented, with collaborations with leading choreographers starting with Mark Morris's production of King Arthur.
Venice awash with Irish art
After some to-ing and fro-ing, the names of the artists who will represent Ireland at this year's Venice Biennale have been announced, writes Aidan Dunne. There are seven of them in all (including the partnership Walker and Walker), a record number, all the more so given that Northern Ireland is participating for the first time this year. So you could say that Venice will be awash with Irish artists come June.
The Irish commissioner is Sarah Glennie, formerly of the Irish Museum of Modern Art and the Henry Moore Foundation. If she needs back-up, however, it is close at hand, given that at least three of the participating Irish artists - Mark Garry, Stephen Brandes and Sarah Pierce - also have curatorial experience. The other two artists are Ronan McCrea and Isabel Nolan, making up an intriguingly diverse and energetic group. For younger artists, the Biennale is an opportunity but also a challenge. It has grown immeasurably and it's difficult to make an impact on an art world audience of idiosyncratic taste, so Ireland's Magnificent Seven will have their work cut out for them.