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Popping the Cork on capital of culture
By John Crowley
 Ireland's second city of Cork is gearing up to become Europe's Capital of Culture next year.
John Crowley explains why that should mean the west of Ireland is top of your list of destinations for 2005.
Cork will make history next year when it becomes the smallest city on the smallest budget ever to be the European Capital of Culture.
With the kudos and the potential revenue that title confers, it will present an opportunity for Ireland's second city to move out of the long shadow cast by its rival Dublin.
Some 236 artistic events will be staged across eight disciplines including film, literature, music, sport and public arts throughout 2005
The programme is expected to attract 400,000 tourists and increase visitor numbers by at least 15 per cent, its organisers claim
40,000 people are expected to attend the opening on January 8 in which a spectacular pyrotechnics show on the River Lee will kick-start the celebrations.
Cork is taking over from the cities of Genoa and Lille. It will be the first time one metropolis has hosted the event as, in the future, only one city from rolling EU member countries will be given the honour.
Cork was certainly an interesting choice. It beat off a strong challenge from Galway, seen unfairly perhaps as a more artistic city, to stage this huge event.
While Galway is strong on arts, crafts and music, Corkonians protest that their town is as artistic and vibrant as any other in Ireland and certainly boasts some of the best venues.
For many years, however, outsiders perceived the Rebel City as an enjoyable but edgy town.
Despite the changes, Cork city will never be a copy of Dublin. It has always been an alternative hub with the people to match.
It is only now, through a combination of its ECoC status and EU funding, that the city looks the part.
The square around the Opera House is as pretty as anywhere in Ireland and the work completed by Catalan architect Beth Gali has transformed Patrick Street, Cork's main thoroughfare.
The Cork 2005 organisers are putting their own unique stamp on proceedings.
Most of the events will take place at the city's main art venues: the Crawford Art Gallery, the Opera House, the Triskel Arts Centre and the recently opened Lewis Glucksman Library on the campus of the UCC.
Local artists are to contribute greatly to the huge programme.
There is also a large contribution from the world of sport, which will take in the European Union Chess Championship, the World Road Bowling Championships, the Lee boat race, a mini-marathon, a football championship and an international rugby event.
The programme has over 20 festivals including the Cork Jazz Festival, the Chamber Music Festival, and other folk, film, food and choral shindigs. A lengthy series of seminars, conferences, lectures and exhibitions on all areas of the arts also feature.
Other big outdoor events include four theatre shows, staged by companies from France, Poland and Scotland, with one from local theatre company Corcadorca.
Each of these shows will play in the heart of Cork city to about 3,000 people.
Theatre productions will be presented in unconventional venues like the city's courthouse, the city market and the military barracks. Hundreds of street productions are also planned, including theatre, dance, music, literature and visual arts productions.
Theatrical highlights include the Irish premiere of Martin McDonagh's play The Pillowman that thrilled and shocked audiences at the South Bank this year.
The Cork Opera House is staging a revival of Sean O'Casey's classic play The Plough And The Stars in February, while Cork playwright Enda Walsh returns from exile to the Granary Theatre in June to premiere his drama A Pondlife.
There are several weird and wonderful events taking place too.
Every day next year, a satellite above the city will record the weather, traffic and movement of people and translate it via computer into a giant knitting pattern.
Thousands of knitters will work each day, to turn the pattern into the biggest piece of knitted cartography in history.
There will also be an exhibition of the 18th-century Cork painter James Barry, the only artist to be expelled from the Royal Academy, and a piece of "urban choreography" in which 10,000 rings will be dispersed around the city with instructions for people who find them.
The county of Cork will also be getting involved in the fun. Annual events such as the West Cork Chamber Music Festival in Bantry next June and July will take on a greater significance than previous years.
The City Hall will also host an exhibition to Cork's greatest ever guitarist, Rory Gallagher, between June and September.
While not included on the official programme, it is believed the GAA are in negotiations to host at least one big, high-profile concert at Páirc Uí Chaoimh next year.
With only a budget of £8million the city's leaders are grumbling at the "meagre" contribution from the coalition government in Dublin.
While, Liverpool, the designated ECoC for 2008, is being showered with money, Cork City Council has had come riding to the rescue to the tune of £131million to regenerate the city.
In true Cork style, the city's taxi drivers have yet to warm to being in the spotlight. One told me: "What has this done for us, except create traffic jams!"
But the feeling amongst the festival's organisers is that the all the city's 250,000 people will warm to the festival once it gets underway.
Benefits will extend beyond 2005. The festival's organisers believe a "soft impact" will ensure that Cork benefits from this in the years to come.
John Kennedy, Director of Cork 2005, said: "As the smallest city ever to be awarded this prestigious destination, Cork faced the challenge of taking its place alongside some of the great European cities that have previously held the title - Copenhagen, Madrid, Helsinki and Prague.
"Cork has answered that challenge emphatically and in its own unique and personal way."
At the launch last week was John O'Donoghue, the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism. The minister, a proud Kerryman, pointed out the cultural achievements of Cork down through the years.
But he could not resist a joke about his home county's success. "With Sam Maguire and Liam McCarthy back in their rightful place, the natural order has been restored."
Once 2005 arrives, Cork City will also be able to take its rightful place in the sun.
- For more information on events log on to www.cork2005.ie
Log on to www.corkkerry.ie for tourist travel information.
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