WELCOME to the 2024 Cork Lifelong Learning Festival
Dear friends, On any given day in Cork, the Atlantic light sweeps through its streets, laneways, parks and estates shining a sweeping light on life and society. Just like the idea of a sweeping and shining light the concept of lifelong learning also sweeps into life and society in Cork. The settings can be diverse. Sometimes it is pursued in formal educational settings and sometimes in a corner of a suburban hall. Experiences and ideas are exchanged, conversations and excitement flow and more often than not are interrupted by the pots of tea consumed, and then the conversations flow again. Indeed, the more one looks for the concept of lifelong learning in our city, the more visible it becomes. It bubbles metaphorically beneath the rich active community layer of our historic city. It is part of the sense of identity and sense of positive spirit the city possesses and consistently pursues. The annual lifelong festival brings many ideas and events together. In one week, one can pursue a taster of hundreds of lifelong learning events. At its heart this is a festival for everyone – a people’s festival, whose energy is forged from the ground up by communities and where ideas of togetherness, connection building and opportunity exploring are ever present. The festival is one that we all can be proud of. It is recognised and admired the world over and it has inspired many other cities to follow Cork’s trail blazing efforts. The strong Learning City ‘eco-system’ in Cork has led to international recognition by UNESCO, with Cork featuring again as a keynote in the 2023 International Conference on Learning Cities in Shanghai that celebrated 10 years of the Global Network of Learning Cities. This UNESCO recognition is built on achieving a Learning City Award in 2015, and on the city’s selection as hosts of the 3rd International Learning City Conference in 2017. On that note I wish to extend a warm welcome to representatives from many of these cities who will join us during festival week this year.
Cllr Kieran McCarthy
Árdmhéara Chorcaí Lord Mayor of Cork FESTIVAL PATRON
I wish to recognise and commend all of my fellow citizens who work to make the festival happen, by hosting events, encouraging participants to attend, by connecting with people, and inspiring them to discover the huge range of learning activities available all year-round in our city. As a lifelong learner with interests in history and heritage I am honored as Lord Mayor of Cork and Patron of the Festival, as a long-standing event host and as a participant in the festival I am very much looking forward to hosting, attending and supporting this year’s events.
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