Cork City Council Arts Strategy 2022-2026

Arts & Culture Strategy

Lord Mayor’s Message

Cork has long been a city that embraces its unique culture and Cork City Council is fully committed to arts and culture as a pillar of our public service. Through the arts, the city and its people find expression for the layers of our shared lives in this place. Through story, song, play and image we can convey all that is beautiful and joyous but also find ways to process the challenges and sorrows we sometimes face. Through the hardship of global pandemic the arts and culture provided solace. The value of arts in our lives has never been so apparent. As Cork city grows our population and our culture is evolving. The potential of arts and culture for accessibility, interpretation and understanding of different cultures is vital for a resilient, inclusive society. The arts and culture can serve to connect us with our humanity and help us to see each other with fresh and empathetic eyes. The arts can also help us to understand our past through a different lens. For example, throughout this Decade of Commemorations, arts and culture have enabled our history to be interpreted in new and accessible ways. In the extensive consultation conducted in the preparation of this arts and culture strategy, the message came back, loud and clear, that the people of Cork value the rich arts and cultural offering of the city and want to see it thrive. This Cork City Council Arts and Culture Strategy aims to achieve just that. I would like to commend all those who engaged in the development of the strategy and I look forward to its implementation over the next five years.

Cllr. Deirdre Forde Lord Mayor

Foreword

Introduction

Foreword

Introduction

This ambitious new arts and culture strategy comes at a pivotal moment in the city’s development. The forthcoming City Development Plan to 2028 will be the first of three successive development plans that will oversee the growth of Cork as a city of international scale, as per the targets of the National Planning Framework, Ireland 2040. The arts and culture are vital to quality of life and societal wellbeing and are a key contributor to our urban economy. This strategy places arts and culture firmly within the city’s development agenda and identifies the strategic priorities that can sustain and advance the capacity of the arts and cultural sector over the next five-years, in step with the planned growth of the city. It is widely acknowledged that the arts and cultural sector has been one of the worst affected by the impact of the pandemic. As we emerge from the hardship of the past two years, this strategy sets our sights firmly on advancing supportive conditions for art and artists in our city, informing how we redefine our spaces and places, and ultimately enhancing the unique character of our city for the benefit of all who live, work and visit here. I would like to thank the members and staff of Cork City Council and the public who contributed to this strategy and the broad consultation which underpins it. The ambitions herein can only be fully achieved through collective effort and co-operation and we look forward to working with our partners across the cultural, community, educational and business sectors in the realisation of that ambition.

Cork City Council is proud to share its Arts and Culture Strategy 2022 – 2026. The strategy sets out our vision for arts and culture in the city and where we will focus our efforts over the next five years to achieve our shared ambitions. After the difficulties of the last two years, as we lived and worked through a global health crisis, and notwithstanding ongoing challenges, this new strategy is optimistic and affirmative. It is a mark of confidence in the future. The choices we have made to advance arts and culture in Cork have been informed by a robust programme of research and consultation, details of which are appended. We have listened and responded to the needs and ambitions of people from across our communities for arts and culture in Cork. We have also taken care to ensure our strategic priorities amplify and advance those of the city’s imminent new Development Plan. As such, we look forward to working with and for the people of Cork motivated by a shared vision of Cork as a world- class city where art and artists thrive, where arts and culture is for all to enjoy, and is alive on our streets and in our neighbourhoods, a vibrant expression of all that we are.

Michelle Carew Arts Officer 30th June 2022

Ann Doherty Chief Executive

Table of contents

Message from the Lord Mayor

Foreword

Introduction

Table of contents

Context

Policy context

Scope and remit

About Cork City Council Arts Office

Arts & Culture Strategy

Purpose, vision and mission

Strategic priorities

Strategic priority #1 - Art for everyone

Strategic priority #2 - Space for art

Strategic priority #3 - Art in the public realm

Strategic priority #4 - A city for artists

Strategic priority #5 - Capacity and influence

Implementation and delivery

Appendix 1 - Strategic development process

Acknowledgements

Image Credit: CORK IGNITE, live public artwork by Simon McKeown. Photo: Clare Keogh

Context

A world class city

At the core of the draft development plan is a strategic vision for Cork City ‘as a world class city, driving local and regional growth, embracing diversity and inclusiveness and growing as a resilient, healthy, age-friendly and sustainable compact city with placemaking, communities and quality of life at its heart’. This vision is affirmed by eight strategic principles, one of which is titled ‘A city of learning and culture’ and has as its goal: ‘To build on Cork’s designation as a UNESCO Learning City and the city’s rich cultural heritage and to foster learning, culture, heritage and the arts throughout the city’.

A growing, changing city

Cork is Ireland’s second city. In 2019 a boundary extension added urban villages and new neighbourhoods - Ballincollig, Ballyvolane, Blarney, Curraheen, Donnybrook, Douglas, Frankfield, Glanmire, Grange, Kerry Pike, Kileens, Rochestown, Togher, Tower and White’s Cross - to the city’s administrative area. Alongside this geographic expansion, over the coming years the city’s population is set to grow by over 120,000 to 335,000 people by 2040 and to continue to diversify: currently, one in eight people in Cork City were born outside of Ireland.

Photo: Clare Keogh

CORK IGNITE, live public artwork by Simon McKeown. Photo: Clare Keogh

A city of arts and culture

For centuries, Cork City has been a home for artists and arts and cultural organisations. The city continues to encourage and embrace artists and local and national cultural organisations of excellence and ambition. Dedicated arts and cultural programmes in MTU and UCC and other formal and informal initiatives and opportunities in the city cultivate new generations of artists and arts professionals. Its established arts and cultural institutions, organisations and festivals sustain a vibrant arts ecology: supporting artists, creating outstanding arts experiences that embrace the city’s diverse public and visitors alike and advancing the city’s national and international reputation. A European City of Culture in 2005, Cork ranked second among 79 cities for cultural participation and attractiveness in the European Commission’s Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor 2019. As the Draft Cork City Development Plan makes clear arts and culture are wholly, appreciably and vitally part of Cork City now and essential to its future.

A city of ambition and potential

Cork City’s growth potential is recognised and supported in Project Ireland 2040 and the National Planning Framework which sets out ambitious development targets to secure the city’s prosperity and viability as an ‘internationally competitive, sustainable urban environment’. The future development of the city is being progressed guided by the Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy and discrete local strategies with the ambition for the city as a whole set out in Cork City Council’s pending Development Plan, Our City, Our Future 2022 – 2028 .

Image Credit: Deirdre Breen. Photo Jed Niezgoda

Photo: Clare Keogh

Policy context

Cork City Council’s Arts and Culture Strategy sits within and responds to a number of national and local policy frameworks and plans as follows:

With specific regard to arts and culture, this strategy aligns with and seeks to advance the following national strategies and policies:

Culture 2025 is the Government’s framework policy for culture. It aims to ‘enrich the lives of everyone through engagement in the cultural life of the nation’, and to ‘create opportunities for increased citizen participation.’ Making Great Art Work (2016-2025) , the Arts Council’s ten-year strategy, which sets out priorities focusing on the artist, public engagement, investment, spatial and demographic planning and capacity development. The Arts Council’s Equality, Human Rights and Diversity Policy which ‘strives to respect, support and ensure the inclusion of all voices and cultures that make up Ireland today, from all sections of society, from existing and new communities, and from all social backgrounds, ethnicities and traditions.’ The Arts Council’s Paying the Artist Policy promoting ‘equitable and fair remuneration and contracting within the arts’.

Project Ireland 2040 , published in 2018, is a 116 billion National Planning Framework which aims to guide Ireland’s development in the next two decades. It identifies ‘Culture, Heritage and Sport’ as one of its ten Strategic Investment Priorities, particularly in relation to improving quality of life and adding to a sense of place. The Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy (RSES) for the Southern Region of Ireland defines the strategic regional development framework to implement Project Ireland 2040 at the regional tier of government. It supports the achievement of balanced regional development across the nine counties and three cities which make up the Southern Region. Cork City Council’s Development Plan (2022 – 2028) currently in draft form, sets out how Cork City will grow and develop over the next six years and continue to be an innovative, vibrant and healthy city, consistent with the RSES, national policy and the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The Arts Council’s Place, Space and People Policy , a new framework for socio-spatial equity in the arts presenting a vision ‘for a country where everyone has the opportunity to create, engage with, participate in and enjoy the arts and culture, regardless of who they are or where they live and work’. Creative Ireland , the all-of-Government creativity and well-being programme will now run until 2027. In this extended period of the programme it will organise its work around five pillars: Creative Youth, Creative Communities, Creativity Health and Well-being, Creative Climate Action and Sustainability, Creative Industries. Each local authority will develop and publish a local Creative Ireland strategy for the period 2023 – 2027.

Cork City Local Economic and Community Plan (LECP) is an integrated plan to guide the development of Cork City from an economic, community, cultural, sporting and recreation perspective. The current plan 2022 – 2027 is pending. We attend to all other Council strategies, as appropriate, on an on- going basis, with particular reference to the Cork City Heritage and Biodiversity Plan (2021-2026) and Cork City Council Libraries Plan (2020-2024) and forthcoming Cork City Climate Action Plan. We also understand the European context of our work. We continue to monitor and situate what we do in relation to longstanding development programmes such as Creative Europe , to transformative new initiatives such as the European Green Deal which seeks to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent and to projects such as the New European Bauhaus which aims to bring citizens, experts, businesses, and institutions together to reimagine sustainable living in Europe and beyond.

Scope and remit

This Arts and Culture strategy fulfils that obligation in relation to the arts within Cork City. As such, this strategy focuses its attention on the arts and embraces culture as defined in its relation to the arts. The arts, as defined in the Arts Act 2003, means ‘any creative or interpretive expression (whether traditional or contemporary) in whatever form, and including, in particular, visual arts, theatre, literature, music, dance, opera, film, circus and architecture and including any medium when used for those purposes’. We recognise that art forms have evolved and the boundaries between art forms blurred since this definition of the arts. We acknowledge and look forward to supporting arts and culture as it continues to develop with integrity and ingenuity in the coming years. The Arts Office operates as the Arts and Events section within the Community, Culture and Placemaking Directorate. It is the primary point of coordination of the City Council’s arts development remit as provided for under the Arts Act 2003, as follows: 6(1) A local authority shall, for the purposes of section 67 of the Act of 2001 prepare and implement plans for the development of the arts within its functional area and shall, in so doing, take account of policies of the government in relation to the arts.

Photo: Darragh Kane

About Cork City Arts Office

The role of Cork City Arts Office is to enable and champion the artistic and cultural ambitions of Cork city and its people. We advise and support the Council on all arts and cultural matters and ensure the development of arts and culture in Cork City. We do this through: About Cork City Arts Office

Advocacy

and its role in realising the vision for Cork City’s future in the context of targets set by Ireland 2040. In particular, we seek to promote the potential of the arts in contributing to well-being, community development and cultural reputation. We amplify communication about the arts to the public and support the arts and culture sector in the issues that matter to them.

We ensure that arts and culture remain a pillar of the city and advise on how the arts are considered and embedded, as appropriate, in strategic plans including the City Development Plan, Corporate Plan, Local Area Development Plans, Creative Ireland Local Strategy etc. Through research and demonstration, we build understanding and appreciation of arts across our stakeholder base. With strong evidence, we make the case for arts and culture Partnership has been identified as a key enabler of our strategy. The work of the Arts Office is amplified and extended by a suite of alliances with arts and cultural organisations, educational institutions, community groups and third-party statutory organisations (e.g. other Local Authorities, HSE, ETB) that address gaps in arts provision and development. Partnership projects include: Arts for All; Arts in Schools; Beag Early Years programme; Kinship (Creative Climate We support the arts and culture sector in the creation of events and activities that bring our city and its public spaces to life. Cork’s existing cultural offering ensures a vibrant, diverse calendar of activity throughout the year. In addition, the Arts Office holds an Events function that directly delivers ambitious, large-scale cultural events and festivals in the city for all to enjoy.

Connection

Action); Music Generation and Cork City Artist in Residency programmes.

We also act to identify and broker the relationships and connections that create or enhance opportunities for arts and culture in the city and for artists locally, nationally and internationally. We will seek to strengthen our existing connections and advance new collaborations in the delivery of this strategy. These include Cork St. Patrick’s Day Festival; Glow - Christmas Celebration; Culture Night and Cruinniú na nÓ g. We also support the commissioning and maintenance of Public Art across the city. We look forward to increasing our focus and efforts in this area as a strategic priority over the course of this plan.

Investment

Our investment is financial, infrastructural and developmental. We administer and allocate funding through Arts Grants; Revenue Arts and Cultural allocations; Artists Bursaries; Project Awards and the Arts in Context Scheme. We maximise the use of heritage resources and buildings for arts and cultural purposes. Current arts and cultural building assets of Cork City Council include Civic Trust House, Jack Lynch House, Munster Literature Centre, National Sculpture Factory, St Luke’s, St Peter’s, The Butter Museum, The Guesthouse, The Lido (home to Cork Community Artlink), Triskel Christchurch, Wandesford Quay Complex (home to The Lavit Gallery, Backwater Studios, Cork Printmakers).

Recent capital works at Elizabeth Fort will enhance its function as an outdoors arts and cultural venue into the future. We develop and support targeted professional development for artists and arts workers. In addition to offering learning opportunities, we develop and support residency programmes including Dance Artist in Residence and Theatre Artist in Residence schemes in partnership with Dance Cork Firkin Crane and The Everyman respectively; and Platform 31, a development programme for mid-career artists.

Animation

We look forward to augmenting these supports over the life of this plan.

Purpose, vision and mission

Our purpose (why we exist and our unique contribution to others)

Our mission

(what we do to be true to our purpose and to achieve our vision)

To put arts and culture at the centre of a vibrant, just and progressive city

We enable and champion the artistic and cultural ambitions of Cork city and its people through investment, advocacy, connection and animation.

Our values

Our vision

(what we stand for)

(the ideal that we are working towards)

Cork City to take its place as a world class city, driving local and regional growth, embracing diversity and inclusiveness and growing as a resilient, healthy, age friendly and sustainable compact city with placemaking, communities and quality of life at its heart. We look forward to Cork being a city where art and artists thrive, where arts and culture is for all to enjoy, alive on our streets and in our neighbourhoods, a vibrant expression of all that we are.

Public Good We provide high quality services and address peoples’ needs in a manner that is both inclusive and equitable. Trust and integrity We act honestly, openly and fairly in all our dealings. Respect We treat all people equally with due regard for their needs and rights. People-centric approach We engage with people in a fair, courteous and timely manner. We strive for continuous improvement. Responsibility We are accountable and transparent and act responsibly in our dealings and decision making. Innovation We continually seek progressive and creative approaches in the services we deliver.

Photo: Clare Keogh

Strategic priorities

As well as our strategic priorities the twin themes of representation and environmental sustainability will course through all of our work, informing the actions that we will take to achieve our objectives. We have also identified a triad of enabling practices: partnership, communication and engagement, and learning that will contribute to our success in meeting our strategic priorities.

We have identified five areas of strategic priority which represent a range of ambitions for arts and culture in Cork. These priorities do not exist in isolation, rather complement and reinforce each other to advance our long-term goals.

Strategic priorities

#1 Art for everyone

#2 Space for art

#3 Art in the public realm

#4 A city for artists Goal: We have advanced the culture and conditions that make Cork a city for artists

#5 Capacity and influence

Goal: We have encouraged and enabled more people across all our communities to access and enjoy art

Goal: We have optimised and extended places and spaces for art in the city

Goal: Our city centre and our

Goal: The City Council and the arts sector have the knowledge, skills and capacity to achieve our shared ambitions for arts and culture in Cork

neighbourhoods are animated with art that reflects and celebrates who we are

Connecting themes Representation, Environmental Sustainability

Enablers Partnership, Communication & Engagement, Learning.

Photo: Egle Laukyte

#1 Strategic priority Art for everyone

Photo: Clare Keogh

Strategic priority #1 - Art for everyone

Art for everyone

Objectives

Outcomes

Ensure a variety of opportunities to engage with arts and culture that cross traditional and new art forms, prioritise quality of experience and expression and which have a broad and discrete appeal.

A rich mix of arts and cultural events and experiences are driving strong public engagement.

Goal

We have encouraged and enabled more people across all our communities to access and enjoy art

Partner with city stakeholders including arts and culture, education, health and community services to remove barriers to arts and cultural participation.

A broader diversity of people in a greater variety of contexts are experiencing art in their lives.

Sustain and develop initiatives that centre on the agency of identified groups including children and young people, people with a disability, older people and underrepresented communities.

Constituent groups in our city are engaged in arts and cultural experiences that are by, of and for them.

Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits. Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Promote increased diversity in Cork City’s arts and cultural workforce, including artists and other arts professionals.

The people who make, produce and govern arts and culture in Cork reflect the city demographic.

Why this goal?

We will work to ensure that those who make, attend, participate in, produce and govern the arts in Cork reflect who we are today, and that art made and presented in Cork gives expression to all voices, cultures and experiences. We will do so taking care to support arts and culture activity and engagement across our extended city.

The freedom to participate in the cultural life of your community and to enjoy the arts is a human right. Art for Everyone recognises this. We call it out here as a strategic priority, as a focus of our work. Art for everyone is also a principle driving all that we do. In that regard we are proud to be a signatory to Cork’s ‘Arts for All’* Charter and we look forward to advancing the Charter’s vision for ‘a city which is open, accessible and intentionally inclusive in the arts and which celebrates diversity as a cornerstone of creativity’ over the coming years.

Attend to the cultural capacity and evolving needs of the city, and in particular Cork’s new neighbourhoods, towns and communities.

A spatial strategy is guiding our focus and investment across Cork City’s urban, suburban and rural neighbourhoods.

* ‘Arts for All’ is a Cork-based alliance of individuals, groups and organisations who are committed to inclusion, diversity and equality in the arts.

#2 Strategic priority Space for art

Photo: Egle Laukyte

Strategic priority #2 - Space for art

Space for art

Objectives

Outcomes

Advance relevant objectives in the City Development Plan, in particular those under Strategic Objectives 2, 6, 7 and 9, embedding arts and culture considerations in City Council planning and development processes.

Commitments in the City Development Plan that are specific and relevant to arts and culture infrastructural considerations are being realised.

Goal

We have optimised and extended places and spaces for art in the city

Protect and enhance the Council’s existing cultural infrastructure and seek to maximise its impact for arts and culture.

Cork City Council’s arts and cultural infrastructure is safeguarded as a sustainable, effective resource into the future.

Extend the availability of permanent, temporary and meanwhile spaces through collaboration with city stakeholders and in response to evolving arts and cultural spatial needs.

There is increased availability and a diversity of spaces to meet identified needs.

Why this goal?

private developers, government and statutory agencies.

Cork City is growing and changing. As such, it is vital to ensure that the physical arts and cultural infrastructure is sustained and expanded to meet the needs of the transforming city and to deliver on the arts and cultural ambitions it holds. This goal demands innovative short and long-term solutions and the collective efforts of stakeholders including the council, the arts and culture sector,

Work towards the development of an arts creation space in the city centre.

Plans for a flagship arts creation facility in Cork City have been approved for development.

Over the next five years, alongside the planned major capital developments of the Events Centre and Crawford Art Gallery, we will explore and advance opportunities to augment space for art sustainably across the city. In particular, we will pursue the recognised potential for arts and culture in the regeneration of the city centre.

Explore and advance delivery mechanisms and incentives for the inclusion of arts and cultural facilities in redevelopment and regeneration plans.

Arts and culture facilities are being considered at early design stage in redevelopment and regeneration projects.

#3 Strategic priority Art in the

public realm

CORK IGNITE, live public artwork by Simon McKeown. Photo: Clare Keogh

Strategic priority #3 - Art in the public realm

Art in the public realm

Objectives

Outcomes

Develop and implement a public art strategy that coheres our approach to public art commissioning and advances ambitious and innovative artist-led, publicly engaged practice.

Perceptions of public art have been transformed though the quality, inventiveness and range of Cork City’s commissioned projects.

Maximise the opportunity of the Per Cent for Art scheme in the context of the developing city.

All eligible Cork City Council capital development projects include public art commissions.

Goal

Our city centre and our neighbourhoods are animated with art that reflects and celebrates who we are Definition of Public art Public art can be of any form and can work within or across many art forms, such as visual art, dance, film, literature, music, opera, theatre and architecture; including all aspects of contemporary arts practice such as performance, live art, multimedia, video art, sound art, etc. Works under the scheme can be of any duration, temporary or permanent, and can be centred in an urban or rural context. From: Public Art Per Cent For Art Scheme 2004. General National Guidelines, Department of the Environment

Support and facilitate the arts and culture sector’s capacity to produce high quality, ambitious arts experiences for residents and visitors in the city’s public realm.

Cork’s arts and culture sector is producing arts activities of impact and imagination in public spaces that engender a sense of pride and belonging as well as contribute to the city’s distinct appeal.

Extend and diversify opportunities for arts and culture programming within signature events led by the city.

The public experience of Cork City’s signature events is enhanced, and investment is leveraged for the benefit of the city and its arts and cultural communities.

Build authentic, sustainable opportunities for arts and cultural engagement in neighbourhoods, towns and communities across the city.

More communities are leading inclusive arts activities in their area.

Why this goal?

Cork City and capacitate the realisation of memorable arts experiences in the public realm, across all art forms and practices, ensuring environmentally sustainable approaches. We look forward to contributing to making Cork’s public spaces safe, attractive, and inclusive, for the enjoyment of everyone.

Our ambition is to make art visible and available to all those who live, work in or visit Cork. We want to create a sense of pride and excitement about our city and to add to its vibrancy. We will focus on three areas of work: public art; outdoor festivals, street arts and events; and creative placemaking in our communities. We will build on the strong tradition of outdoor arts in

#4 Strategic priority A city for artists

Photo: Clare Keogh

Strategic priority #4 - A city for artists

A city for artists

Objectives

Outcomes

Ensure our investment strategy meaningfully supports artists and those who advance arts practice in the city.

Artists are supported to develop and make work of quality, scale, ambition and criticality.

Create and extend professional development opportunities and

Artists and arts professionals have the knowledge, skills and professional relationships that increase their capacity to build sustainable careers.

pathways that facilitate artists and arts professionals to progress their practice and career ambitions, complementing sectoral initiatives.

We have advanced the culture and conditions that make Cork a city for artists

Goal

Partner with the third level education sector to maximise resources, increase networks and support cultural growth and opportunities in the city.

Connection with the city’s third level institutions is explicitly contributing to the arts and culture ecology of the city and supporting the life-cycle of artists careers.

Why this goal?

supported by an enabling arts and cultural ecology.

In 2005 Cork was European City of Culture. The designation brought pride and distinction to our city acknowledging our rich arts and cultural heritage and progressive, contemporary practices. We have enjoyed and built on the legacy of Cork 2005 since that landmark year, and we want to continue to distinguish Cork nationally and internationally as a city of art and culture. Specifically, we want Cork to be a city where artists can live and work; to be a base from where they can build a career,

Ensure the needs of artists and arts professionals are considered in mixed- use community infrastructure, housing and creative workspace development schemes.

Arts and cultural uses feature in the design of new city developments.

Over the next five years we will take important steps towards achieving the culture and conditions that will affirm Cork City as an attractive and feasible home for artists and arts professionals. We will marshal Cork City’s strengths as an open, compact, creative city, its designation as a UNESCO Learning City, and its highly developed arts educational infrastructure towards the achievement of this goal.

Understand the role of the cultural and creative industries in contributing to Cork as a city for artists.

We have a framework to advance the potential of Cork’s creative industries to expand and diversify arts and cultural production and employment opportunities.

#5 Strategic priority Capacity and influence

Image Credit: Darragh Wilkins. Photo: Clare Keogh

Strategic priority #5 - Capacity and influence

Capacity and influence

Objectives

Outcomes

Develop an investment strategy that ensures public monies are invested effectively to realise the Council’s arts and culture priorities.

The impacts of the City’s investment in arts and culture are evident, valued and recorded.

Ensure the expertise, capacity and resources of the Arts Office are aligned with the ambition of this strategy.

The staff complement, knowledge and skill base is assuring the effective delivery of the strategy.

Goal

The City Council and the arts sector have the knowledge, skills and capacity to achieve our shared ambitions for arts and culture in Cork

Advance the sustainability of the arts and cultural sector through supports and initiatives to strengthen governance and leadership capacity.

The arts and cultural sector in Cork City is robust, resilient and equipped to ensure its future.

Amplify arts and culture in Cork City and support audience development through active, relevant communication and public engagement.

More people know, experience and appreciate the full breadth of arts and cultural activity in the city.

Why this goal?

In that regard, recognising the devastating impact of the global health crisis on the arts and culture sector, in the early years of this strategy specifically, we will support the sector in processes of recovery and renewal.

The realisation of our strategic priorities relies on the enthusiasm and capacity of the Arts Office, the arts and culture sector and the Council itself. Over the period of this strategy we will invest in people, knowledge and advocacy to encourage and enable the pursuit of our shared ambitions for arts and culture in Cork City. We look forward to enhancing awareness of arts and culture in Cork and to advancing evidence-based understanding of its value in people’s lives and to the city.

Undertake research to understand the impacts and value of the arts and culture to Cork City.

Evidence is informing our priorities and decision-making to advance arts and culture in Cork City.

The sustainability of arts and culture is vital to the life and vibrancy of the city.

Leverage opportunities arising from points of alignment with Cork City’s Creative Ireland strategy.

Investment has enhanced our capacity to influence arts practice in the areas of youth, community, health and climate action in particular.

Broker and enable the shared endeavour of the arts and culture sector and the City Council and other city stakeholders towards the realisation of this strategy.

A common purpose and collective effort are mobilising progress for arts and culture in the city.

Implementation and delivery

The realisation of this strategy relies on a collective effort between the City Council, the arts and culture sector and our local and national partners, led and coordinated by the Arts Office.

The continued support of the Arts Council through its significant investment in the Cork City arts sector is also a key factor for success. To that end, we will ensure alignment of our priorities for arts in Cork City through a reviewed and updated Partnership Framework Agreement between Cork City Council and the Arts Council. The implementation of this strategy will ensure accountability. We will create annual workplans that include actions to progress each of the identified objectives. Implementation will be monitored in quarterly internal meetings to review progress and we will report to relevant committees of the Council

including the Arts Committee and the Community, Culture and Placemaking Special Planning Committee. We will publish an annual report that will detail our progress in realising the outcomes identified in this strategy. The annual report of the Arts Office will also document how the connecting themes of representation and environmental sustainability are being integrated across our work. The strategy will be subject to a mid- way review and we will commission an evaluation to commence in the penultimate year of the strategic plan.

Photo: Clare Keogh

Photo: Cathal Noonan

Photo: Egle Laukyte

Appendix 1

iii

Semi-structured depth interviews with key internal stakeholders and expert external informants as follows:

Internal interviews | Cork City Council

Michelle Carew, Arts Officer Ann Doherty, Chief Executive

Strategy development process

Fearghal Reidy, Director of Strategic and Economic Development Adrienne Rodgers, Director of Community, Culture and Placemaking

External interviews | To explore artist supports, funding partnership, participation, public art, youth arts, visitor experience.

The development of Cork City Council’s Arts and Culture Strategy was informed by a robust programme of research and consultation led by the Arts Office, supported and guided by a Strategy Working Group and reporting to the Arts Committee of Cork City Council.

Kath Gorman, Founder/Creative Director, Promenade Strategic and Creative Producing Services Ruth Griffin, Adult Education Officer, Cork ETB Seamus Heaney, Head of Visit Cork Leanne MacDonagh, Visual artist Luke Murphy, Dancer and Choreographer John O’Brien, Composer Fionnuala O’Connell, Youth Arts Worker, Cork Migrant Centre Sinead O’Reilly, Head of Local, Place and Public Art. The Arts Council Mags O’Sullivan, Coordinator, Music Generation Cork City Gaynor Seville, Creative Director, The Whitaker Museum and Galleries, UK

There were two phases of research and consultation. The first ‘discovery’ phase sought to uncover all relevant themes to frame the key considerations and potential themes of the strategy. Work in this phase encompassed:

Engagement with children and young people and under-represented groups.

A public ‘Have your Say’ survey.

Expert partners including Cork Creates, Cork Migrant Centre, Crawford Supported Studios, Graffiti Theatre Company, Music Generation Cork City, School of the Divine Child, Lavanagh Centre and The Glucksman facilitated engagement with 16 groups as follows: Activate Youth Theatre Groups (8-18 years) | Graffiti Theatre Company x 4 Cork Creates Arts Groups (12 years+) x 6 Dance Group (14-18 years) | Cork Migrant Centre x 1 Good Shepherd Homeless Support Organisation (5-13 years) | The Glucksman x 1 Learning Supports Services (16 years+) | Music Generation Cork City x 1 Mahon Community Pop Academy | Music Generation Cork City x 1 Primary Students with Complex Needs | School of the Divine Child, Lavanagh Centre x 1 Artists with specific health or social needs | Crawford Supported Studios x 1

This online survey conducted via the Council’s consultation platform gathered the views of 247 respondents, 42% of whom identified as artists or arts professionals. The survey sought to understand people’s perception of arts and culture in Cork; what they liked about arts and culture in the city and wished to sustain; what they would like to improve about arts and culture; their vision of and priorities for arts and culture in the future.

A survey of artists in receipt of funding or support from the Arts Office 2016 – 2021.

This online survey conducted via Survey Monkey sought to understand the efficacy and impact of Arts Office supports to artists, including but not limited to funding; artists’ experience of engaging with the Arts Office; the supports of most importance to artists and arts practice for the future. 234 artists were eligible to take part in the survey and 96 responded (41%).

Workshops with internal stakeholders.

Workshops were facilitated with the Arts and Events team, Arts Committee and Strategy Working Group.

Appendix 1

Once this initial ‘discovery’ phase of research and consultation was completed, a findings report was prepared and key considerations and themes identified. The findings, key considerations and themes were shared and discussed in a meeting with senior management and in two workshops with 75 artists and arts professionals. A series of ‘close inquiry’ meetings were also held with expert informants from within the Council, the arts and culture sector and other relevant areas.

Following these two phases of research and consultation, a draft Arts and Culture Strategy was developed. This was then shared for review and feedback on Cork City Council’s public consultation portal for a period from 14 April to 5 May 2022.

10 submissions offering comment and observations were received from the following parties:

Close Inquiry meetings and participants were as follows:

Eimear Reidy Eoin Nash Sample-Studios School of the Divine Child, Lavanagh Centre The Kabin Studio

Cork Chamber of Commerce Cork Community Media Hub Cork International Film Festival Art Room Ballincollig Dance Cork Firkin Crane

City for artists

Art in the public realm

Ciara Glasheen-Artem , Head of MTU Cork School of Music Marie Kelly , Programme Director of the MA in Arts Management & Creative Producing, University College Cork Colette Lewis , Visual Artist Pat Kiernan , Director, Corcadorca Rose McGrath , Head of MTU Crawford College of Art and Design Sophie Motley , Artistic Director, Everyman Palace Siobhán Ni Dhuinnín , Dance Artist and Cork Arts Freelancers Niall O’Keeffe , Head of Enterprise, Cork City Council Dr. Eve Olney , Artist and Co-Founder, Radical Institute and Living Commons

Mark Birch , Project Manager NWQPR, Cork City Council Valerie Byrne , Director, National Sculpture Factory

Cork City Council Arts Committee

Liam Casey , Senior Executive Parks, Superintendent, Cork City Council

Cllr. Deirdre Forde (Chair) Cllr. Joe Kavanagh Cllr. Kieran McCarthy Cllr. Shane O’Callaghan Cllr. Kenneth O’Flynn

Cllr. Lorna Bogue Cllr. Damian Boylan Cllr. Dan Boyle Cllr. Kenneth Collins Cllr. Mary Rose Desmond Cllr. Paudie Dineen

Kelly Cotel , Graduate Planner, Cork City Council Lorcan Griffin , Senior Executive Planner and Urban Designer, Cork City Council Mary Hickson , Creative Producer Margaret Kelly , Public Affairs and Sustainability Executive, Cork Chamber Roseanne Kidney , Director, Goldiefish Events Lorraine Maye , Director, Cork Midsummer Festival

Arts and Culture Strategy Working Group

Director of Service, Community Culture and Placemaking Senior Archivist Senior Staff Officer, Irish Language Officer Executive Archaeologist Curator, Cork Public Museum Cork City Librarian Elected Member of Cork City Council Analyst Programmer, ICT Cork Learning City Coordinator Tourism Officer Senior Parks and Landscape Officer Executive Scientist, Environmental Awareness Officer Senior Executive Engineer, Climate Action Unit Arts Officer Head of Enterprise Assistant Arts Officer – Community Arts Events Manager Cork City Architect Head of Enterprise Heritage Officer Senior Executive Librarian, Library Service Director of Service, International Relations and Corporate Affairs CEDO & RAPID Coordinator Senior Executive Estates Officer

Adrienne Rodgers Brian McGee Chris Dorgan Ciara Brett Daniel Breen David O’Brien Cllr. Deirdre Forde Deirdre Hallihan Denis Barrett Elmarie McCarthy

Art for everyone

Space for art

Denis Barrett , Learning City Coordinator, Cork City Council Dr. Sheelagh Broderick , Senior Health Promotion Officer (West Cork), Healthy Ireland Arts and Culture Lead, HSE Niall Cleary , CEO and Artistic Director, Graffiti Theatre Company Louise Foott , Head of Department, Arts in Health and Education, Munster Technological University Dr. Naomi Masheti , Programme Coordinator, Cork Migrant Centre Tracey Holt , Coordinator, Children and Young People’s Service Committee, Cork Eleanor Moore , Principal Community Worker. Cork Kerry Community Healthcare Eoin Nash , Manager, Arts and Creative Arts Therapies, Cope Foundation Kieran O’Connell , Social Inclusion Specialist, Cork City Council

Fiona Clark , Festival Director and CEO, Cork International Film Festival Seamus Coghlan , Head of Economic Development, Cork City Council Stephen Fox , Senior Executive Estates Officer, Cork City Council Eibhlin Gleeson , CEO, Cork Opera House Aoibhie McCarthy , Artistic Director, Sample- Studios Mary McCarthy , Director, Crawford Art Gallery. Brigh Ryan , Executive Planner, Cork City Council Jeremy Ward , Senior Executive Planner, Cork City Council Stephen Fox , Property, CCC

Liam Casey Mary Walsh

Micheál Lyons Michelle Carew Niall O’Keefe Siobhán Clancy Trish Murphy Tony Duggan Niall O’Keefe Niamh Twomey Patricia Looney Paul Moynihan Sandra O’Meara Stephen Fox

Acknowledgements

The Arts Office would like to convey appreciation for the artists and arts and cultural organisations of Cork city for their sincere engagement in the strategy consultation process. Thanks to the many members of the public who took the time to engage in the process and to all respondents who gave their time to interviews, workshops as well as those who made written submissions to the draft strategy. A particular acknowledgment goes to our expert partners who helped us to reach further in ensuring children, young people and under-represented groups were included in the consultation. Thanks to the Arts Committee of elected members to Cork City Council for their oversight and participation. Thanks also to City Council colleagues who contributed their time and expertise to the Strategy Working Group as well as to the Arts & Events staff team. A final acknowledgment of the services of consultants, Annette Nugent and Janice McAdam who expertly supported the research, consultation and drafting of the strategy with rigour and clarity.

Arts Office Community, Culture & Placemaking Directorate Cork City Council City Hall, Anglesea Street

Cork City T12 T997

021 492 4000

@corkcityarts www.corkcity.ie

Cover image: CORK IGNITE, live public artwork by Simon McKeown. Photo: Clare Keogh

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