Is Galway Really a City of High Culture?

JupiterKid

Reading through these threads on the Galway city forum got me thinking. I've always percieved Galway city to be a special place in Ireland, a city of the Irish language and a high degree of cultural activities and innovative/creative arts. An educated city where its inhabitants have a heightened sense of the arts and Irish culture.

Galway is one oif my favourite place in Ireland, and I always think of the city as having a mix of traditional arts mixed with cutting edge arty endeavours.

But is this image really true? Is this just a facade and is Galway city really just another city with sprawling suburbs, pollution, growing street violence and problems stemming from very rapid growth?

cornbb

Interesting question. Galway certainly does suffer from the problems which you describe, but probably not to the same extent as other Irish towns (maybe with the exception of horrific planning policies, which seem to be particularly bad in Galway).

There is a decent arts/cultural scene in the city. However, I'm not sure that this scene is miles better than elsewhere in the country - I just think Galway is lucky enough to enjoy a good reputation in this regard; this along with the well-established summer festivals keep the cultural scene sustained nicely. If you consider Irish heritage (things such as preservation of the Irish culture/language) I think Galway is a real gem and you won't see better respect and celebration for these things in any other Irish town.

Having said that, whether Galway is a "good" or "bad" city to live in or visit will depend on the individual's experiences here and their preferences in life, whether they be cultural pursuits, binge drinking, live music, enjoying watersports/nature, or whatever. Some people might find it too small or not anonymous enough.

I lived in Limerick for a long time, there is a surprisingly vibrant arts scene there too, but it is perhaps under-appreciated given that Limerick doesn't enjoy the same reputation that Galway does. I enjoyed Limerick and I preferred certain things about it over Galway (better infrastructure and better job prospects IMO) but Galway has a spirit that I really like. The hordes of stag/hen parties and other assorted w*nkers are annoying, but as you said there are plenty of young, educated and creative people here too, it feels like there is more stuff happening here than a town this size deserves, and it feels safer overall than most Irish cities.

My €0.02.

Xiney

I wouldn't really call it a city of high culture.

Then again, I wouldn't even really call it a city.





...at least it's better than Dublin.

Xiney

Xiney wrote: »

I wouldn't really call it a city of high culture.

Then again, I wouldn't even really call it a city.





...at least it's better than Dublin.

That's not hard really

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

I think Galway, culturally speaking, is a great town, you won't find many places like it for the amount of festivals and events it has. Great vibrant spot with a young population.

Dunno what effect the overdevelopment of the city in recent years will have in the future, the infrastructure is still poor and the urban sprawl is a joke, especially on the west side of town, but I don't think that affects the whole spirit and vibe around the area.

Fair enough it has it's problems; drunk arseholes, dirty scumbags (Galway is a lot rougher than people would have you believe - I never realised how much so until I moved here) etc, but I still reckon it's a great place to live.

Mrs OBumble

I think of Cork as the high-art capital of Ireland, and Galway as the folk-art capital.

In my eyes, Ireland as a whole has a pretty high level of art/music/culture: 'tis one of the reasons I'm still here. Compare Galway to any similar sized British town/city, and you'll see why.

topper75

JustMary wrote: »

I think of Cork as the high-art capital of Ireland, and Galway as the folk-art capital.

Spot on there with Galway. It's folk culture, not high culture. However, Cork as high culture capital? Cork has the Crawford Gallery, Opera House, Everyman theatre. That alone doesn't make Cork high culture capital. Limerick City would match all those - Irish chamber orchestra, Lyric FM, Hunt Museum.

I think the whole 'Gaeilge' thing in Galway is overplayed. I tried it out, with simple transactions, in a few of the shops that have Gaillimh le Gaeilge stickers on their window and was told in each case in the most dismissive frightened English that the person who put that up wasn't serving today. Gaelic fonts on shopnames are not enough to be given this title I think.

You encounter similar myths in Limerick with it's self-styled 'Ireland's sporting capital'. Watching sport in armchairs with a can in the hand or gathering together in the street to look at screens maybe. 1973 was the last GAA success and soccer is probably back in early 80s. No great track and fielders, swimmers, or cyclists lately. Just some rugby success through 3 or so clubs and a healthy rep on the national team. That doesn't make it a sporting capital. Galway has trumped them in recent years with sporting success.

It's amazing the difference between 'marketing image' and reality for all 3 provincial cities.

Amazotheamazing

topper75 wrote: »

You encounter similar myths in Limerick with it's self-styled 'Ireland's sporting capital'. Watching sport in armchairs with a can in the hand or gathering together in the street to look at screens maybe. 1973 was the last GAA success and soccer is probably back in early 80s. No great track and fielders, swimmers, or cyclists lately. Just some rugby success through 3 or so clubs and a healthy rep on the national team. That doesn't make it a sporting capital. Galway has trumped them in recent years with sporting success.

It's amazing the difference between 'marketing image' and reality for all 3 provincial cities.

Bad week to slag Limerick's swimmers.

http://www.limerickleader.ie/sport/European-Gold-for-Castletroy-swimmer.5454453.jp

Of course there's truth in what you say, about both Galway and Limerick.

diverdriver

Xiney wrote: »

I wouldn't really call it a city of high culture.

Then again, I wouldn't even really call it a city.





...at least it's better than Dublin.

The first two lines are correct but then you went and spoiled it. Slag off Dublin if you will, everyone does. It's the easy target, no one ever seems to have a good word to say for Dublin. But I'll tell you this as a transplanted Dub living in Galway, it has a lot more going for it than Galway.

There is no high culture in Galway, never was. Plenty of low culture, bars and bodhran players and Macnas:rolleyes: and of course that pinnacle of low culture, the Galway Races, drink and gambling a plenty. Plenty of folk culture too, well in certain pubs.

Galway gained itself a great reputation in recent years. I bought into too when I came here. But disillusionment set in quickly enough on many fronts. Limerick in my opinion is a much better city.

So by all means have a go at Dublin. In the meantime Galway is rapidly on the way to becoming a parody of itself.

High culture indeed!:rolleyes:

topper75

diverdriver wrote: »

Limerick in my opinion is a much better city.

Moving between both places as I do, I think about this question a lot. The answer would depend on what week you ask me!:pac: I think one place counterbalances the other perfectly and provides what the other doesn't, and hopefully if they are properly connected by transport networks in the future, they can offer a meaningful counterbalance nationally with a sprawling Dublin in the east. This would be ultimately good for Dubs too. Cork has unfortunately failed to fulfill such a role.

diverdriver wrote: »

In the meantime Galway is rapidly on the way to becoming a parody of itself.

I hear you on this. Everyone involved with Galway needs to push to avoid this.

biko

What Mary said, we are not high culture but have retained a lot of the traditions of old Ireland. Summers are filled with trad sessions and the like. It's not high brow, just a mighty craic. We have the hippies doing their stuff in the markets and we have the art galleries but just one major museum.

lightening

Magnus wrote: »

We have the hippies doing their stuff in the markets and we have the art galleries but just one major museum.

Yeah, when it comes to museums and galleries you just can't beat Dublin, I guess it's down to sheer size and population. On an initial visit one would think Galway is fairly cultural, but a lot of people consider Galway Irelands Temple Bar these days along with a few English hippies!

Mind you, the biggest cultural festival in the country is held in Galway, that has to say something.

holmyster

sure it's not even a city!!

cornbb

In absolute terms there's no way you could consider Galway a city of "high culture" (e.g. held up alongside New York, Paris, Rome) but you could say the same for Dublin. In relative terms, I think the place is doing relatively ok - the Arts scene here isn't going to blow anyone's mind, but the Arts Festival every year manages to draw some pretty big names so I suppose we're not doing too badly.

Mr. Presentable

On Tuesday through Friday it's a city of high culchies, if that's of any help.

Joking aside, I'd say no - where's the opera house, etc? It does have its charms, though.

dinneenp

we need some more venues- a gallery or two etc.

Webbs

For a city/town of its size it punches far above its weight, one poster mentioned an opera house but there just isnt the population numbers to make something like that viable.
The arts cinema will be a good addition to the city, what is needed is a good sized venue for an art gallery/museum and also a large sized flexible venue space that can accomodate upto say 3000 people and also be used for smaller events, conferences etc.

I cant think of many places of Galways size in the UK that would have anywhere near the amount of events that Galway attracts in a year (film, literature, art, sport festivals)

TristanPeter

Whether or not any city in the world is of high culture or not depends completely on the individual, not on the city itself. Just because there is no opera house in Galway does not mean that opera can't exist. If enough people show enough interest in something then perhaps the facilities will be built to cater for the established demand. There is nothing to prevent anyone from getting high-culture initiatives off the ground. Ok, this is just an example but look the Volvo Ocean Race for instance. 3 or 4 guys (mostly John Killeen I think) made it happen. They used an existing facility i.e. the commercial docks and found another use for it.

An opera house will never be built in Galway until it is evident that it will be used (reminds me of the Simpsons episode where they build one in Springfield...and then it closes sown shortly afterwards ).

NUIG often hosts classical music events. Con Tempo Quartet are often advertised so really, in my opinion it's up to the individual to seek things out or get the ball rolling in terms of creating diversity.

How much high culture does Galway have? That's up to you. If you feel something is needed and it's not there, try to get something going

ciotog

TristanPeter wrote: »

Whether or not any city in the world is of high culture or not depends completely on the individual, not on the city itself. Just because there is no opera house in Galway does not mean that opera can't exist. If enough people show enough interest in something then perhaps the facilities will be built to cater for the established demand. There is nothing to prevent anyone from getting high-culture initiatives off the ground. Ok, this is just an example but look the Volvo Ocean Race for instance. 3 or 4 guys (mostly John Killeen I think) made it happen. They used an existing facility i.e. the commercial docks and found another use for it.

An opera house will never be built in Galway until it is evident that it will be used (reminds me of the Simpsons episode where they build one in Springfield...and then it closes sown shortly afterwards ).

NUIG often hosts classical music events. Con Tempo Quartet are often advertised so really, in my opinion it's up to the individual to seek things out or get the ball rolling in terms of creating diversity.

How much high culture does Galway have? That's up to you. If you feel something is needed and it's not there, try to get something going

It's possibly also a case of people not being aware of what's going on around Galway. Must keep an eye out for those NUIG events.

Fracture

Galway does seem to have that Cultural image attached to it, id say maybe 10 years ago it was alot more cultural, but with the amount of people coming into galway its getting "watered down" so to speak,
if your into the whole culture thing it can easily be found in galway but if your not its also easy to miss it, especially with the amount of club and late bars etc.

Its still 10 times better than dublin, I personally dont even think of Dublin as a proper Irish place anyway, its like an ethnic playground. Not complaining but its just too damn busy, i hate the place.

Mrs OBumble

TristanPeter wrote: »

Just because there is no opera house in Galway does not mean that opera can't exist. If enough people show enough interest in something then perhaps the facilities will be built to cater for the established demand. There is nothing to prevent anyone from getting high-culture initiatives off the ground.

Kinda true, but kinda not:

Yes, the Music for Galway folks do a mighty fine job of organising high-quality concerts (to name one aspect).

But there's just something wrong about seeing the RTE orchestra in Leisureland: it feels like a grotty school hall, and the lack of space means that instrument cases have to be left lying on the side of the stage. Fine when your eyes are closed, but that's all.

Personally I'm not convinced that the large venue that was proposed for Fisheries Field (and didn't get funding) was the best idea. It's close to the university, true, but badly serviced by public transport and roads. Seems to be it would be far better as part of a bigger development in Ceannt Station.

My 2c.

lightening

Fracture wrote: »

but with the amount of people coming into galway its getting "watered down" so to speak...... I personally dont even think of Dublin as a proper Irish place anyway, its like an ethnic playground. Not complaining but its just too damn busy, i hate the place.

People make culture and culture evolves.

Mr Cork Man

deccurley wrote: »

I think Galway, culturally speaking, is a great town, you won't find many places like it for the amount of festivals and events it has. Great vibrant spot with a young population.

Dunno what effect the overdevelopment of the city in recent years will have in the future, the infrastructure is still poor and the urban sprawl is a joke, especially on the west side of town, but I don't think that affects the whole spirit and vibe around the area.

Fair enough it has it's problems; drunk arseholes, dirty scumbags (Galway is a lot rougher than people would have you believe - I never realised how much so until I moved here) etc, but I still reckon it's a great place to live.

It has it's scum element but it has the conveniences of a big city while still feeling like a town like mallow or such like.

markopantelic

Fracture wrote: »

Galway does seem to have that Cultural image attached to it, id say maybe 10 years ago it was alot more cultural, but with the amount of people coming into galway its getting "watered down" so to speak,
if your into the whole culture thing it can easily be found in galway but if your not its also easy to miss it, especially with the amount of club and late bars etc.

Its still 10 times better than dublin, I personally dont even think of Dublin as a proper Irish place anyway, its like an ethnic playground. Not complaining but its just too damn busy, i hate the place.

And for this I am so happy. Dublin>Ireland.

Galway 'High culture' LMAO. the very fact people are comparing galway to british cities just shows how poor a city it is. It has its charms from what I remember from holiday down there as a kid, never rained while I was there either but Yeah Dublin on this island is far and away the best.

Mr Cork Man

markopantelic wrote: »

And for this I am so happy. Dublin>Ireland.

Galway 'High culture' LMAO. the very fact people are comparing galway to british cities just shows how poor a city it is. It has its charms from what I remember from holiday down there as a kid, never rained while I was there either but Yeah Dublin on this island is far and away the best.

Sure Dublin may as well be a british city anyway.:D

cornbb

markopantelic wrote: »

Galway 'High culture' LMAO

I don't agree that Galway is a city of high culture but I'd be very interested to hear justification for a claim that Dublin is....

lightening

cornbb wrote: »

I don't agree that Galway is a city of high culture but I'd be very interested to hear justification for a claim that Dublin is....

Maybe not high culture, but Galway has culture and lots of subcultures. I guess it depend on what you consider culture. Dublin is seeped in culture and subcultures, from the latest arrivals to medieval times. When it comes to high culture not only do we have excellent galleries and museums, lot and lots of exhibitions head to the capital. Some of the smaller galleries are brilliant. The National concert hall hosts the best, check out the website. The list goes on.... check out the Dublin forum, lots of stuff on there. It may be a different type of culture to what you consider culture, but it's there for all to see, humanities, fine arts, dance, theatre, painting, sculpture...

Lots of IRISH and European based creative culture here if you want to look outwards. Some of the events could be coming to Galway, well worth a goo..

http://www.candycollective.com/

topper75

Dublin museums? Yeah I was in those.:mad:

"Found in Barna, Co.Galway. C 5th cent AD... ". etc. etc.

So we gave stuff up to you guys for the nation to see and enjoy. And you then propose your city to have more high culture than ours. Gee thanks.

markopantelic

the art gallery in dublin is one of the best in europe, very under appreciated.

Greaney

To compare Dublin and Galway is silly. Dublin is a capital city with 40% of the countries population living in it's city and suburbs.

Back to the post... The reason Galway has gained such a reputation for art was that it was puching well above it's weight by the late 80's. We had the first professional rep company outside Dublin (Druid), The largest literary and arts festivals in the country and the biggest street theatre in the country that really upped the profile of the city. Because rents had been cheaper than Dublin many artists moved west throughout the 80's too.

We had the lowest Urban crime rate up untill the early 90's (a heap of scumbags from notorious families who'd been put away in the mid 80's got out of prison in the summer of '91 and there was a famous riot down the dole office.... another story). So untill then it was a very chilled out city. Unemployment was lower than the national average and heaps of arts projects were starting off.

Regarding the Irish language, we had a very vibrant company (Na Fainaithe) who represented us at Expó in Seville in '92 I think. They won heaps of awards. When they were offered all sorts of grants and supports on condition that they moved to Dublin, they declined, saw support for their projects disappear. Many of the founding members now work in TG4 etc. A huge loss to Irish Theatre.

Compared to many smaller towns, per capita, we have a shocking lack of venues and yet we still have a fringe theatre festival in the Autumn, growing every year.

Galway Bay fm has just been the first regional radio station to produce and broadcast a comedy drama outside of RTE. I'm sure I could find more to write however I'm tired of typing now, so I'll just leave it at that. I'd rather be constructive than bitch.

TristanPeter

TristanPeter wrote: »

NUIG often hosts classical music events. Con Tempo Quartet are often advertised so really, in my opinion it's up to the individual to seek things out or get the ball rolling in terms of creating diversity.

The group that organise these events is called Music For Galway:

http://www.musicforgalway.ie/concerts.html

Just Mary referenced them in a subsequent post but I never copped it and it was just now when I went back to this thread that I realized it

Anyway, I became a member today. They have 25 concerts planned for this year alone according to the lady on the phone. That's amazing imo and only €40 to join. You then get discounts on tickets. I'm going on Thursday evening for the first time. Really looking forward to it and just to go back to the original post, this is the kind of thing that helps to promote Galway's status as a city of "high culture."