Limerick City of Culture

Toffeeboy

So the year is nearly over.

Was it a success ?

What were peoples highlights? (Apart from Granny)

I don't think they are doing anything for end of year???

If it was to continue into next year and IF they had the cash what would you like to see?

phog

I'd class it as a success, I loved the street art, the lit up archways, the play about the Shannon on the barge, the pop up museum on Ruthland St, the city of churches, the various exhibitions around the city, Fuerza Bruta, The Giant Granny. Probably forgotten tons of stuff. Most of all, the community spirit it brought back to the city.

Taco Chips

I thought it was an absolute success. Loads of things to be involved in all year, variety of events and great participation from the people too. Smashing year, can't wait for the next one.

Silentcorner

I thought it was an outstanding success.

The entire program reflected the personality of the city, Karl Wallace and Mike Fitzpatrick should be very proud of themselves, so too should everybody who participated.

It would be difficult to pick a favourite because a lot of it was so different, obviously the headline events were savage, The NYE concert, Fuerza Bruuta, No fit State, Royal De lux, but there were some savage exhibits also, The Enclave, Cheaster Beatty Collection, Faces of Limerick, Brian McMahons exhibit were stand out for me.

But I was also really surprised at the quality of the Made In Limerick events, the Unlucky Cabin Boy was excellent, the venues and the quality of the production was top drawer. I genuinely did not realise how deep the culture went in the city, and I though I did!!...and there was a lot I couldn't get to...

When you bear in mind the states and the Irish media's input which were pathetic it really underlines the success of this...

zulutango

I'd say it was a great success too.

The highlights for me were No Fit State back in June and The Beautiful Dreamers performance which was on last weekend. Actually, The Enclave was great too.

phog

zulutango wrote: »

I'd say it was a great success too.

The highlights for me were No Fit State back in June and The Beautiful Dreamers performance which was on last weekend. Actually, The Enclave was great too.

This is why I think it's a success, there was so much happening for so many, these three highlights weren't even on my radar. Also, so many of the events were free and some could never have happened without the funding from the City of Culture.

zulutango

I really hope it's an eye opener to the powers that be in the city council just how beneficial to the city that 'culture' can be. As much as we all like rugby, supporting cultural events is likely to have a far greater long term benefit in the form of tourism and, of course, the general life of the city.

Silentcorner

zulutango wrote: »

I really hope it's an eye opener to the powers that be in the city council just how beneficial to the city that 'culture' can be. As much as we all like rugby, supporting cultural events is likely to have a far greater long term benefit in the form of tourism and, of course, the general life of the city.

Spot on.

If it had been up to me I'll have thrown the €6million on a Sporting event of some description...it would have been wasted.

What I loved about it all was how little the role alcohol has played in my enjoyment of the year....

The diversity of the city's cultural side is such that all tastes can be catered for, as phog said the program delivered a variety of highlights. I am sure there are people who never considered themselves "cultured" (which is very often considered pretentious) who after this year have a whole new outlook on what the the enjoyment of culture actually involves, like rugby or sport, it doesn't matter who you are or where you are from, it is there to be enjoyed by everybody.

I'd love to see Fuerza Bruuta as an annual event in Limerick.

godfrey

I'm guessing someone will dream up a half-arsed last minute effort for NYE which by it's nature will have no funding, no production values and no punters, cos 'dat's Limerick Citay of Vultures'...

pigtown

Actually they aren't having a official closing party because they want the cultural vibes to continue into the future. But hey, don't let that fact impact on your negativity.

zulutango

Aside from the fiasco at the start of the year, is there anything that wasn't very good?

I suppose, what I'm trying to say is let's be positively critical about it. So much of it was great but some of it was rubbish too and we should face up to that. The clamour at the start of the year resulted in Mike Fitzpatrick being brought on board, which I think was a good thing, but did any good projects come of it, or was it just a baying mob looking for their slice of the cake?

godfrey

Most of it was not my cup of tea, but I would say most of it was excellent all the same. Not just the major projects, but even the small ones were remarkable in their creativity and appeal to those for whom they were intended. As long as artists and their ilk were allowed do their thing with no influence from CoC other than funding, they seemed to work very well. If you could find them that is. All official listings, web or hard copy, were confusing and impossible to navigate through.

Where I think things fall down is when non-artistic types wield their influence, eg: Granny was a spectacle of massive proportions, but there were cues waiting on the streets patiently, with nothing to hold their interest before Granny arrived. For HOURS. (Especially on the final day, as some muppet parked their car blocking the route.) Royal Deluxe weren't responsible for that, CoC was. I suppose we're lucky some idiot didn't decide to send local boyscouts and girlguides around the route as an 'opening act'! But seriously, some effort could have been made on that front. Thousands of kids getting bored and restless waiting for the big event. Well done the parents...

NYE was an absolute fiasco, and so this could have been addressed this coming NYE, with a well planned and executed event. To say there's no NYE event because they don't want culture to stop is a laughable excuse. More like there's no event cos they burst the bank and couldn't stand the humiliation of making a balls of it again, and left it too late to source entertainers and production. Well it shouldn't have to be so, nor does it have to be excessively expensive, or brought in from Dublin. But it IS too late now. Another opportunity to raise the bar is lost through fumbling.

There's talk of a new outfit being created to 'do' culture on a long term basis. I hope many of the great, professional and experienced people who did such great work this year are key figures in it. I hope the Council has nothing to do with it apart from underwriting it and not choosing who or what to fund. I hope more local people and companies are hired if, and only if, they are of good enough quality and not the good ol' boys or incumbants.

Time for breakfast now...

g

Silentcorner

godfrey wrote: »

Most of it was not my cup of tea, but I would say most of it was excellent all the same. Not just the major projects, but even the small ones were remarkable in their creativity and appeal to those for whom they were intended. As long as artists and their ilk were allowed do their thing with no influence from CoC other than funding, they seemed to work very well. If you could find them that is. All official listings, web or hard copy, were confusing and impossible to navigate through.

Where I think things fall down is when non-artistic types wield their influence, eg: Granny was a spectacle of massive proportions, but there were cues waiting on the streets patiently, with nothing to hold their interest before Granny arrived. For HOURS. (Especially on the final day, as some muppet parked their car blocking the route.) Royal Deluxe weren't responsible for that, CoC was. I suppose we're lucky some idiot didn't decide to send local boyscouts and girlguides around the route as an 'opening act'! But seriously, some effort could have been made on that front. Thousands of kids getting bored and restless waiting for the big event. Well done the parents...

NYE was an absolute fiasco, and so this could have been addressed this coming NYE, with a well planned and executed event. To say there's no NYE event because they don't want culture to stop is a laughable excuse. More like there's no event cos they burst the bank and couldn't stand the humiliation of making a balls of it again, and left it too late to source entertainers and production. Well it shouldn't have to be so, nor does it have to be excessively expensive, or brought in from Dublin. But it IS too late now. Another opportunity to raise the bar is lost through fumbling.

There's talk of a new outfit being created to 'do' culture on a long term basis. I hope many of the great, professional and experienced people who did such great work this year are key figures in it. I hope the Council has nothing to do with it apart from underwriting it and not choosing who or what to fund. I hope more local people and companies are hired if, and only if, they are of good enough quality and not the good ol' boys or incumbants.

Time for breakfast now...

g

Correction, it was an absolute fiasco for the minority of people, for others like me it was a great nite, the countdown didn't bother me in the slightest, the acts were excellent, but lets not open that argument again, lets just agree that there could have been improvements, but an absolute fiasco it was not.

I think the budget, in relative terms this was a tiny budget, Derry got £90million Stg, couldn't stretch to another NYE concert, what of it, instead they have moved the closing ceremony up to the 27th in a slick move to suggest that the year will not end, I won't begrudge them that move, this has been an incredible year, there was one event I went to which I won't name that did not measure up, that is one out of approx 40 different events I attended....most of which were free and very well attended, or priced at €20-25 and mostly sold out.

The program presented to all of us this year has dramatically lifted the bar, this year could not be described by anybody as anything short of a huge success, of course you could dig thru the program and pick out negatives but why bother, it was an excellent year can we not just leave it at that....

zulutango

There were two events that, to me, seemed like a cynical attempt by the artists involved to get a chunk of funding.

I went to loads of things that were super, and I thought Beautiful Dreamers was the best of all.

Iranoutofideas

In my opinion the NYE concert and subsequent attempts to censor feedback on the official Facebook page was nothing short of a cluster**** and an embarrassment to all involved.

The granny was great. The only other thing I attended was the chip festival which was rubbish.

riverrocked

Iranoutofideas wrote: »

The granny was great. The only other thing I attended was the chip festival which was rubbish.

I thoroughly enjoyed Culture and Chips, thought is was an excellent use of Arthurs Quay Park. I don't think that was a city of culture project though? (I could be wrong, but there were many events on that were independent of funding that have gone under the "City of Culture" umbrella)

I went to a good few events but missed many that I regretted afterwards, like fursa bruta, people were so excited telling me about that one.

Loved the Unlucky Cabin Boy, it was excellent. The River was interesting, even more so because it was performed on a barge on the river.

The Georgian Pop-up was great, as was the music pop-up, those photo exhibitions in city hall were good too. If I never hear the word 'pop-up' again though it will be too soon!

vkid

Just curious on this...

Is there anything on this year, or anything that happened last year that will be continued this year.. or has everything just stopped since the funding dried up?

Seems to be no talk of anything in the lines of festivals or anything this year in Limerick.

Compared to this time last year, there is nothing happening in the city this year at all, or nothing announced. Its March now and its like the City of Culture never happened?

iguana

vkid wrote: »

Just curious on this...

Is there anything on this year, or anything that happened last year that will be continued this year.. or has everything just stopped since the funding dried up?

Seems to be no talk of anything in the lines of festivals or anything this year in Limerick.

Compared to this time last year, there is nothing happening in the city this year at all, or nothing announced. Its March now and its like the City of Culture never happened?

Well there was supposed to be a repeat of last year's family festival at the Milk Market on St Patrick's Day. But it was cancelled two days ago with no explanation.

iguana

vkid wrote: »

Just curious on this...

Is there anything on this year, or anything that happened last year that will be continued this year.. or has everything just stopped since the funding dried up?

Seems to be no talk of anything in the lines of festivals or anything this year in Limerick.

Compared to this time last year, there is nothing happening in the city this year at all, or nothing announced. Its March now and its like the City of Culture never happened?

Well there was supposed to be a repeat of last year's family festival at the Milk Market on St Patrick's Day. But it was cancelled two days ago with no explanation.

Iranoutofideas

The writing was on the wall at the last "official" event before the new year - grand old claims about "city of culture is over but the spirit continues" and all manner of trite platitudes.

When it came to New Years Eve this spirit conjured up the grand number of zero events that night to ring in 2015. Not even fireworks.

A joke.

Silentcorner

Iranoutofideas wrote: »

The writing was on the wall at the last "official" event before the new year - grand old claims about "city of culture is over but the spirit continues" and all manner of trite platitudes.

When it came to New Years Eve this spirit conjured up the grand number of zero events that night to ring in 2015. Not even fireworks.

A joke.

The City of Culture was many things but it most certainly wasn't a joke.

Over 750,000 people attended Cultural Events in the city last year, that is something no other Irish city has managed to pull off, it was done without the support of national media, the lifeblood of so many other festivals, the year ran out of funding toward the end....that is not nor should be a stick that the organisers are beaten with...

What is happening now is a symptom that all Irish cities/towns suffer from, a chronic underfunding of the Arts/Culture...it seems unless it is packing hotels/pubs/restuarants it does not warrant funding...a real missed opportunity when Arts/Culture is the one thing that can keep people out of pubs and out of the house at the same time, something this country could do with more of....

There is a big difference between what was happening last year and this year as expected, there is still stuff on...I have been to plenty so far this year, not in the same league as last year but enjoyable all the same...

zulutango

Iranoutofideas wrote: »

When it came to New Years Eve this spirit conjured up the grand number of zero events that night to ring in 2015. Not even fireworks.

A joke.

There's no better way to waste money than spending it on fireworks!

zulutango

Silentcorner wrote: »

What is happening now is a symptom that all Irish cities/towns suffer from, a chronic underfunding of the Arts/Culture...it seems unless it is packing hotels/pubs/restuarants it does not warrant funding...a real missed opportunity when Arts/Culture is the one thing that can keep people out of pubs and out of the house at the same time, something this country could do with more of....

That's a ****ing great point

Iranoutofideas

Silentcorner wrote: »

The City of Culture was many things but it most certainly wasn't a joke.

Over 750,000 people attended Cultural Events in the city last year, that is something no other Irish city has managed to pull off, it was done without the support of national media, the lifeblood of so many other festivals, the year ran out of funding toward the end....that is not nor should be a stick that the organisers are beaten with...

What is happening now is a symptom that all Irish cities/towns suffer from, a chronic underfunding of the Arts/Culture...it seems unless it is packing hotels/pubs/restuarants it does not warrant funding...a real missed opportunity when Arts/Culture is the one thing that can keep people out of pubs and out of the house at the same time, something this country could do with more of....

There is a big difference between what was happening last year and this year as expected, there is still stuff on...I have been to plenty so far this year, not in the same league as last year but enjoyable all the same...

I wasn't talking about the City of Culture being a joke...so yeah...

Iranoutofideas

zulutango wrote: »

There's no better way to waste money than spending it on fireworks!

Yeah what are all those cities and countries thinking all over the world on New Years Eve...bunch of apes

zulutango

Iranoutofideas wrote: »

Yeah what are all those cities and countries thinking all over the world on New Years Eve...bunch of apes

Ah here, seriously, because New York and Sydney have fireworks on New Years Eve, then Limerick should too?? The money those cities spend on fireworks is small in comparison to the money they have. That's not the case with us.

phog

A poor firework display is worse than none at all.

The best display I've seen in Limerick was the one ran by the National Lottery, they lit up the castle as well as fireworks.

godfrey

Someone earlier said there was no NYE event because 'they' didn't want the end of the year to be the end of culture.

Well what a load of old cobblers. It's still NYE, right. Sigh...

Iranoutofideas

zulutango wrote: »

Ah here, seriously, because New York and Sydney have fireworks on New Years Eve, then Limerick should too?? The money those cities spend on fireworks is small in comparison to the money they have. That's not the case with us.

Did you seriously think I was suggesting we copy New York and Sydney?

FFS even the smallest of cities have a few fireworks on NYE.

phog

godfrey wrote: »

Someone earlier said there was no NYE event because 'they' didn't want the end of the year to be the end of culture.

Well what a load of old cobblers. It's still NYE, right. Sigh...

Why, there are loads of culteral events happening in the city. Remember, these events are now happening without the same financial backing as was there last year.