About Cork 2005

The Year

On January 8th 2005 an extraordinary thing happened in Cork. It stopped raining. During a miraculous break in a horrible weather pattern, 100,000 people took to the streets to celebrate the beginning of Cork’s tenure as European Capital of Culture.

Kick-starting with that extraordinary weekend in January, the city celebrated its long-awaited year in the spotlight with an extraordinary programme of cultural activity spanning theatre and dance; architecture, design and visual arts; music; sport; film, media and sound; festivals; literature, publications and conferences.

Across the year over one million people, seven times the city’s population, attended official Cork 2005 events as local and international audiences turned out to experience the Cork 2005 programme. Having emerged from a “Public Call” for ideas and the submission of over 2000 local, national and international responses, the Programme was a truly European Capital of Culture Programme - celebrating the culture of Cork, of Ireland and of Europe. Enabling active engagement with the enlarged European Union and encouraging the hosting of diverse cultural events in the city, the delivery of the Programme was achieved through partnerships with the city’s festivals and existing cultural institutions, as well as community and voluntary groups in Cork and large numbers of cultural practitioners locally, nationally and internationally.

Among the many highlights early in the year, ‘La Dona Manca o Barbi-Superestar’ by Spanish dance sensation Sol Picó was a huge hit; the Cork 2005 World Writing Series, a major series of readings by literary masters including Nobel Prize laureate Seamus Heaney, Doris Lessing and Kenyan novelist Ngugi Wa Thiong 'O was a sell-out; and European Quartet Week witnessed world-class performances from leading international string quartets.

The year continued into the summer as thousands of visitors flocked to ‘Airgeadóir’, the magnificent exhibition showcasing the work of Cork’s silversmiths and goldsmiths over four centuries; over 500 rowers in 120 coastal rowing boats competed in the first Ocean to City, Ireland’s largest ever rowing race; ‘Relocation’, the hugely successful series of outdoor site specific theatre took to the streets with four European companies including Cork’s own Cordadorca; ‘Surface Tension’ showcased the latest developments in graffiti art and a lecture by internationally acclaimed architect Daniel Libeskind sold out in twenty four hours.

The summer also brought the much awaited ‘Exodus’ exhibition, by Sebastião Salgado, regarded by many as the world’s greatest photographer, Eurochild catered for our younger artists in a week-long children’s arts festival, and Aiken promotions brought a host of international acts to the city with its Live at the Marqee series and an unforgettable performance by Andrea Bocelli in Collins Barracks.

The year also saw Cork honour Frank O’Connor with the awarding of the first ever Frank O’Connor International Short Story Prize sponsored by O’Flynn Construction to Chinese author Yi-yun Li. The work of James Barry (1741-1806), one of the most significant artists to have been born and trained in Cork, was exhibited in the Crawford Municipal Art Gallery. Other visual arts highlights included a unique exhibition of collaborative drawings by John Berger, one of the most influential thinkers on culture, and Spanish artist Marisa Camino; ‘Enlargement’, the year-long exhibition at the Cork Vision Centre showcasing art from the enlarged European Union; ‘C2’ which celebrated the work of over 100 Cork contemporary artists; and ‘Forty Shades of Green’, at the Lewis Glucksman Gallery.

The world record for the largest gathering of ceilí dancers was broken at the Ceilí Mór, a pilot week of community television was broadcast, the musical traditions of Europe, America, England and Ireland were brought together in the critically acclaimed Music Migrations Series and, with additional support from Cork 2005, the city’s festivals delivered bumper programmes. All contributing to the memorable year.

A huge volume of activity also took place away from the public eye in the wide range of residency and community-based projects. Over 30,000 people, including school children, trade union members, youth groups, asylum seekers, the sick and the elderly participated in over 600 creative workshops in the city - an astonishing level of active participation.

The designation as European Capital of Culture presented a unique and important opportunity to showcase the city, bringing with it an unprecedented media focus on Cork on a local, national and international level. Working with Cork Kerry Tourism, Failte Ireland and Tourism Ireland, Cork 2005 hosted over 400 journalists from across the globe in 2005, securing international interest in the city which resulted in a significant boost to visitor numbers this year and which will ensure a tourism legacy in the years ahead.

2005 also witnessed the culmination of a hugely successful sponsorship drive with over 230 companies directly supporting Cork 2005, ranging from Premier Partner RTÉ and Official Partners Heineken Ireland, AIB, Thomas Crosbie Holdings and Musgrave Group, to Corporate Club Members at €1,000 each. Sponsorship came from every section of the private sector - Financial Services, Retail and Wholesale, Hospitality Industry, Transport, Construction and Property, Drinks Industry, Media and Entertainment - resulting in a sponsorship figure of €7m in cash and benefit-in-kind, an unprecedented amount for the Arts in this country. Allied to this private sector investment, the €7.85m grant from the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism and €5.65m from Cork City Council demonstrated not only the significance of the designation on a local and national scale but their very clear commitment to what has been a brilliant and historic year for Cork.

It was an amazing year. But Cork 2005 is not an end in itself. Through the programme foundations have been laid for future collaboration, new friendships have led to the development of new networks and Cork has firmly taken its place on the European stage.