Has Cork's title as the European Capital of Culture lived up to expectation?
From art, to knitting, to food, it is a busy and diverse year in Cork, the European Capital of Culture. In the first six months of the year, 730,000 people have attended official events.
While organisers of Cork 2005 are claiming success, they face criticism for their handling of the year long event. Some feel more could be done in Cork while others have more modest expectations of the event,
I expected more yeah, but then again they had a small budget so you know, you can’t expect too much.
Director of the Cork Film Festival Mick Hannigan is critical of the official Cork 2005 approach because,
People had very high exceptions of the year and also they want a sense of involvement and inclusion and ownership and there were failings in that regard.
Director of Cork 2005 John Kennedy says they have responded to criticism and made changes accordingly. The summer programme of events has been a huge success and he expects the autumn winter programme will also prove popular.
As the year progressed those unhappy with Cork 2005 established 'Where’s Me Culture?’ providing an alternative to the official City of Culture 2005 programme. Séan O’Neill says ‘Where’s Me Culture?’ represents the indigenous underbelly of the city, overlooked by Cork 2005.
That’s always going to be the case with something like the Capital of Culture, there will always be problems and we wanted to fill whatever gap we could fill.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 23 August 2005. The reporter is Anna Murphy.
