Culture award would yield ‘massive legacy’

Galway might never get the Olympics but our best chance of coming near such a profile will be presented with our bid to become European Capital of Culture, City Council boss Brendan McGrath said this week.

The City Council Chief Executive told the Galway City Tribune that if the city was selected as one of the two European Capitals of Culture for 2020, it would leave a permanent legacy in terms of tourist/visitor growth for the region.

Already the task force charged with landing the culture title for Galway, have identified the weaknesses in their 2005 bid – namely the lack of a suitable visual arts space and the absence of an indoor performance space capable of holding up to 1,500 people.

“While Galway has established itself as a leading Irish and European centre for the arts and for various festivals, this is not enough to secure selection for the European Capital of Culture.

“We will have to demonstrate how Galway can be made relevant to a European population of 500 million people. We have to outline in a definitive manner what we are proposing to do,” Brendan McGrath told the Galway City Tribune this week.

Already a high profile steering group has been set-up, made up of representatives from the City Council, the County Council, arts groups, NUI Galway and leading industry figures in the city and county.

“We’re not going to ever get the Olympics here in Galway but realistically this is as close as we’ll ever get to enjoying the prestige, profile and economic spin-off that can come with such an event,” said Brendan McGrath.

Both Ireland and Croatia will share the title for the European Capitals of Culture for 2020 but already Galway looks set to face serious opposition on the home front from Dublin, Limerick and a south-eastern consortium made up of Wexford, Waterford and Kilkenny.

Brendan McGrath said that by October of next year, the Irish candidates will be whittled to the final two, who will then have to refine their bids further before the final selection will be made in 2016.

For more on this story, see this week’s Galway City Tribune