Galway 2020 – the farce continues

As artists in Galway and throughout Ireland are struggling to survive the Covid-19 pandemic, the money-eating monster that is Galway 2020 continues to horrify.

The organisation which has been a holy show for some three years now, announced in April that it was cutting links with the UK based company, Artichoke which was brought in early in 2019 to oversee its programming and to try and raise desperately needed sponsorship.

Blaming Covid-19 for its difficulties, 2020 issued several press releases stating that it would be reducing its ‘team’ (a word beloved by those in the world of spin-speak). That would take place in May, they told us, as 19 of its “30 core staff” would be “temporarily laid off . . .  while we undertake a redundancy consultation process with all members of the team”.

A query from the Tribune as to what positions the 2020 ‘cultural’ organisation might regard as being redundant, elicited the following reply: “At this stage we are not in a position to pre-empt what the outcome of the redundancy process will be.”

May is well behind us and we are into June. But we still haven’t been officially informed as to what positions have been dispensed with.

Well, having been keeping an eye on its website let us tell you (assuming that the information there is accurate). The organisation has retained one Cultural Producer – there were at least four, working with artists across literature, theatre music and visual arts. Let’s say that again. The European Capital of Culture for 2020 has retained one Cultural Producer.

That wouldn’t be too bad if the organisation hadn’t seen fit to retain one Communications Manager, one PR Manager, one Editor and one Photographer and Videographer.  That’s right. Four people in communications/PR and one – one – Cultural Producer. In the organisation charged with delivering Galway’s programme for European Capital of Culture.

The ‘team’ of 13 also includes a Head of Human Resources – because a ‘cultural’ organisation with 13 employees couldn’t function without that role – much more important than, say a Cultural Producer.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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