A vision for West Cork: Plans progress on €20m arts and cultural hub
How did you get a theorbo onto an airplane? You buy it a seat.
It might sound like a line from a bad cracker joke but it was a very real problem for West Cork Music, the organisers of the West Cork Chamber Festival, which got underway on Friday heralding a three-festival season worth €4.74m annually to the local economy.
'The theorbo is a kind of lute but it stands about seven or eight foot high. It's also known as a giraffe in the trade,' says West Cork Music founder and chief executive Francis Humphrys, who was busy doing his own final boarding pre-festival checks this week. 'Instruments can't go in the hold. The air pressure and the temperature in the hold is completely different. If you put them in the hold, the wood can crack, and these are instruments that can be worth millions.'
Francis recently turned 80 but is as busy as ever. Last year, the three festivals - the West Cork Chamber Festival, the West Cork Literary Festival, and Masters of Tradition - sold a combined 15,922 tickets, the highest combined total yet, worth €259,811. Ticket sales from the Chamber Festival brought in €125,294; the Literary Festival recouped €84,850 in ticket sales while Masters of Tradition brought in €49,667.
Irish fiddler and Masters of Tradition artistic director Martin Hayes outside St. Brendan's Church in Bantry. Picture: Karlis Dzjamko/Alamy Live News
But it wouldn't be a real festival without drama. In 2024, a strike by Aer Lingus pilots affected flights just as visiting performers were making their way to Ireland. Another hurdle to negotiate, for performers and for visitors. Getting musicians and their instruments to Cork is always a worry, like the theorbo dilemma, and also a practical financial consideration.
'A string quartet going on an airplane will work out as five seats because the cellist must have an extra seat. Some international airlines refuse to take a cello, even when the seat has been booked. Sometimes, it's at the pilot's discretion. Cellists worldwide worry, every time they get on a plane, because they don't know if they're going to be allowed fly with their instrument.'
Organising a chamber festival should be all about the music and tuning to a perfect fifth. Instead, someone must be looking after the purse strings. Yet in challenging times for the arts, West Cork Music has the data to show the monetary lift that festivals bring. An economic impact assessment carried out by Prof Eleanor Doyle at UCC's Dept of Economics estimates the three festivals brought in an estimated €4.74m to the region last year, including direct expenditure of €2.8m through local accommodation, catering, transport, and other local services, up 30% on 2023. 'Relative to the estimated aggregate impact, every euro invested by these agencies in West Cork Music generated €8.50 in economic activity,' said Prof Doyle.
This represents seriously good value for money for the €557,500 in State-derived funding from the Arts Council (€445,000), Fáilte Ireland (€65,000), and Cork County Council (€47,500).
Undertaking economic analysis of the three festivals puts their value in perspective, says Francis. 'We've been carrying these out since the economic crash 15 years ago. I realised that politicians were only going to listen to us if we had an economic presence. They used to just think of us as a drain on national resources.'
The Chamber Festival is celebrating its 30th anniversary, and has earned a reputation for world-class music in breathtaking surroundings. On Saturday night, the Ardeo Quartet and Barry Douglas perform the main evening concert at beautiful Bantry House, in a concert that will be broadcast live on Lyric FM and to millions more across Europe and beyond, via the European Broadcasting Union. Yet locals and visitors in Bantry can attend the concert for as little as €14. Other events are free.
The festival is headquartered in Bantry, but fringe and other festival events on the programme take in Cork Airport, Glengarriff, Skibbereen, Ahakista, Ballydehob, Schull, and islands like Sherkin, Heir, Bere, and Whiddy. Just a few weeks later, the West Cork Literary Festival directed by Eimear Herlihy will bring a different creative strand - not to mention a dabble of stardust from the likes of Graham Norton, Richard E Grant, and Neil Jordan - as Irish and world authors and guests come to Bantry and its environs. In August, Masters of Tradition, curated by Martin Hayes, will complete the eclectic summer season.
An architect design of the interior for the proposed cultural hub and music centre in Bantry.
The next step in the development of West Cork Music is to create a permanent music, education, and civic space in Bantry. This will include an auditorium, and an education centre, adjacent to Bantry Library, creating a new cultural hub for the town, and indeed for West Cork. The total cost is estimated at €20m.
The concert hall will be used for performances of chamber music, folk, jazz, and traditional music from Ireland and other cultures. It will be a purpose-built space: a warm acoustic, with modulations, particularly around the stage, helping to disperse sound and reduce the likelihood of echoes or resonances. Variable acoustics systems, such as trackable drapes on the side walls will reduce the reverberance of the venue. This will be key for spoken word events where speech clarity is of prime concern, and for amplified music where this will help control loudness and improve sound quality from loudspeakers.
Other uses for this space will include touring opera, theatre, and dance productions, and local community and school activities. The auditorium will host the festivals, and will also be suitable for conferences, lectures, informal talks, and masterclasses. The seating capacity is 270 seats.
Local businesses have been hugely supportive. Land has been earmarked near Bantry Library and the project is currently going through the planning process, says West Cork Music venue development manager Siobhan Burke.
'The potential to create stable facilities where you can make that economic impact count year-round is phenomenal," she said. "One of the great things about West Cork Music is it sits in an absolute sweet spot between the arts, tourism, and rural regeneration. All of these things that we would like to see flourish in rural Ireland are in some way enabled or supported by the different strands of this project.'
Designs for the new centre in Bantry have been created by award-winning Irish architects McCullough Mulvin. Fundraising is continuing, with around €750,000 of a €1m target achieved to get the project through the labyrinthine pre-planning process. A thriving Friends Scheme is helping provide support for ongoing costs, and West Cork Music is exploring the possibility of corporate sponsorship for its festivals.
An design for the interior for the proposed cultural hub and music centre in Bantry, which would be located near Bantry Library.
It is expected to go for planning by the end of this year. If that gets the green light, applications for grant funding can be made. All going to plan, the new hub will be complete in time for the 2029 festival.
'For Francis, it has genuinely always been part of the plan: to create a way for people to access the arts year-round in West Cork,' said Siobhan.
For a man who started a music festival 30 years ago from the kernel of an idea while playing classical music to his milking cows, Francis knows keeping economic realities in play are always key. He's looking to the future - "I've always wanted to put on a world music festival here" - but aware of the importance of the present.
'All of us in the arts, even West Cork Music which is quite a substantial organisation, are stretched to the limit,' he says. "If we break even, we're doing brilliantly. Last year, we more or less broke even. At this stage, it's difficult to know what the final figure for this year will be, with the best part of 20% of box office receipts coming in during the festival. I had a pacemaker fitted last year and I put it down to box office trauma!"
"The Literary Festival will reach its target before it starts and they'll sell another €10,000 or €15,000 worth of tickets during the festival. Masters of Tradition is the same, they will almost certainly reach their target before Martin arrives.
'That's the beauty with three festivals in one organisation, you spread your risk that way.'
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Irish Examiner
9 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
A vision for West Cork: Plans progress on €20m arts and cultural hub
How did you get a theorbo onto an airplane? You buy it a seat. It might sound like a line from a bad cracker joke but it was a very real problem for West Cork Music, the organisers of the West Cork Chamber Festival, which got underway on Friday heralding a three-festival season worth €4.74m annually to the local economy. 'The theorbo is a kind of lute but it stands about seven or eight foot high. It's also known as a giraffe in the trade,' says West Cork Music founder and chief executive Francis Humphrys, who was busy doing his own final boarding pre-festival checks this week. 'Instruments can't go in the hold. The air pressure and the temperature in the hold is completely different. If you put them in the hold, the wood can crack, and these are instruments that can be worth millions.' Francis recently turned 80 but is as busy as ever. Last year, the three festivals - the West Cork Chamber Festival, the West Cork Literary Festival, and Masters of Tradition - sold a combined 15,922 tickets, the highest combined total yet, worth €259,811. Ticket sales from the Chamber Festival brought in €125,294; the Literary Festival recouped €84,850 in ticket sales while Masters of Tradition brought in €49,667. Irish fiddler and Masters of Tradition artistic director Martin Hayes outside St. Brendan's Church in Bantry. Picture: Karlis Dzjamko/Alamy Live News But it wouldn't be a real festival without drama. In 2024, a strike by Aer Lingus pilots affected flights just as visiting performers were making their way to Ireland. Another hurdle to negotiate, for performers and for visitors. Getting musicians and their instruments to Cork is always a worry, like the theorbo dilemma, and also a practical financial consideration. 'A string quartet going on an airplane will work out as five seats because the cellist must have an extra seat. Some international airlines refuse to take a cello, even when the seat has been booked. Sometimes, it's at the pilot's discretion. Cellists worldwide worry, every time they get on a plane, because they don't know if they're going to be allowed fly with their instrument.' Organising a chamber festival should be all about the music and tuning to a perfect fifth. Instead, someone must be looking after the purse strings. Yet in challenging times for the arts, West Cork Music has the data to show the monetary lift that festivals bring. An economic impact assessment carried out by Prof Eleanor Doyle at UCC's Dept of Economics estimates the three festivals brought in an estimated €4.74m to the region last year, including direct expenditure of €2.8m through local accommodation, catering, transport, and other local services, up 30% on 2023. 'Relative to the estimated aggregate impact, every euro invested by these agencies in West Cork Music generated €8.50 in economic activity,' said Prof Doyle. This represents seriously good value for money for the €557,500 in State-derived funding from the Arts Council (€445,000), Fáilte Ireland (€65,000), and Cork County Council (€47,500). Undertaking economic analysis of the three festivals puts their value in perspective, says Francis. 'We've been carrying these out since the economic crash 15 years ago. I realised that politicians were only going to listen to us if we had an economic presence. They used to just think of us as a drain on national resources.' The Chamber Festival is celebrating its 30th anniversary, and has earned a reputation for world-class music in breathtaking surroundings. On Saturday night, the Ardeo Quartet and Barry Douglas perform the main evening concert at beautiful Bantry House, in a concert that will be broadcast live on Lyric FM and to millions more across Europe and beyond, via the European Broadcasting Union. Yet locals and visitors in Bantry can attend the concert for as little as €14. Other events are free. The festival is headquartered in Bantry, but fringe and other festival events on the programme take in Cork Airport, Glengarriff, Skibbereen, Ahakista, Ballydehob, Schull, and islands like Sherkin, Heir, Bere, and Whiddy. Just a few weeks later, the West Cork Literary Festival directed by Eimear Herlihy will bring a different creative strand - not to mention a dabble of stardust from the likes of Graham Norton, Richard E Grant, and Neil Jordan - as Irish and world authors and guests come to Bantry and its environs. In August, Masters of Tradition, curated by Martin Hayes, will complete the eclectic summer season. An architect design of the interior for the proposed cultural hub and music centre in Bantry. The next step in the development of West Cork Music is to create a permanent music, education, and civic space in Bantry. This will include an auditorium, and an education centre, adjacent to Bantry Library, creating a new cultural hub for the town, and indeed for West Cork. The total cost is estimated at €20m. The concert hall will be used for performances of chamber music, folk, jazz, and traditional music from Ireland and other cultures. It will be a purpose-built space: a warm acoustic, with modulations, particularly around the stage, helping to disperse sound and reduce the likelihood of echoes or resonances. Variable acoustics systems, such as trackable drapes on the side walls will reduce the reverberance of the venue. This will be key for spoken word events where speech clarity is of prime concern, and for amplified music where this will help control loudness and improve sound quality from loudspeakers. Other uses for this space will include touring opera, theatre, and dance productions, and local community and school activities. The auditorium will host the festivals, and will also be suitable for conferences, lectures, informal talks, and masterclasses. The seating capacity is 270 seats. Local businesses have been hugely supportive. Land has been earmarked near Bantry Library and the project is currently going through the planning process, says West Cork Music venue development manager Siobhan Burke. 'The potential to create stable facilities where you can make that economic impact count year-round is phenomenal," she said. "One of the great things about West Cork Music is it sits in an absolute sweet spot between the arts, tourism, and rural regeneration. All of these things that we would like to see flourish in rural Ireland are in some way enabled or supported by the different strands of this project.' Designs for the new centre in Bantry have been created by award-winning Irish architects McCullough Mulvin. Fundraising is continuing, with around €750,000 of a €1m target achieved to get the project through the labyrinthine pre-planning process. A thriving Friends Scheme is helping provide support for ongoing costs, and West Cork Music is exploring the possibility of corporate sponsorship for its festivals. An design for the interior for the proposed cultural hub and music centre in Bantry, which would be located near Bantry Library. It is expected to go for planning by the end of this year. If that gets the green light, applications for grant funding can be made. All going to plan, the new hub will be complete in time for the 2029 festival. 'For Francis, it has genuinely always been part of the plan: to create a way for people to access the arts year-round in West Cork,' said Siobhan. For a man who started a music festival 30 years ago from the kernel of an idea while playing classical music to his milking cows, Francis knows keeping economic realities in play are always key. He's looking to the future - "I've always wanted to put on a world music festival here" - but aware of the importance of the present. 'All of us in the arts, even West Cork Music which is quite a substantial organisation, are stretched to the limit,' he says. "If we break even, we're doing brilliantly. Last year, we more or less broke even. At this stage, it's difficult to know what the final figure for this year will be, with the best part of 20% of box office receipts coming in during the festival. I had a pacemaker fitted last year and I put it down to box office trauma!" "The Literary Festival will reach its target before it starts and they'll sell another €10,000 or €15,000 worth of tickets during the festival. Masters of Tradition is the same, they will almost certainly reach their target before Martin arrives. 'That's the beauty with three festivals in one organisation, you spread your risk that way.'
Irish Times
a day ago
- Irish Times
Holiday flight delays, cancellations, denials or downgrades: know your rights
Heading on holiday this summer? If you've booked a flight, you might be feeling some airport anxiety. Fear of flying is one thing, but fear of not flying can also loom large. Once upon a time, it was only striking air traffic controllers or baggage handlers who could nix your holiday plans. More recently, climate events such as floods, wildfires and extreme turbulence, anti-tourism protests and technical glitches are adding to the mix. [ Why is Spain introducing tighter regulations for tourists? Opens in new window ] Wildfires in Greece, flash floods in Valencia, an electrical substation fire at Heathrow and a mass power outage in Spain and Portugal have all stopped flights in the past 12 months. But if your plane is delayed or doesn't fly, what are your rights , and can you get a refund or compensation? A whopping €1,197,230 in compensation was paid to passengers on the back of 1,726 complaints about airlines upheld by the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) last year. Passengers were also paid more than €360,000 in refunds as a result of complaints to the body. READ MORE If your flight is cancelled, or delayed by more than two hours, or you are denied boarding or are downgraded, you may have grounds for complaint. The majority of successful complaints last year related to cancellations and delays. Aer Lingus accounted for 33 per cent of all complaints received by the IAA in the 12 months and Ryanair for 31 per cent. The IAA received 23 complaints from people with reduced mobility. Flight delays A delayed or cancelled flight is a total pain. When you're grounded and waiting to fly, for hours or even days, food, accommodation and transport costs can quickly rack up. If your flight is delayed, your entitlement to help from the airline is linked to the distance to your destination and the length of the delay. For short-haul flights – less than 1,500km – where the delay is under two hours, you'll generally just have to suck it up. So, if your Dublin to London, Brussels, Milan or Paris flight is delayed for two hours or less, your best remedy is a good book. For destinations in Europe of more than 1,500km, and all other flights up to 3,500km, the delay must be greater than three hours before the law demands 'care and assistance' from your airline. Think flights from Ireland to Malta or Rome. 'Care and assistance' means food and refreshments, hotel accommodation and transport to and from there if an overnight stay becomes necessary. You're entitled to two telephone calls or emails too. If the airline doesn't provide you with anything and you need to make your own arrangements, keep receipts to claim the money back from them, says the IAA. For long-haul destinations more than 3,500km away, such as North America or Cape Town, the delay must be greater than four hours before a legal entitlement to assistance kicks in You're not expected to know how far away your destination is by the way. The Great Circle website calculator is the recommended way to work it out. A delay of five hours or more to any destination is pretty scuppering. If you decide not to travel, you are entitled to a full refund, says the IAA. Compensation If your plane flies but you get to your destination three hours late, you are entitled to compensation. The amount you can claim depends on whether the flight is short, medium or long haul and compensation is paid at €250, €400 to €600 per person accordingly. Compensation for long-haul flights may be halved if you arrive less than four hours late. If your flight is delayed by 'extraordinary circumstances' you can't claim compensation. 'Extraordinary circumstances' include air traffic control decisions, political instability, bad weather or security risks. For the majority of failed passenger complaints to IAA last year, the airline proved there had been extraordinary circumstances Your airline has to prove their delay was specifically linked to the extraordinary circumstance. Aircraft technical issues, wonky stairs or striking staff are not extraordinary circumstances. Where there are extraordinary circumstances, no compensation is due beyond care, assistance and rerouting. If you can't get to the airport due to 'extraordinary circumstances', the airline does not have any obligations to you if they are not the cause of the disruption. Flight cancellations Flights get cancelled and, if yours is one of them, the airline must offer you a choice of rerouting as soon as possible; rerouting at a later date at your convenience; or a refund. If you choose to be rerouted as soon as possible, the airline must provide you with meals and refreshments corresponding to the waiting time, and hotel accommodation if an overnight stay is required. If you get more than two weeks' notice of the cancellation, you're not entitled to compensation from the airline. If you got between seven days and two weeks' notice and you opted for rerouting that departed no more than two hours before your original departure time and arrived no more than four hours after the original arrival time, you are not entitled to compensation either. However, if your rerouting was outside of those time frames, you are entitled to compensation unless the airline can prove the cancellation was caused by extraordinary circumstances. If you got less than seven days notice of the cancellation and your rerouting departed no more than one hour before the original departure time and arrived no more than two hours after the original arrival time, you are not entitled to airline compensation. But again, if your rerouting was outside of those time frames, you are entitled to compensation unless the air carrier can prove the cancellation was caused by extraordinary circumstances. Denied boarding If you've confirmed your flight, you've got your passport, you're in good time and pose no health or security risk, you could still be 'involuntarily' denied boarding. This can happen if the flight is overbooked, for example. If this happens, the airline must offer you a choice of rerouting as soon as possible, rerouting at a later date at your convenience or a full refund. If you choose rerouting, they must offer you care and assistance while waiting for your alternative flight. Passengers involuntarily denied boarding must also be compensated. The amount depends on the journey distance and the time frame within which you were rerouted. How to complain If you have an issue, raise it with the airline first, says the IAA, which provides useful complaint templates on its website for doing so. If you have no joy, contact the relevant enforcement body in the EU member state where the flight was due to depart. The IAA website provides all their contact details. So, if your Dublin-Malaga flight was disrupted, you would contact the IAA. They are the enforcement body for flights out of Irish airports, or a flight into an airport here from a country outside the EU but which is operated by an EU-licensed carrier. If it was the return Malaga-Dublin flight that was disrupted, you would contact the Spanish enforcement body. Likewise, if your Aer Lingus flight from New York to Dublin is delayed, contact the IAA, but if the flight was with American Airlines, contact the US department of transportation as American Airlines is not licensed in Europe. You can contact us at OnTheMoney@ with personal finance questions you would like to see us address. If you missed last week's newsletter, you can read it here .
Extra.ie
2 days ago
- Extra.ie
Azealia Banks causes outrage again... but what happened when she took on Ireland?
Azealia Banks is under fire once again after dropping out of two festival appearances and making some horrid comments after claiming promoters were trying to force her to say 'Free Palestine.' The controversial star was due to play at Boomtown in Hampshire in early August and at Maiden Voyage in Burgess Park, London a few days later, but has since seemingly pulled out of both. Writing on X on Wednesday (June 25), Banks said: 'So guys, I am cancelling Boomtown and Maiden Voyage, the promoters have been stressing me out for weeks trying to force me to say 'Free Palestine' and threatening to cut me from the bill because I won't say it and I'm not dealing with the threats and I'm not putting on a f*cking hijab. Azealia Banks is under fire once again after dropping out of two festival appearances after claiming promoters were trying to force her to say 'Free Palestine.' Pic:'They're both basically trying to extort me – by insinuating that I need to say I support Palestine or they will drop me from the gig BUT I would much rather drop them and not associate with anything that has cheap group think bullsh*t attached to it'. 'If they want to allow some no-name dj's to bully them into desecrating the nature of this music ecosystem and make ME the issue – whilst there being absolutely no ethical consumption under capitalism. Then that's fine'. 'More thinly veiled racism and overt antisemitism from the f*cking gays for Hamas,' she concluded, before signing off: '#F**KPALESTINE.' The controversial star was due to play at Boomtown in Hampshire in early August and at Maiden Voyage in Burgess Park, London a few days later, but has since seemingly pulled out of both. Pic:Azealia's outrageous comments have sparked a huge backlash online and following the recent controversy, we decided to look back at the time the rapper managed to anger the entirety of the Ireland back in 2019. Banks used the phrase 'inbred leprechauns' and asked 'don't you have a famine to go die in?' in an Instagram post following a sold out gig in Dublin. Before the gig in The Academy, the star had already got into an altercation with Aer Lingus staff where she called Irish women 'ugly.' Writing on X on Wednesday (June 25), Banks said: 'So guys, I am cancelling Boomtown and Maiden Voyage, the promoters have been stressing me out for weeks trying to force me to say free Palestine' Pic:Aer Lingus said it had a 'strict no tolerance policy towards disruptive guest behaviour,' after videos of her behavior went viral. Banks complained about the airline's staff and said they treated her 'like an animal.' She claimed that she 'had her bags deep in the plane' and a flight attendant was asking her questions. Banks added: 'I was trying to find my passport and I didn't have the answers and she was staring at me. I said don't stare at me.' The rapper said the flight attendant then spoke to the captain and staff 'crowded round me like I'm some sort of animal.' She said she 'got off the plane,' adding: 'I've worked too hard in my life to be cornered.' Banks was then forced to take the Ferry to Ireland to perform her scheduled Dublin gig. Yikes!
