Latest news with #culturalinfrastructure
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
As Galway's arts festival opens, the city's long-expected cultural space inches slowly towards planning this year
Galway International Arts Festival artistic director Paul Fahy described the city's arts infrastructure as 'an embarrassment', as this year's two-week-long festival opened, throwing into sharp relief the poverty of arts venues in a city with a reputation for artistic excellence. Plans announced more than four years ago for a long-awaited civic arts space on an An Post city centre site, have inched forward slowly. An Post is 'working through legalities with a preferred bidder', head of corporate communications Anna McHugh confirmed this week. 'We know how much everyone wants to see this development get under way.' In March 2021 An Post tendered to redevelop a large brownfield site, including a former telephone exchange, sorting and storage offices behind Galway's existing GPO. It involved refurbishing the post office, creating a civic cultural space, plus retail and commercial units. READ MORE Since 2019 An Post has generously allowed the festival to use the 640sq m former telephone exchange as a gallery, tucked behind the GPO, a city centre 'secret space' accessed via William Street. From the start, Mr Fahy says An Post has been 'hugely supportive', both locally and at head office. The festival's two main city-centre visual arts venues have been in temporary, borrowed buildings for several years. A partnership with University of Galway has been key, with its venues on campus expected to host 54,000 at performances, exhibitions and talks this fortnight. But Fahy has said it's 'nothing short of shocking' that the city hasn't created a permanent performance and gallery space in nearly 50 years. The planned cultural space at the GPO is 'one of several elements in a complex development project involving significant construction and refurbishment', said Ms McHugh. Originally it expected construction to be well advanced by now, but 'third-party matters and technicalities' impacted the timeline, 'frustrating for everyone'. The project is expected 'to progress to the planning stage by Q4 of this year'. An Post again loaned the festival the space for a temporary gallery for its large-scale site-specific and provocative installation. This is Burning Down the House, built within the space by artist David Mach and the festival team: a life-size stone cottage with flames bursting out the windows. The festival's wider visual arts programme focuses on the climate crisis, environmental degradation, and human relationships with nature and each other. Opening the exhibitions, Mr Fahy pointed out how 'dreadfully inadequate Galway is in terms of cultural infrastructure'. The multidisciplinary festival, a significant magnet for artists and visitors, has a line-up of theatre, circus, dance and opera. This year it has introduced several accessibility initiatives, and is also running a climate transition laboratory as part of a European project researching carbon footprints at large-scale events. [ Galway Film Fleadh 2025: The big winners at the hottest festival in memory, including Gerry Adams basking in adulatory sunshine Opens in new window ] The festival's 50th anniversary is in 2027. 'The first festival in 1978 had a very small tent and a converted shop, and here we are 48 years later with two extraordinarily big tents and a converted building. So, some things don't change. And exciting as it is to respond to a space and make things work,' Fahy says, gesturing to the imposing Mach installation, 'and that thrill will never go away, but it is an embarrassment' that the city lacks venue and gallery space, he says, to applause and cheers of agreement. Catherine Connolly TD, who will declare for the presidential election this week, has said progress on the project was 'unacceptably slow', and that the new civic space would be 'transformational' for Galway. The tents Mr Fahy mentioned are the large blue big top, now a festival staple on the city's skyline, hosting gigs for 3,000 standing, or 1,800 seated. This year a mini village has sprung up around Nimmo's Pier at the Claddagh, where international acrobatic and circus company NoFit State has pitched its own 700-seater bell-shaped performance tent, alongside several accommodation trucks for performers and crew, and a bar-café for audiences, for Sabotage , a spectacular show with live music. The festival's skilled team first transformed the former telephone exchange, unused for 30 years, from dereliction into a gallery in 2019, costing the publicly funded festival more than €50,000. The large-scale sculptures and installations there since have consistently attracted huge audiences. Ms McHugh said An Post remains 'fully committed to a world-class development of this very special site'.
New York Times
06-07-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Walt Whitman Would Have Hated This
In 1865, the poet Walt Whitman asked: O what shall I hang on the chamber walls? And what shall the pictures be that I hang on the walls, To adorn the burial-house of him I love? I have always loved these three lines from Whitman's elegy 'When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd,' which he wrote in the spring of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. I have been thinking about them as we mark the 249th year since the ratification of the Declaration of Independence. The lines distill an essential question that any artist and civic figure who believes American ideals are worth sustaining must ask: How shall we honor, remember and learn from our national past? And how shall we transmit essential values of the past to citizens of the future? I've had Whitman in mind this spring as we've watched the Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency disassemble the cultural infrastructure of the nation. These reckless and shortsighted cuts have affected our libraries and museums, our public media institutions, our local arts and humanities councils and the longstanding endowments — including the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities — that have provided funding for the past 60 years. These institutions are the entities we've charged with hanging pictures on the national chamber walls; they were established to represent and to execute on the principle that a great country and a great civilization needs self-understanding, and that such understanding comes not from politicians or congressional allocations but from lasting works of reflection that connect past, present and future. It was faith in a 'wisdom and vision,' transcending any political moment, that led to the establishment of the National Endowment for the Humanities: The very term 'endowment' is an expression of that confidence. The N.E.H. began in 1965 as part of President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society program, and its original mission was laid out in the congressional language that announced the agency's formation. Devoted to sustaining democracy's most timeless and transcendent values, the agency was intended to secure and strengthen America's leadership in the world. As its founding language deliberately stressed, that leadership must not 'rest solely upon superior power, wealth and technology' but upon 'the nation's high qualities as a leader in the realm of ideas and of the spirit.' Just what those civilizational values are and how the N.E.H. would support them has always been open to the interpretation of its leaders, as appointed by presidents of either party. Despite perennial doubts among some Republicans about both endowments, all of them have found their way to leaving our culture better, broader, than they found it. Thus William Bennett, appointed by President Ronald Reagan, made 'morality' and Western values his platform, criticizing grants made by his predecessors for projects he decried as left-wing. Yet Mr. Bennett also established the beloved Summer Seminars for Teachers and published the initial volumes of the magisterial Library of America. Lynne Cheney, the leader of the N.E.H. from 1986-93, was one the earliest critics of a new cultural phenomenon — political correctness — but it was under her auspices that Ken Burns received funding for one of the most influential television documentary series ever shown, 'The Civil War.' Jon Parrish Peede, appointed by President Trump to lead the N.E.H. in 2018, actually increased its budget, which DOGE has now proposed eliminating entirely. Which entities, then, will ensure the dissemination of the work of great artists, writers and thinkers? Perhaps existing philanthropic entities will fill the gap; we've already seen some of the largest cultural philanthropies — including the Mellon and MacArthur Foundations — jump in with funding. The N.E.H. generously supported my own public television series, 'Poetry in America,' over three of its five seasons, and I am now, along with nearly every leader of a nonprofit cultural organization, asking private funders and foundations for financing. There are heartening signs they will step up. But we must consider where new springs of support may emerge. Implicit in the canceling and defunding of grants is the assumption that the market can provide culture as good as or better than any sponsored by the government. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Arab News
14-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Arab News
‘The Arts Tower' brings new meaning and color to Riyadh's Sports Boulevard
RIYADH: As you venture down the promenade of the capital's latest attraction, Sports Boulevard, a new landmark is sure to catch your eye. A tower at the intersection of Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Road and Prince Turki bin Abdulaziz Al-Awwal Road bursts with color and character. The mind behind this work, named 'The Arts Tower,' is renowned Saudi artist Abdulnasser Gharem, who has centered the mundane within the architectural landscape early on in his career with works like 'Siraat' (The Path) and 'Road to Makkah.' Gharem told Arab News: 'This piece is a witness to the transformation that's happening here. It's a symbol of investment into the cultural infrastructure as proof of how important that is to any society or community. I think the tower represents this transformation, especially that it, in itself, transforms one of the symbols of energy into a beacon for creative expression.' Previously one of numerous 83.5-meter electricity pylons, the tower was meant to be removed for the sake of the Sports Boulevard project. 'I asked if I could have one,' Gharem said, explaining that, as one of the nominated artists to propose a work to beautify the boulevard, he was keen to use the existing structure. • The selected proposal features a total of 691 colored panels that were installed to bring the tower's vibrant facade to life. • The pieces used are all related to the grand narrative of the Kingdom, including economic diversity, cultural transformations, and social changes. Author and curator Nato Thompson said about the work in a statement: 'By repurposing a symbol of energy infrastructure and turning it into a beacon of artistic expression, Gharem highlights the evolving role of culture and art in Saudi Arabia's development journey. 'It stands as living proof of the Kingdom's commitment to nurturing its cultural landscape, making arts and creativity an inseparable part of its identity just as oil and energy were in the past.' The selected proposal features a total of 691 colored panels that were installed to bring the tower's vibrant facade to life. It utilizes elements from Saudi architecture and patterns we recognize from our old homes, primarily the triangular shape. 'I was lucky that the tower was made up of triangles, which is a geometrical shape that brings together the different regions of the Kingdom and the historical features of our beginnings, so it's a symbol of unity,' Gharem said. The pieces used are all related to the grand narrative of the Kingdom, including economic diversity, cultural transformations, and social changes. This piece is a witness to the transformation that's happening here. It's a symbol of investment into the cultural infrastructure as proof of how important that is to any society or community. Abdulnasser Gharem, Saudi artist 'The colors are alluding to the connection between our history and heritage and the concepts of cheerfulness and mental hospitality. A tower always forces you to look up.' For Gharem, Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, like 'The Arts Tower,' constantly lifts eyes upward, motivating people to leap from the familiar into the unexpected, pushing them to embrace the future with imagination. 'The piece is based on sunlight,' he said. 'The daylight gives a completely, completely different dimension to the work compared to its urban illumination during the night. 'The colors do not just appear; they shift, transform, and come alive in different ways throughout the day. Here, nature becomes a crucial element to the structure.' Even the wind has played a part in determining the number and placement of the colored pieces used. 'It taught me that there needs to be some gaps in order to allow the piece to breathe and I was forced to humble myself upon the power of nature. 'The wind became my partner in design,' he said. 'The Arts Tower' is designed to make people feel represented and connected. While the Sports Boulevard promotes physical activity, the creative landmark serves a deeper purpose: it is a thoughtful space meant to inspire human interaction and community — and more importantly, invite them to slow down, engage, and ponder the future. 'Culture is one of the key factors for our country's development path. At the end of the day, culture is just as important as energy. It's worth investing in, and it's a certificate that the Kingdom is committed to nurturing its cultural scene,' Gharem said.
The Guardian
02-06-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
English mayors push for visitor levy to boost income from tourism
A coalition of mayors from across England are urging the government to allow local authorities to bring in a Barcelona-style visitor levy to generate income from tourism. The group, led by the Liverpool city region mayor, Steve Rotheram, argues that a visitor levy would unlock vital funding for tourism and cultural infrastructure, empower regional growth and reduce dependence on central government funding. The letter to the culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, and the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has been co-signed by the Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham; the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan; the north-east mayor, Kim McGuinness; Richard Parker, the mayor of the West Midlands; and the West Yorkshire mayor, Tracy Brabin. They say provisions could be made in the forthcoming English devolution bill, or in a specific finance bill, to give local authorities the freedom to design and introduce a locally administered visitor levy. It would mean cities they represent, including Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Birmingham and London, could introduce charges to reap direct benefits from tourism. Many European cities have similar levies in place, including Venice, Lisbon and Amsterdam, as do Spain's Balearic Islands. In the Liverpool city region, which hosts more than 60 million visitors annually, a visitor levy could raise nearly £11m a year, the mayors said. The city hosted Eurovision in 2023, which generated £54m in direct economic impact. If a £1- to £5-a-night levy were introduced in Greater Manchester, it could raise between £8m and £40m a year, which could go towards infrastructure projects such as the regeneration of Old Trafford or airport development, the mayors said. The mayors said funds raised through a visitor levy would be ringfenced for local reinvestment, and said the government needed to act urgently, as devolved governments in Scotland and Wales are moving ahead with their own tourism levies, leaving English regions at risk of falling behind. 'The Liverpool city region is a global icon of creativity, culture and character – attracting more than 60 million visitors every year and supporting a £6.25bn visitor economy,' Rotheram said. 'That's something to be incredibly proud of – but it also comes with pressures on our infrastructure and services. 'A small charge on overnight stays – the kind most of us wouldn't think twice about when travelling abroad – would give us the power to reinvest directly into the things that make our area so special.' Burnham added: 'At a time when national resources are under real pressure, a modest visitor levy – something we all pay in other parts of Europe – offers a fair and sustainable way to support our local services.' McGuinness said: 'A local tourism tax is so mainstream across the rest of the world you barely notice it, so it should not be a big step here in the UK.' Last year, a report from the landscape charity Friends of the Lake District made a similar call. The organisation's chief executive, Mike Hill, said: 'In most of the places around the world that we've looked at that have brought in some sort of tourism levy, tourism numbers have actually increased, because the place gets better.'
Trade Arabia
15-05-2025
- Business
- Trade Arabia
Acciona Living & Culture delivers major exhibition in Doha
Acciona Living & Culture has completed the design and execution of Pathway to Peace, a newly inaugurated exhibition curated by the International Media Office (IMO) of Qatar, which explores the vital role of mediation and peacebuilding on the global stage. Located in the largest ballroom of the Sheraton Grand Doha Resort & Convention Hotel, the exhibition offers visitors a powerful and engaging journey through Qatar's commitment to peaceful diplomacy and conflict resolution. By focusing on mediation as a central pillar of Qatar's foreign policy, Pathway to Peace highlights the nation's efforts as a neutral facilitator in international negotiations and dialogue. Acciona Living & Culture was responsible for the design and execution of the project, overseeing every detail from spatial adaptation and lighting design to the installation of narrative, audiovisual, and interactive content. The result is a seamlessly immersive environment that reflects the values of diplomacy, cultural understanding, and cooperation that underpin Qatar's global initiatives. This exhibition marks another milestone in Acciona's long-standing presence in the region, further demonstrating its expertise in creating cultural spaces that inspire, educate, and connect people through innovative storytelling and meaningful design, the company said. OTHER PROJECTS This project adds to Acciona Living & Culture's extensive portfolio in Qatar, where it has played a key role in shaping the country's cultural infrastructure. Acciona joint by UCC, was responsible for the fit-out and museography works of the 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum, the largest museum in the world commemorating Olympic Games and sports. The company has also led the design and production of 150 media installations for the National Museum of Qatar, the development and implementation of Msheireb Museums, and multiple high-level temporary exhibitions for Qatar Museums, such as Al Jazzera Exhibition, Tales of a Connected World: Lusail Museum, etc.
