Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture

ben.schlomo

[Deleted User] wrote: »

There was one line in the above video about how there were 7 markets in Galway. I knew there was a few but never realised there were that many

I'm aware of the following

• St Nicholas - Current market
• The Fish Market - Spanish Arch
• The Potato Market - Woodquay

From reading this, I gather the remainder are/were

Eyre Square (2-3 stalls still in operation on the weekends here by one family)
Fairgreen
The Small Crane
Raven Terrace

I know plans are in motion for a potential future market at Woodquay (would be an amazing spot for it) and possibly at the new plaza at the Cathedral.

How cool would it be if, instead of a pub crawl, you have a walking tour of the city taking in multiple markets along the way where you could stop for a refreshment or pick up some handmade craft items.

A pipedream I know, but still, maybe something like this might work

Blue is potential markets, green is existing markets

Tiny traders aren't open as a market anywhere these days. Doing their 'Culture Lotto' online.

ben.schlomo

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Tiny traders aren't open as a market anywhere these days. Doing their 'Culture Lotto' online.

Based on your comment I checked out their info and their last locations is listed as Tribeton so I've updated the map based on that. Also added the proposed market at the printworks building and adjusted the route



Yeah I know its unlikely that all of the above would become markets, but hey, its a slow day in work so I'm daydreaming a bit

Mrs OBumble

Deleted User wrote: »

I know plans are in motion for a potential future market at Woodquay

Are they really concrete plans, though, or just ideas? Is there anyone committed to putting them in to place?

There have been any number of markets at various sites down the West (Arts Centre, Roisin Dubh, Columban Hall). None particularly successful. Even when Tiny Traders was in Nuns Island, it was hard work to get a crowd there and a number of the traders were ho-humm about viability. And that's with a partly indoor venue, and great tarpaulin cover for a lot of the rest.

As on-line shopping makes the retail footprint shrink (hugely sped up by Covid), I see more sense in keeping things in the core (Eyre Square, Shop St / High / Quay St, Cross, Middle streets), not pushing them out to the fringes.

If I was picking market sites, I'd go for Edward Square, or the space where the social welfare office used to be.

Another thought: I'm not sure that "city of markets" would really work as a USP for Galway. The city has a reputation as a place to come to for a party, and tourists spend a lot more on socialising than they ever would at a market.

thesandeman

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

There have been any number of markets at various sites down the West (Arts Centre, Roisin Dubh, Columban Hall).

Also (before your time) one at O'Flaherty's funeral parlour and one in Clogs.

Mrs OBumble

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Are they really concrete plans, though, or just ideas? Is there anyone committed to putting them in to place?

Asked and answered previously on another thread.

Changing States by Shane O’Malley is part of Hope It Rains | Soineann ní Doineann, in the Galway 2020 programme

https://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/121149/mural-unveiled-in-athenry-which-changes-along-with-the-weather?fbclid=IwAR0mpmDfDFQ3xeO3iuanTWpgKB7PJlPyh0U2Zrg_4cF7kcdRfl5FlFwEV7E

'Changing States', a vibrant new street mural in Athenry, which changes colour depending on the weather, was unveiled this week.

Created by Galway artist Shane O’Malley, it is located just above Athenry Square on the gable end of Glynn’s Bar in the centre of Athenry. It is an abstract painting, the shape, size, and colour of which reacts to changes rainfall. The direction, intensity and amount of rain determine which version of the mural is visible, making it as changeable as the weather.

The work was commissioned by Ríonach Ní Néil for Hope It Rains | Soineann ní Doineann as part of the Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture. For 'Changing States', Shane used hydrochromic paint, which is white when dry and transparent when wet, thus revealing the surface beneath it.

When it rains and the mural gets wet, colours expand to the very edge of the mural in a kaleidoscopic burst. The greyer the sky and wetter the day, the bigger and brighter the mural becomes.

Full story at the link

Storm 10

Galways time as Capital of Culture has come to an end


https://www.rte.ie/news/regional/2021/0430/1213036-galway-capital-culture/

jammiedodgers

Did it ever really start? :pac:

zell12

Storm 10 wrote: »

Galways time as Capital of Culture has come to an end https://www.rte.ie/news/regional/2021/0430/1213036-galway-capital-culture/

Total waste of money, even if C-19 had not happened, it was a fiasco

pjohnson

zell12 wrote: »

Total waste of money, even if C-19 had not happened, it was a fiasco

The genius idea of an opening ceremony at the Swamp set the tone perfectly.


Certainly profitable for some people.

Possibly the biggest ever the-dog-ate-my-homework get out of jail card ever, we'll never know!

thesandeman

Anybody know how the Rijeka version went? Google doesn't throw up much for me.

padraig47

A total waste of space and public money. A secretive organisation answerable to nobody and no legacy

Greaney

padraig47 wrote: »

A total waste of space and public money. A secretive organisation answerable to nobody and no legacy

I was one of the local creatives on 'Small towns, Big Ideas'. We in Athenry did get a 'legacy', a samba band. It also upped our arts game, paid a few local artists & set us up for improving over the next few years.

I grant you, it may have been better, and the early politics was awful, but with covid there was so much out of our control. I got the feeling that the public really wanted us all to fail...:(

touts

They dodged a huge bullet with Covid. It was utterly shambolic from the start of planning. Millions wasted. Political infighting. Egos prioritized over culture. Had it actually gone ahead I suspect we'd have seen a tribunal set up to try and figure out what went wrong and where all the money disappeared to.

Hopefully they will never get it again but doubtless some of the divas involved will moan and moan and moan about the magnificent cultural spectacle that would have been held and there will be a danger that someone will fall for it and give it to them again for a repeat fiasco

Muahahaha

Greaney wrote: »

I was one of the local creatives on 'Small towns, Big Ideas'. We in Athenry did get a 'legacy', a samba band. It also upped our arts game, paid a few local artists & set us up for improving over the next few years.

I grant you, it may have been better, and the early politics was awful, but with covid there was so much out of our control. I got the feeling that the public really wanted us all to fail...:(

I dont think any of the public wanted to see small local artists fail and its great you and your group got funding to establish a samba band.

The publics ire is more at the organisers who seem to be overseeing a shambles right from the get go with no transparency or accountability of where all the money was going. When one of Galways most famous arts exports Druid Theatre pulled out you knew something was wrong, they had reluctantly walked away because of the shambles that was going on. Sure the organisers were even back to the council with their begging bowl looking for more money right before it was due to kick off and the council refused them. Then the infighting between the organisers, resignations, etc didnt exactly give off a veneer of professionalism. Then the opening ceremony on the Swamp, yet another mess.

The whole thing will be consigned to the dustbin of history and be quickly forgotten about with no lessons learnt.

Sadler Peak

How much was spent on an event(s) that did not happen ?

Will be interesting to see a breakdown of the accounts.

zell12

Galway 2020 received more than €20 million in public finances, with €6 million coming from the Galway City Council and €4 million from the Galway County Council. In February 2020, city councillors voted 11 to five to refuse extra funding of €2.5 million to the company overseeing the year long series of events.

https://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/121610/public-deserves-to-see-full-galway-2020-accounts-says-hanley

Funding remains a vexed question, with a modest €2m raised in sponsorship so far, instead of the €7m aimed for, against public funding of €25m.
Department of Culture €15m
Galway City Council €6m
Galway County Council €4m

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/feb/12/were-playing-to-the-world-galways-european-capital-of-culture-year-kicks-off

zell12

Rijeka received a total of €40 million in EU funding for 2020's cultural activities.
https://www.dw.com/en/rijeka-and-galway-2020-european-capitals-of-culture/a-51836251

Cannot find a specific figure for EU funding Galway

Muahahaha

Muahahaha wrote: »

The publics ire...

You misspelled “anti-spending critics”. You don’t get to claim “the public” as a title. Just like the backers can’t. This is not a universal position.

Muahahaha

Deleted User wrote: »

You misspelled “anti-spending critics”. You don’t get to claim “the public” as a title. Just like the backers can’t. This is not a universal position.

Im not sure what an "anti spending critic" is, I never had a problem with the event going ahead provided it was run well, which from the evidence it clearly was not. There has been 25 million of taxpayers money gone into this and they wont even open up the accounts to show where the money went. If that makes me an "anti spending critic" then so be it but Id kind of like to know where all this money went. Maybe you're okay with 25 million being spent with no accountability or transparency?

Muahahaha

Muahahaha wrote: »

Im not sure what an "anti spending critic" is, I never had a problem with the event going ahead provided it was run well, which from the evidence it clearly was not. There has been 25 million of taxpayers money gone into this and they wont even open up the accounts to show where the money went. If that makes me an "anti spending critic" then so be it but Id kind of like to know where all this money went. Maybe you're okay with 25 million being spent with no accountability or transparency?

Whats with the pot banging demanding transparency lol

Has there been an official announcement made by them refusing to release accounts? No

They will be published in the fullness of time as is the norm

Muahahaha

'fullness of time' lol sounds like politican speak to me. Theyve been doing nothing since March of 2020 so I dont think its much to ask to have the accounts released by now almost 15 months after the whole thing was called off anyway. The private company were asked to show accounts before it ever got called off and the organisers were cagey about that too. Seems some people on here dont want transparency or accountability on how this 25 million got spent.

Muahahaha

Muahahaha wrote: »

'fullness of time' lol sounds like politican speak to me. Theyve been doing nothing since March of 2020 so I dont think its much to ask to have the accounts released by now almost 15 months after the whole thing was called off anyway. The private company were asked to show accounts before it ever got called off and the organisers were cagey about that too. Seems some people on here dont want transparency or accountability on how this 25 million got spent.

There must be a run on tinfoil :rolleyes:

The fact that you are saying they have done nothing since Mar 2020 illustrates how little you actually know about the topic.

A simple review of their facebook page along would show you that they had to switch to a primarily online presence due to covid.

Their events pages lists over 300 events, some cancelled, some modified, some replacement events, but still a hell of a lot of events completed even with covid.

As for their accounts, meh, they'll be released when they are completed and filed. They received public funding so are subject to certain rules which means its not possible for them to keep these things secret. That some folks are insinuating the opposite means nothing as it has no basis in reality.

Laviski

Deleted User wrote: »

That some folks are insinuating the opposite means nothing as it has no basis in reality.

a hole can be dug by one person but yet 3 people standing around looking while all getting paid.

I think this is the point been made. the last VOR burnt a lot of bridges where business weren't willing to back this as they did VOR. I'm sure people were again left out of pocket but the people getting the paychecks continued to get them with f all to do.

Muahahaha

Deleted User wrote: »

There must be a run on tinfoil :rolleyes:

The fact that you are saying they have done nothing since Mar 2020 illustrates how little you actually know about the topic.

A simple review of their facebook page along would show you that they had to switch to a primarily online presence due to covid.

Their events pages lists over 300 events, some cancelled, some modified, some replacement events, but still a hell of a lot of events completed even with covid.

As for their accounts, meh, they'll be released when they are completed and filed. They received public funding so are subject to certain rules which means its not possible for them to keep these things secret. That some folks are insinuating the opposite means nothing as it has no basis in reality.

No one is insinuating anything, thats just a strawman argument in your head. If we had transparency they would have no problems releasing their accounts. They were asked to by the county council when they came with their begging bowl on the eve of the events starting and they refused to do so.

Very easy to throw out the tin foil hat nonsense when all people are looking for is a paper trail of where this 25 million quid of taxpayers money went to. I suppose the councillors in the council who called for the Comptroller and Auditor General to conduct a full audit are conspiracy theorists too? :rolleyes: Gladly some politicians are trying to keep an eye out for taxpayers money given the private company running it have been secretive up until now. All we know is that they have spent over 20 million but have not being transparent about where this money has gone when the majority of events were cancelled, staff were made redundant and the contract with the creative directors was terminated.

Greaney

Muahahaha wrote: »

No one is insinuating anything, thats just a strawman argument in your head. If we had transparency they would have no problems releasing their accounts. They were asked to by the county council when they came with their begging bowl on the eve of the events starting and they refused to do so.

Very easy to throw out the tin foil hat nonsense when all people are looking for is a paper trail of where this 25 million quid of taxpayers money went to. I suppose the councillors in the council who called for the Comptroller and Auditor General to conduct a full audit are conspiracy theorists too? :rolleyes: Gladly some politicians are trying to keep an eye out for taxpayers money given the private company running it have been secretive up until now. All we know is that they have spent over 20 million but have not being transparent about where this money has gone when the majority of events were cancelled, staff were made redundant and the contract with the creative directors was terminated.

Most of the work that was produced was by local artists. The large international work was cancelled. We were given a choice, go ahead with the work, or pay everyone (local businesses etc.) what we owed and not draw down the final amounts. Personally I went ahead. I got to pay everyone. They allowed us to do a little extra Christmas project for €2K so we got to pay a few more people.... all local creatives, meanwhile, the 'back room' staff were cut to less than 50% of their hours to save money, to make sure the local creatives got paid. We got paid. We are Galway based artists, musicians, documentors/film makers etc. We delivered our project, covid proofed. It was exceptional value for money

thesandeman

It's going to be discussed on Claire Byrne on Radio 1 this morning.

Kingp35

Greaney wrote: »

Most of the work that was produced was by local artists. The large international work was cancelled.

With the above in mind - how did hell did they manage to spend the entire budget then? Some people made an awful lot of money out of this fiasco.

Greaney

Kingp35 wrote: »

With the above in mind - how did hell did they manage to spend the entire budget then? Some people made an awful lot of money out of this fiasco.

One show I know, one of the lynch pin events of the year, had a huge budget, they opened to great acclaim, paid everyone and covid hit before they did x4 shows! Just a few shows & then Shut down.... contracts had to be honored...

Most of the budget for the show was spent in pre-production, local building suppliers for sets, printers for materials, artists for rehearsals.... so if the budget is say €250k, it's up & running & then no tickets are sold cos of covid.... That's how it costs so much. Businesses that made money...

1) Hardware/building companies
2) electrical companies/ tech hire etc.
3) Insurance companies (our quote tripled when we went to do 2020), one quote was x9 our usual premium
4) Printers & merch (all local)
5) Rent (local obviously)
6) Admin
7) The two big pay outs to the former CEO & Artistic Director

Note the last point (highlighted) is the controversial element of the budget. The other points highlight were money goes in the local economy & I didn't include artists in that list. You're right to ask where the money went, but I assure you, over 50% of any arts budget goes on everything else except the artists. We have to be insured, buy materials, pay rent & promote our work. Every company/enterprise has to do that. That's normal. We have to submit full accounts & receipts precisely because these questions come up ALL THE TIME. I delivered at €60k type project for less than €18k... Ours was one of the small projects... the larger ones cost well over €100k with the wages of two or three people for the year involved.

How much do you earn in an average job? Double it if your a PAYE employee. That will give you an idea of where budget goes....