Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture

ChewyLouie

We should absolutely fund the arts and these cultural events. But every event that receives public money should have their full accounts visible.

Discodog

flazio wrote: »

So you reckon it should have been a paid ticketed event like Glastonbury and Electric Picnic rather than a free public event?

No reason why not. People would happily pay for a big firework display, well known musicians etc. Is Art only valid if it's free ?

Discodog

Deleted User wrote: »

That's a really silly position. There will ALWAYS be something. Health, education, homeless, economy, infrastructure etc etc etc.

By your position, there would never be a penny going to the arts, ever

Of course there would. But not millions on vanity projects. That amount could fund a vast amount of community art throughout the County.

Stevolende

Discodog wrote: »

That amount could fund a vast amount of community art throughout the County.

I'm interested as to what legacy the year's city of culture is going to leave. Hope it is going to somehow feed back into nurturing a local art community but not sure it's going to.
Not sure to what extent the Arts Festival actually feeds back into creating/nurturing local art beyond paying something towards some galleries. & bringing people to Galway.
Would like to hear there was some lasting legacy in terms of how spending on local art, as in helping a diverse group of people become creative.

I'm also wondering what the story is on the materials/set up that were going to be deployed last night. Is anything salvageable/reusable or was everything written off as soon as it wasn't going to be used specifically last night.
Assuming things survived the storm anyway Really hoping that the legacy of last night is not going to be households around the Claddagh having to remove soaking detritus from their gardens when it wasn't used for original purpose.

pure.conya

Discodog wrote: »

Of course there would. But not millions on vanity projects. That amount could fund a vast amount of community art throughout the County.

even build a few more houses

Storm 10

Discodog wrote: »

No reason why not. People would happily pay for a big firework display, well known musicians etc. Is Art only valid if it's free ?

Who in their right mind would pay to see fireworks when you could see them for free around the City and long walk etc

Discodog

Storm 10 wrote: »

Who in their right mind would pay to see fireworks when you could see them for free around the City and long walk etc

Hundreds of thousands do in the Uk every year & I wouldn't use South Park

Greaney

ChewyLouie wrote: »

We should absolutely fund the arts and these cultural events. But every event that receives public money should have their full accounts visible.

That'd be standard. Grants are hard work to secure. To get funding (Arts or otherwise) one has to be fully accountable. It takes ages to fill out the forms, pull together all of the documentiation to support the application, and submit the lot.

The supporting documentation includes...
*Bank account details and account information to show how much money they have in thier account already (for match funding etc.)
*Public Liability insurance
* A budget breakdown with attached quotes from suppliers etc. to prove the costs are actual.
* Letters of support from venues etc.
* Information on any other funding streams
* Estimates & letters of support re; ones own fundraising effords
*Both individuals and organisations have to have a tax clearence number to prove their tax affairs are in order.

You can imagine, If you don't secure the grant, it can be soul destroying work applying for them.

I speak from experience...

barry181091

I am actually livid about this cancellation and how they did not see it coming, or something like it.

Why not have it set up so that the assets could be held for 5 days with an option to reschedule!? The chance of a storm over 2/3 days is low. How was this not foreseen as very likely!? The sheer incompetence is baffling.

Also, looking at the events over the year, a vast majority are ticketed. So, where exactly is the 40 million euro going? That is an astonishing amount of money when you think about it. Is the majority going to subsidising these events? Surely there is a breakdown as to where the cash flow is going.

Storm 10

barry181091 wrote: »

I am actually livid about this cancellation and how they did not see it coming, or something like it.

Why not have it set up so that the assets could be held for 5 days with an option to reschedule!? The chance of a storm over 2/3 days is low. How was this not foreseen as very likely!? The sheer incompetence is baffling.

Also, looking at the events over the year, a vast majority are ticketed. So, where exactly is the 40 million euro going? That is an astonishing amount of money when you think about it. Is the majority going to subsidising these events? Surely there is a breakdown as to where the cash flow is going.

Another Orange warning in place for tomorrow and the week ahead is very unsettled so no point in holding over as it just would not happen

The Sunday times quoted the chief executive Patricia Philbin saying that they had a "level of insurance in relation to cancellations" which I presume means that they hope to recoup a portion of the money.

She also said that some of the elements of the opening ceremony might be incorporated during other events during the year

zell12

The Council has rejected Galway2020's application for an additional €2.5m

Storm 10

Just on radio there saying some of their events will now have to be cut back or abandoned after the Council are not giving them more funding. Turning into a big mess.

ChewyLouie

Last week they said this was for additional events beyond what was in the program...

ChewyLouie

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/galway-2020-events-may-be-cancelled-or-scaled-down-as-funding-dries-up-1.4169119?mode=amp

zell12

Galway2020 received criticism from EU that the programme of events wasn't european enough, it was too local

jammiedodgers

Anyone know what councillors voted which way? I can see Donal Lyons and Noel Larkin were in favour of allocating the funds from GBFM

pure.conya

ChewyLouie wrote: »

Last week they said this was for additional events beyond what was in the program...

they also said it wasn't to go towards wages, but half of it was to go to wages

ChewyLouie

Fair play to the councillors for calling a halt to it.

I read that they also refused to discuss any of the costings for the cancelled opening ceremony. Outrageous since public money partly (mostly?) funded that.

thecretinhop

great stuff slimy gombeens dont get money.

Storm 10

Getting a good going over on RTE1 Sean O Rourke Show, they are losing money from Sponsors which never realised like they thought it would, both Councils are now not giving them any more money, they said they are contacting their Insurance Company to see what they can claim due to the bad weather cancelled show. They are not sure how much they can claim for the bad weather, if I was running an outdoor event that is the first thing I would be looking at given the nature of our weather.

Homelander

The level of secrecy over the whole thing is unreal. Since day one, the management and public accountability of the whole affair has been a total shambles. They struggle to answer the most basic of questions.

I would not be shocked if a future report found they treated themselves to extortionate salaries while crying poor mouth to the public. Glad to see councillors rejected their pity pleas.

Raisins

Homelander wrote: »

I would not be shocked if a future report found they treated themselves to extortionate salaries while crying poor mouth to the public. Glad to see councillors rejected their pity pleas.

There’s enough to criticise without putting a tin foil hat on. Define extortionate.

thecretinhop

me thinks its possible wages are being thrown about like a brown envelope in the FF race tent

inisboffin

There's local people who have already started working on smaller projects - wonder if these are in jeopardy of receiving money too?

Raisins

Stevolende wrote: »

I'm interested as to what legacy the year's city of culture is going to leave. Hope it is going to somehow feed back into nurturing a local art community but not sure it's going to.
Not sure to what extent the Arts Festival actually feeds back into creating/nurturing local art beyond paying something towards some galleries. & bringing people to Galway.
Would like to hear there was some lasting legacy in terms of how spending on local art, as in helping a diverse group of people become creative.

I'm also wondering what the story is on the materials/set up that were going to be deployed last night. Is anything salvageable/reusable or was everything written off as soon as it wasn't going to be used specifically last night.
Assuming things survived the storm anyway Really hoping that the legacy of last night is not going to be households around the Claddagh having to remove soaking detritus from their gardens when it wasn't used for original purpose.

The only legacy from 2020 will be damage to Galway’s reputation. It will he referred to as a case study on exactly what not to do. They’ll get a couple of even arts events going in the summer and then bring the curtain down on it.

The EU would get better organised finances and governance in former soviet Eastern European cities where they worry about corruption. It’s an embarrassment for Galway.

Greaney

inisboffin wrote: »

There's local people who have already started working on smaller projects - wonder if these are in jeopardy of receiving money too?

That's a good question. I'm working on a Small Towns, Big Ideas project. For a start, the grants given out for that (and a lot of those projects are in the county) were way smaller than we'd hoped. There was supposed to be a two year build up to 2020 where you could get up to €20k per year to build capacity and then apply for 2020. Well, when it was introduced the limit was €20k, most folk got between €1k and €7k from what I've gathered. That only ran for one year instead of two, and in then the funding limit for the project in 2020 dropped to €15k. There was no way we could have worked with a European Artist, with that limit, so we parked some other plans.

Trying to squeeze a 'legacy' out of it is challanging. As for paying folk.... well, as an organiser and the main 'local' creative, there goes my pay .

We've only got the first trauch so far (40%) of our funding, and we've been landed with a huge insurace quote (not 2020's fault) that's x9 times last years quote so we're quiet stressed about that. I had hoped that most of us who at least worked on the bid for free, would get a decent opportunity, but that's not panning out. I'm going to see can I pay some of my fellow artists who worked on the bid, in our project, but it will only be a days pay

thecretinhop

Greaney wrote: »

That's a good question. I'm working on a Small Towns, Big Ideas project. For a start, the grants given out for that (and a lot of those projects are in the county) were way smaller than we'd hoped. There was supposed to be a two year build up to 2020 where you could get up to €20k per year to build capacity and then apply for 2020. Well, when it was introduced the limit was €20k, most folk got between €1k and €7k from what I've gathered. That only ran for one year instead of two, and in then the funding limit for the project in 2020 dropped to €15k. There was no way we could have worked with a European Artist, with that limit, so we parked some other plans.

Trying to squeeze a 'legacy' out of it is challanging. As for paying folk.... well, as an organiser and the main 'local' creative, there goes my pay .

We've only got the first trauch so far (40%) of our funding, and we've been landed with a huge insurace quote (not 2020's fault) that's x9 times last years quote so we're quiet stressed about that. I had hoped that most of us who at least worked on the bid for free, would get a decent opportunity, but that's not panning out. I'm going to see can I pay some of my fellow artists who worked on the bid, in our project, but it will only be a days pay

fair play, its the like of ye need backing not the gombeen fat cats..

Raisins

thecretinhop wrote: »

fair play, its the like of ye need backing not the gombeen fat cats..

Who are these gombeen fat cats and what were they paid?

It seems to me there was a huge disconnect between the ambition of those organising it and what was actually achievable and deliverable within budget.

Replace the beanie with a hard hat and you’ve got the children’s hospital.

inisboffin

Greaney wrote: »

That's a good question. I'm working on a Small Towns, Big Ideas project. For a start, the grants given out for that (and a lot of those projects are in the county) were way smaller than we'd hoped. There was supposed to be a two year build up to 2020 where you could get up to €20k per year to build capacity and then apply for 2020. Well, when it was introduced the limit was €20k, most folk got between €1k and €7k from what I've gathered. That only ran for one year instead of two, and in then the funding limit for the project in 2020 dropped to €15k. There was no way we could have worked with a European Artist, with that limit, so we parked some other plans.

Trying to squeeze a 'legacy' out of it is challanging. As for paying folk.... well, as an organiser and the main 'local' creative, there goes my pay .

We've only got the first trauch so far (40%) of our funding, and we've been landed with a huge insurace quote (not 2020's fault) that's x9 times last years quote so we're quiet stressed about that. I had hoped that most of us who at least worked on the bid for free, would get a decent opportunity, but that's not panning out. I'm going to see can I pay some of my fellow artists who worked on the bid, in our project, but it will only be a days pay

Similar situation here, but to date it's just me who will be out of pocket. However in the coming months I'll be working with others and I'm the contact person. No contracts in place yet
That's awful Greaney, I know how hard ye work out in Athenry.

Redo91

You’d have to wonder how they could have planned events without having the funding in place!

cfeeneyinterior

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/galway-2020-events-may-be-cancelled-or-scaled-down-as-funding-dries-up-1.4169119?mode=amp

“Ever since this bid was won it has been a car crash,” said Fianna Fáil councillor Alan Cheevers.

Mrs OBumble

Redo91 wrote: »

You’d have to wonder how they could have planned events without having the funding in place!

Because you certainly won't get the funding if you don't have plans in place!

pure.conya

Redo91 wrote: »

You’d have to wonder how they could have planned events without having the funding in place!

they probably presumed that the council couldn't say no

this is a major international embarrassment for the city

Wombatman

Galway already has a great reputation as a tourist destination.

I hope this fiasco doesn’t do lasting damage.

Ashleigh1986

Deleted User wrote: »

Let me see if I have this straight because according to this thread.....

- the organisers are idiots for not doing something on New Year's Eve/Day and
- the organisers are idiots for doing something in Feb and
- the organisers are idiots for doing something outside
- the organisers are idiots for not using the race course instead cos it's more accessible than the city (the mind boggles at this one)

Oh and all of the above according to the prophet Ashleigh

Ye lot are worse than a meeting of the city Council

..... At least the councillors made a correct decision regarding further funding for this farce .
Organisers ??? Said the additional 2.5 million was going to be for " local artists "....
They even tried to pull that one .
Ah well we can look forward to arts festival / airport gig / Xmas market as part of the 2020 celebrations .....
O hold on they were already on in galway ...
You couldn't make this bull**** up

gordongekko

Ashleigh1986 wrote: »

Ah well we can look forward to arts festival / airport gig / Xmas market as part of the 2020 celebrations .....
O hold on they were already on in galway ...
You couldn't make this bull**** up

How many times are you going to use this to attack them?. How in the name of god could you possibly mention a year long list of cultural events being run in the city and leave them off the list?

Ashleigh1986

This " farce" has received enough of public money .
Are we ever going to hear the correct breakdown of what they received both privately and publicly ????
It's obvious from today's decision , that the councillors weren't happy with the details , or more correctly lack of details , regarding what exactly the extra 2.5 million was going to be used for .

wily minx

Or they don't have the money to give. Could be any of those reasons. There's an awful lot that we don't know, such as staff wages etc. But don't let the truth get in the way of a good story!

ben.schlomo

wily minx wrote: »

Or they don't have the money to give. Could be any of those reasons. There's an awful lot that we don't know, such as staff wages etc. But don't let the truth get in the way of a good story!

Or a taxi drivers rant!

Ashleigh1986

We will never get to see the " staff wages " part of this event .
These events depend on " volunteers " to do a lot of the heavy lifting which of course they receive no payment for .
That leaves more for the " top table " brigade .
You can be sure a large part of the PUBLIC MONEY this event has already received is going on the top tables salaries .
There has been zero transparency from the very beginning of this project .
It's all coming home to roost now .

Ashleigh1986

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Or a taxi drivers rant!

Rant ???
I've been proven 100% correct on this event .
You sir may bury your head in the sand regarding how OUR TAXES are used...
I WONT !!!
The councillors today once again asked for a detailed account of what the extra 2.5 million was going to be used for .
They weren't given that information .
So they refused the allocation .
This from the very start has smelt what it has turned out to be ....

ingalway

How can a programme that already has a budget of €39 million, most, if not all, public money, from local authorities, national government and European money, and that got an extra €2 million only last April from Galway County Council, not have to produce financial records on a quarterly basis so at least those providing the money can see how this is being spent and see why more money is now being asked for?
According to the Performance Delivery Agreement they should be providing this information to all funders. Would be good to hear something from the the Minsters Rep Board Member, Dr Moling Ryan. Or closer to home Mike Cubbard, the current Mayor of Galway, who is also a Board member. Surely he should be getting this information for the Council before they come looking for even more money?



https://www.chg.gov.ie/app/uploads/2018/11/performance-delivery-agreement-galway-2020.pdf


The last monitoring report - very thin on actual detail.

https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/creative-europe/sites/creative-europe/files/files/ecoc-2020-galway-third-monitoring_en.pdf

Snow Garden

Our council is a shambles and these 2020 folks seem chaotic. Can we hand this award back and just keep doing the usual events that Galway does ok (races, arts etc)?

Redo91

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Because you certainly won't get the funding if you don't have plans in place!

Obviously can have plans but the fact that they are talking about cancelling things suggests that they put those plans into action without having the funding to begin with.

Muahahaha

wily minx wrote: »

Or they don't have the money to give. Could be any of those reasons. There's an awful lot that we don't know, such as staff wages etc. But don't let the truth get in the way of a good story!

Its a story because the organising committee has made it a story out of it by refusing to be transparent about how taxpayers money is being spent. This is Ireland, we are all used to taxpayers money getting wasted and producing mediocre results so it shouldnt be surprising when people question it. If the committee have nothing to hide why are they being so secretive?

If there are doing such a good job as they would claimly then they should be proud to open up their books and show the public that they are spending taxpayers money prudently. This hasnt been the case thus far so people are right to wonder what is going on. Them coming with a begging bowl seeking another 2.5 million of taxpayers money when the year is only just underway tells us that there is a level of bad financial management and budgeting going on here and their secrecy about it would make you wonder what else might be going on behind closed doors.

thesandeman

zell12 wrote: »

The Council has rejected Galway2020's application for an additional €2.5m

Thanks to another member of the Connelly family btw.

Does anybody know how the Rijeka launch worked out so we can compare?

flazio

I have a fear that in order to adjust to the funding cuts, events set for the county towns will be cancelled and the entire event becomes entirely city based.

Utopia Parkway

Wombatman wrote: »

Galway already has a great reputation as a tourist destination.

I hope this fiasco doesn’t do lasting damage.

I doubt it will stop a single visitor coming to Galway.

But no doubt the infighting and financial issues have been an embarrassment to the city and county so far and they have a big job on their hands to turn it around.

We'll be hearing for years "sure ye made an awful hames of it. Kilkenny should have got it or Limerick should have got it". And we won't have much to answer back with.

Whereisgalway

Limerick should have got it