Jul 2
Who Really Cares about Cork Opera House?
| Today there will be a public demonstration in front of the Opera House from about 3pm.
This has been organised by a Facebook Group "Cork Theatre Crisis - S.O.S"
"A group to promote awareness, and gain support, and to impress upon the people of Cork and the wider public, the ramifications of the Cork Opera House halting in-house production".
This demonstration will be by artists, including players from Sweeney Todd - they'll perform a scene. Also Antoin Gorman plans to sing Les Miserables Empty Chairs at Empty Tables. The whole thing will be filmed by Moving Image Cork.I'll be there too. My plan is to report and record on the demo - using AudioBoo.It's good to see artists demonstrating - political action is not their usual comfort zone. But politics is at the heart of all great art eh?Would it be worthwhile to create a list of all who've come out publicly against this scandalous closure of the theatre?There are also those who feel differently about the Opera House - those who feel it's an elitist dump, charging too much. You can find plenty of that point of view here on PeoplesRepublicofCork.com
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Jun 30
Message to Opera House SOS Facebook Group
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Maybe we need to be clear about the difference between how Cork Opera House has been directed & led - and the artistic work which has been made & performed at the venue?I suspect the organisation has been disastrously led by a Board of Non-Exec directors who were not up to the job. I hate saying this. I wish I didn't have this impression. Perhaps I am unaware of points which would contradict this impression?The thing which hit me was the sudden lurch into closure - the obviously crisis-driven action. This suggested to me that the directors were not on the ball: they allowed a season to be planned, promises to be made, promises to be broken. It smells of incompetence to me.It's unfortunate that the new boss - the executive director - comes in & closes the place as his first significant act. What a reputation to build! What a poisoned chalice he's been handed followed the DeLoitte Report - the consultants who had access to the books. I imagine the director probably isn't even authorise to release the DeLoitte into the public domain. The PR function has gone underground. The Twitter account @corkoperahouse hasn't tweeted. There is no blog. Understandable: the people who've been doing their best to advertise & market Cork Opera House have also been misled.The institution looks traumatised to me. Not surprising - it's tough to discover that your directors let the situation fester until an amputation looked their only course of action.My view is that the Opera House is not a loved place - it simply hasn't done the right things to win that position in local affection. Closing a properly loved place would be unthinkable. It's been run without soul.Maybe it'll be possible to turn it around, win public hearts & minds to its cause. But I have no confidence in any of the players who've been involved in creating this sorry mess.(1) Let's make the city Council & Board publish the DeLoitte Report in all it's details - however embarrassing. (2) Let's ask each one of the current Board to resign in a spirit of collective responsibility - so that it'll be seen to be a new era coming (3) Let's ask Padraig Liston to set out his personal values in relation to his work, together with his promise to work in a publicly accountable way.I haven't a clue what to say about Cork Council and its action on this issue. |
Jun 30
Scandal of Cork Opera House Closure
| There's a nasty smell hanging over Cork Opera House. It's shut - closed - maybe it'll re-open. But the sudden shut-down of Cork's publicly owned theatre doesn't inspire me with confidence. Who's behind the closure? Who made the decision to save money? Who's really in charge of the place? It's not easy to find out answers. The Opera House is a publicly owned charity. Cork City Council are the main shareholders. Everything about the place would be best in the public domain. What's happened is that a firm of accountants (DeLoitte) have gone in and analysed the books. They've had full access to the cash-flow and decisions for directors. DeLoitte produced a report. The Opera House appointed a new executive director, Mr P Liston. A week after he started in the role, he closed the place - temporarily. But the report is a secret - so far. It's not available to Jo-citizen. The people of Cork City are confronted with closure - and no proper understanding of what's gone on. The newspapers have done their best: Irish Examiner, Evening Echo & Cork Independent have published reports. These reports seem to be based on press releases. So far, no interview with the executive director. If you want to find out who the directors of Cork Opera House are - it's hard. The website doesn't give their names. Nor is there a copy of the latest annual report. The place looks to me as if it's been run as a private club. No local politician has come out and campaigned to open the Opera House to public scrutiny. [There were a few tweets & then silence.] I presume they know all the people involved in decision-making. I presume they are all friends with each other. Is there a dirty story lurking, ready to be dragged out into the light? Is there a job for a whistle-blower? A Deep Throat? We simply don't know. While we are left to stew in the dark, we can think anything we like. The dogs on the street say there was lousy leadership. The Board was not good enough at its job. But that's only gossip. The evidence collected by DeLoitte is locked away - so far. Padraig Liston is now the man in charge: he's used to being in charge of important matters [MD of a Drinks Company on his CV]. Is he going to continue working behind closed doors - trying to be a fixer? It's not really a secret deal we need - we need to transform Cork Opera House into a place fit for citizens to love, eh? What can we do? What can you do? |
Jun 2
The Gems of Cork City : Paul O'Mahony's Choice
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May 28
Read The Cork News today - for an overview & background to TransformCork
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May 26
Spreading News about TransformCork
| Paul O'Mahony's been interviewed by The Cork News about TransformCork. Hopefully that'll appear soon. Hopefully that'll help pass on the message that TransformCork is here to promote talk about Cork City.
Paul has written other interesting stuff about how we can change Cork City. The Re-invention of Cork: Re-brand Cork was his first piece on the subject. But it wouldn't have led to anything if it wasn't for those who took up the idea and invented TransformCork.
People like : Jonathan Ann, Lisa Murphy, Denis O'Mullane, Kieran Daly, Eoghan O'Leary, Paul Lee, CarrieSpiers (@cotisgal in Florida, USA)
There have been tweets about #transformcork from so many people, it's hard to keep track of them all. I've tried to make a full collection of all who've contributed: @tokyote - in Tokyo, Japan @omaniblog @corksredFM @borismartinez - Chile @Betsydraperfl - Florida, USA @Choypw - Hong Kong This list is but a fraction of those who've involved themselves in TransformCork via Twitter. What if you're not on Twitter?
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May 22
