Something remarkable is happening in Clonakilty writes James Waller: over the last two weeks 19 individuals, some of them representing over half a dozen key organisations, have come together to form the Clonakilty Cultural Centre Action Group (CCCAG). Comprised of strategic planners, community workers, artists, arts and home educators, arts managers, school teachers, musicians, composers, entrepreneurs, former CEOs and judges, and representing groups as diverse as the Clonakilty Resource Centre, West Cork Development Partnership, Youth Orchestra, Arts Centre, Geata Arts and Tidy Towns, the Action Group is shaping up to be a formidable voice for change in the town. Formed in response to a call for ideas from Cork County Council for the future of council-owned buildings on Kent Street, the group’s message to the council is clear: the town needs a multi-site cultural centre that consolidates and provides for the needs of all cultural and civic community stakeholders.
For too long groups in Clonakilty have attempted to get by in hotel rooms, cafes, dilapidated or inaccessible buildings, spaces that are too small or simply not fit for purpose. Indeed, if it were not for O’Donovan’s Hotel’s steadfast patronage half the groups in town would simply have nowhere to go. But as generous as O’Donovan’s and other property owners and businesses are, hotels, cafes, or run down commercial townhouses, are not fit-for-purpose cultural spaces; these spaces are made for guests, customers, stock rooms or warehousing, not for community meeting rooms, seminars, exhibitions or concerts. Continuing to ask such businesses to fill the ‘service gap’ also places undue pressure upon them, at a time when space is at a premium.
Meanwhile there are empty council-owned buildings and sites on Kent Street, and the newly formed Action Group has a plan on how to use them.
In just two weeks a document has been written and formulated, outlining the cultural and civic sectors’ shared needs, along with a detailed four-phase plan to address them. The speed and agility of the Action Group’s formation and response is a testament to the depth of expertise, interconnectivity and outstanding need within Clonakilty. The necessity for such speed reflects a compressed public consultation period, outside of the group’s control. But the fact that it has delivered a considered, researched, four-phase plan for establishing a cultural centre, in such a time frame, should promote confidence within the council, in the ability of well-established community organisations to come together to manage council-owned assets. A preliminary draft of the 42-page document, titled: ‘CCCAG: Strategic Vision for Kent St 2025-2040’ has now been submitted to the consultancy team, hired by Cork County Council to formulate an Integrated Urban Strategy.
The document (which will now continue to be refined, to be made ready for publication) is feeding into a public consultation process, which has included a public survey (over 200 surveys received and now closed) and which will include two more public meetings. The next of these will take place on April 29, 7-9pm at the Parish Hall on Western Road, Clonakilty. At this meeting the consultancy team will be presenting several potential projects to attendees, one of which will be chosen to be made ‘application ready’ for further capital funding opportunities. So if you care about the future of Kent Street, and wish to see new community spaces opened up, you are very much encouraged to attend. Let’s keep imagining and lobbying for this together, until that remarkable vision for a cultural centre is finally shaped by bricks, stone and mortar.
