As always in Summer, the art galleries and arts centres of West Cork are blooming: there are wonderful exhibitions to be seen in Cnoc Bui (Union Hall), Working Artist Studios (Ballydehob), Uillin (Skibbereen), Blue House Gallery (Schull), and Gallery Asna | Clonakilty Community Arts Centre (Clonakilty).
This will be the last Summer of shows for Gallery Asna, however, as the Clonakilty Community Arts Centre must close its doors at the end of September. Notice has been given; the show is over. Not because the building has sold, but because it is apparently easier to sell empty.
Needless to say, this will be a great loss for the town and for West Cork generally. Apart from Uillin, Gallery Asna is the only gallery in West Cork with a 12-month exhibition programme; 50 artists annually show on its walls and plinths, through group and solo exhibitions.
Through June the gallery showed the rich and vibrant work of Eadaoin Harding Kemp, whilst coming up in July it will showcase new work by the prolific and inspiring Michael McSwiney. Following McSwiney, in August will be a group show by Cork Potters, and for Gallery Asna’s swan song in September, a combined show by Becky Hatchett, and newcomer Emma Scully.
Over the past four years, following Covid, there has not been a break in Gallery Asna’s exhibition programme, a testament to the strong organisation and tireless work of CCAC’s CE Scheme staff, volunteers and board of directors. They deserve our thanks for contributing so critically to the vulnerable fabric of West Cork’s visual arts sector.
Gallery Asna is only one arm, however, of CCAC’s operations. Alongside the exhibition programme, many artists, writers and musicians run workshops and regular classes in the CCAC studios and shared teaching space. It is home to Clonakilty School of Painting, Clonakilty Artists Together, Clonakilty Community Dark Room and Creative Kids. In all, 90 students access classes in the centre every week, 60 of them children and teens, with students travelling from as far afield as Cork City and Schull.
There is a performance arm as well. CCAC hosts regular Open Mic sessions and annual Culture Night Events, and has, over the years, been the launch pad for other organisations and businesses, such as the Men’s Shed and The Green Dot. As a low-rent launch pad CCAC has demonstrated a strong argument for subsidised space, as a mechanism to propel start-ups forward. Ironically, however, it is not able to propel itself.
CCAC will always be grateful to the opportunity afforded to it by the building owner, who has kindly sheltered the organisation from the realities of the retail rental market over the last 12 years. Consistently low rent helped the arts centre grow and eventually flourish, and to help others do likewise. It has been an excellent example of ‘meanwhile use,’ at once preventing building dereliction and enabling social, creative and economic well-being. The reality now, however, is that CCAC, inoculated so long from the market, is ill-equipped to compete for new rental space.
Cognisant of this fact, the arts centre has been lobbying Cork County Council for ‘meanwhile use’ of an empty council-owned building on Kent Street, since last December. Encouraged to engage in the Kent Street public consultation process in March, CCAC became the driving force behind the formation of a coalition of ten organisations and 20 individuals, all calling with one voice for a new cultural centre for the town, a centre that could meet multiple outstanding needs for multiple groups. The Kent Street public consultation is now complete (see the article on the facing page), however any resulting project there is years away.
What CCAC is still asking for is ‘meanwhile use.’
According to one government document “meanwhile uses occupy vacant or under-utilised buildings on a temporary basis…as (for example) pop-up shops, street markets, exhibition spaces and other purposes in accordance with Town Centre First policies.”
In a recent email to the SEO of the Western division of the council, I listed four reasons why CCAC should be granted ‘meanwhile use’ of the old fire station, now designated, through the Kent Street Integrated Urban Strategy (IUS), for cultural use. It would, I stated:“1. Save a long-standing community organisation and the many services it provides. 2. Win the community over to the council; this is good PR. 3. Provide a platform to promote the Kent Street IUS and the future community vision. 4. Demonstrate how successful the site could be for the community and the arts.” I would add to that list the following: 5. Prevent dereliction, pending future development. 6. Stimulate tourism and the economy. 7. Contribute positively to community mental health.
These points chime with a report authored in 2021 by Jude Sherry and Dr. Frank O’Connor, of anois.org, funded by the Heritage Council. The report addresses ‘meanwhile use’ as an intelligent answer to vacancy, dereliction, economic and social stagnation, identifying it as a bridge between vacancy and development, a stepping stone for start-ups and a stimulus for social and economic well-being. The authors identify a number of approaches, one of which speaks to CCAC’s request in particular:
“Predevelopment: Large scale developments can take many years to come to full fruition and often take longer than anticipated. If integrated into development plans from the start, Meanwhile Use can offer the potential to decrease costs associated with vacancy, as well as increase usage of an area by maintaining or increasing footfall.”
In the Cultural Centre Action Group strategic vision, authored to feed into the Kent St. public consultation, Meanwhile Use was factored into Phase 1 of a four-phase plan for a multi-site cultural centre. It was factored in, in anticipation of CCAC losing its premises, and called for a temporary gallery in the fire station truck bay, and studios, meeting spaces and teaching spaces in No. 8 Kent Street.
What CCAC is unsure of, is if any of this has been listened to. The email response from the council was that: “no decision on meanwhile use has been made.” No context, no timeframe, no invitation for further discussion. It has been said through the grapevine that ‘meanwhile use’ is being actively looked into, and if this is true, there is cause for hope. But without constructive communication it is impossible for CCAC to know where it truly stands. ‘Meanwhile’ Clonakilty’s arts centre is out of time. CCAC will be holding a rally on July 19, 2pm, in Asna Square. There will be speeches, music, and of course an exhibition in the gallery. The aim is to fill the square with as many people as possible, to show the council, and the wider community how much this is needed. And of course, if there are other solutions out there the CCAC team is all ears: ccac2013@gmail.com
