Waterville plans an arts centre to serve south Kerry

For Charlie Chaplin, Waterville was one of the most beautiful places in the world. He stayed in the Butler Arms Hotel and his ties with the place are marked by a bronze statue in the village. But now the little genius of cinema may be about to make another contribution to his adopted home through plans to screen all of his films in a yet to be constructed arts centre overlooking the seafront promenade.

"One of the features we would like to incorporate in the arts centre," says Mr Sean O hArgain of local development group IRD Waterville, "is an audio-visual facility and we've already had discussions with Charlie Chaplin's daughter, Josephine - she lives in the area - about showing all his films."

While the screening of Chaplin's complete body of work would mark the coming to fruition of plans to develop an arts centre for Waterville, much hard work has to be done before then. But Mr O hArgain is adamant it is well worth the effort.

He points out that an arts centre - which would serve the Iveragh Peninsula from Kells through Cahirciveen and up to Sneem - is very much in keeping with the commitment by both the Arts Council and the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands to promote the arts in rural areas.

"Our nearest theatre is Siamsa Tire in Tralee. It's 50 miles from us and 40 miles from Cahirciveen and 60 miles from Sneem. Now, much and all as we support Siamsa and love to go there, it's quite an undertaking." Mr O hArgain points out that an Arts Council report on access to the arts says the working catchment area of any theatre is 25 miles - something which puts the people of Waterville and virtually all the Iveragh Peninsula at a distinct disadvantage.

He is sure an arts centre in Waterville incorporating a theatre would be well supported. There's a strong tradition of drama in the area going back to Cahirciveen playwrights such as Sigerson Clifford and Pauline Maguire, and any touring companies which have visited have been well supported. Similarly music. The Music Network selected south Kerry as an area to promote music and for the past five years through a group called Ceol Uibh Rathaigh, the area has hosted between three and five concerts a year - from traditional to classical and jazz.

Earlier this month, the Opera Theatre Company brought their show, The Girls of Summer, to Waterville Community Centre and some 250 music lovers - both locals and visitors - filled the centre. It's an indicator of what could be achieved.

"What we would hope is that with a 120 to 150-seater theatre, we would have shows and concerts running through the summer. It would provide entertainment for visitors to the area and the revenue from the summer season could be used to subsidise the winter programme for local people," he says.

The programme would be eclectic with all musical tastes catered for, while the auditorium would be multi-purpose. It could serve as a conference centre as well as a cinema - perhaps one night a week given that the nearest cinema, since the closure of the Oisin in Killorglin, is now in Killarney, 50 miles away.

IRD Waterville has already engaged Tralee architects O'Sullivan Campbell, who designed Siamsa Tire, to draw up plans for the arts centre. It's estimated the centre will cost £700,000 and fundraising is still very much in its infancy but IRD Waterville is undaunted.

"We would hope to apply for funding to the Arts Council and the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, as well as for local Leader funding from South Kerry Partnership, while with the success of the millennium project idea, the Government could - given the budget surplus it's enjoying - do a lot worse than continue that type of funding for community projects.

"In an ideal world, we would like to see construction started before the end of 2001. An arts centre would have a major impact on the social life here in south Kerry. People in rural areas should, as a right, have access to performances of the same standard as people in large country towns and cities."