The contract for the building of the Millennium Monument - that's the Spike - will be awarded this month. Building is expected to begin in April, and the steel spire of architect Ian Ritchie will soar above O'Connell Street by September.
The construction is going to be a happening in itself. While the base is being built, the hoarding will stretch into the road, reducing it to two lanes on each side. Then, as steel starts to climb towards the sky, the hoarding will reach towards the taxi rank at the Parnell Square end of O'Connell Street. People are sure to gather, stop and stare - and throw things? - as cranes lift the monument into the air in as many as eight pieces. There was a shortlist of five tenders for the erection of the spire, from both the Republic and abroad. They had different approaches to constructing it, which will be something of an engineering feat, as the thin column of steel will be 120 metres high. Ann Graham, project manager of the O'Connell Street Integrated Area Plan, says she doesn't expect protests when the Spike goes up. "I think people will be more excited about it than protesting," she says. "It's two years since it should have gone up." She agrees that the monument will be a focus for discussion, however, "and we welcome those discussions". The contract for the running of as many as 12 new kiosks at the base of the Spike is also about to be awarded. These will be cafes, florists, newsagents and the like, and will complement the new granite plaza, which will front the GPO. Desperately continental altogether.
The Arts Council of Northern Ireland yesterday released its funding plans for arts infrastructure, including more than £5 million sterling (almost €8.15 million) towards refashioning city-centre arts provision. This will involve the building of a £3 million sterling (almost €4.88 million) arts centre in the Cathedral Quarter of Belfast. The centre will house a major venue for visual-arts exhibitions. Of the £12 million available from the Arts Council lottery funds, £9 million has been set aside for capital provision in Belfast. Other city-centre venues that have benefited include the Grand Opera House (£2 million sterling), whose management has already reacted angrily to the fact that its bid for support to acquire the car park beside the venue, to build a multipurpose theatre, community workshop space and front-of-house facilities, has been rejected. Instead, the council has suggested the Opera House build new offices and backstage facilities on a site behind the theatre.
"A very, very exciting job, the chance to be director of the first Irish cultural centre abroad" is how Fiach Mac Conghail describes the directorship of the Collège des Irlandais in Paris, which was recently advertised. Mac Conghail is programme manager, working on the launch of the revamped institution, and says he's sorry his French isn't good enough or he'd think of applying himself. Mac Conghail has programmed the opening season, which runs from October, but the new director will be responsible for developing a cultural strategy for the college from then on. The new cultural centre is "like a cross between [the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in] Annaghmakerrig and the Irish Writers' Centre, with visual arts as well," says Mac Conghail. "There are 40 rooms in the college, and people can stay there and research or rehearse." And, of course, it's in Paris. You can request information about the relaunch of the college by e-mailing irishcollege@eircom.net
Traditional music has not been effectively supported by the Arts Council in the past. This was probably a by-product of the old idea of real versus "traditional" art - an idea that, sadly, haunts "Towards A New Framework For The Arts", Minister de Valera's discussion document on arts policy, but will, with luck, be expunged from any resulting legislation. The council is getting its retaliation in first, anyway, by stressing that it warmly welcomes applications from traditional musicians for its new range of bursaries, travel awards, professional-development training awards, apprenticeships and residencies. It is these last two to which it particularly draws the attention of traditional musicians, who haven't applied to the Arts Council in sufficient numbers in the past. The council's Awards 2002 brochure also includes details of two new awards commemorating two late members of its staff: the Lar Cassidy Award, of €15,000, to allow a writer to create a work of experimental fiction, and the Kevin Kieran biennial architects' award, which is worth €50,000, for professional development. You can get details from www.artscouncil.ie
- Edited by Victoria White
frontrow@irish-times.ie
