GALWAY may have the Town Hall Theatre and the Black Box but no one denies that the work of housing the arts in the city is far from finished. However, Eithne Verling has resigned as Project Manager of the fund raising Galway Municipal Theatre Trust to take up another position, and there will be no replacement in the short term. The Mayor of Galway, John Mulholland explains that the fund raising strategy is now in place to secure the completion of the Black Box theatre, and that the Trust can carry out the work itself. But one Galway arts administrator voiced the opinion that the Trust has been proved not to be an effective fund raising mechanism.

While the visual arts have been among the highlights of this festival (Kathe Kollwitz, Joan Miro, Patrick O'Reilly), there is now little real talk of that Galway gallery which was originally part of the whole "Housing the Arts in Galway" concept, although it is good news that the Galway Arts Centre has received capital funding to upgrade its facilities. And while Music For Galway packs in the punters at St. Nicholas's Church this week for lunch time concerts such as those by Dermot Dunne (classical accordion, today), and Maria McGarry (piano, tomorrow), it is disappointing that when a symphony orchestra comes to Galway, they play in Leisureland, Salthill, amid the smell of chlorine, and the sounds of people getting in and out of the pool. Music For Galway's Madeleine Flanagan feels they could sell 1,000 tickets for such concerts if the venue were improved and meanwhile hopes for the speedy completion of work at the Town Hall theatre to make its accoustics more acceptable.