ArtScape/Deirdre Falvey: The plans for Cork as the 2005 European Capital of Culture came a tad unstuck this week after a war of words between the newly appointed director and the Cork city manager.
Scottish cultural consultant Bryan Beattie announced he wouldn't be able to take up the €90,000 position as he felt he couldn't build an appropriate working relationship with city manager Joe Gavin. Beattie was offered the job - which was to be with new company Cork Cultural Capital Ltd - in July, after which he and his wife cancelled work contracts in Scotland, made plans to relocate and undertook some preparatory trips to Cork.
Beattie says that despite asking for a written contract on July 31st he didn't get one for seven weeks, 12 days before the job's proposed start date. He says his main reason for pulling out was inconsistency about the job: "Things Joe would tell me would change - there was a pattern of this happening - small things and large things about the job would change over days or weeks."
He says he has reluctantly decided that it wouldn't be possible to do the job successfully, and has pulled out.
Joe Gavin this week told the city council Beattie's statement did not reflect the facts and said there had been no change in the terms of employment offered to Beattie. He would be issuing a statement on the subject and would announce a replacement for the job, he said. The battle of wills has obviously set back the city's plans and a new director will have to start later than was envisaged . . . we'll watch the space.
No competition
Although, after the boardroom reshuffle at the National Gallery of Ireland, vice- chairman Anthony Cronin occupied the chair, he had no plans to settle into it, writes Aidan Dunne. So, at the meeting of governors and guardians on October 10th, he proposed AIB chairman, art collector and donor to national collections Lochlann Quinn for the position.
There had been speculation of late that Bruce Arnold might have the chair in his sights, and he was proposed. However, it was clear, reportedly, that there wasn't much inclination on the part of the other board members to make a competition of it, and Quinn was duly appointed as chairman, with Cronin continuing as vice-chairman.
Incidentally, the gallery's Millennium Wing, designed by Scottish architects Forsyth and Benson, made it onto the shortlist for the Stirling Architectural Award, but in the end didn't bag the prize.
Glucksman on board
Meanwhile, another member of the board of the National Gallery, the prominent and committed Irish-American patron of the arts, Loretta Brennan Glucksman, has also joined the board of the Abbey Theatre. She is good pals with Eithne Healy - who chairs the Abbey board - and will be replacing Jennifer Johnston. Glucksman is chair of the American Ireland Fund, is on the National Concert Hall board, and has been involved with the National Library. She is married to New York stockbroker Lewis Glucksman, whose contributions to Irish institutions must surely come second to those of Irish-American Chuck Feeney.
There are a number of high-profile philanthropists on the boards of Irish institutions - and one wonders if the recent downturn in the stock market will have a negative impact on arts funding. Irish institutions may not be able to rely on the generosity of foreign donors in the future.
Europe comes to Dublin
It is Ireland's - in fact, Dublin Institute of Technology's (with NCAD, University of Ulster and the institutes of technology) - turn to host the biennial European conference of the European League of the Institutes of the Arts. ELIA is a network of 350 arts education institutes from 47 countries, and next week about 400 European delegates join 150 Irish ones for Comhar ("co- operation") in venues all over Dublin, from IMMA to the NCH to Dublin Castle to City Hall as well as the colleges. In fact, one of the difficulties facing programmers was that none of the art colleges in the city has the capacity to host more than 350 guests - but this also offered the opportunity to get European delegates out to colleges to meet staff and students, said Kieran Corcoran of the steering committee.
There is a good range of keynote speakers, including Belgian artist Luc Tuymans; Catherine David, director of the Witte de With Centre for Contemporary Art; Dirk van Damme of the Flemish University Council; sociologist Saskia Sassen; and, from Ireland, ex-NCAD director Noel Sheridan and Fintan O'Toole of this parish. Symposia deal with issues such as the artist's changing role, international mobility in the arts, and the intriguingly titled 'Managing the Unmanageable'. There is also a cultural programme showcasing what's happening in the arts and arts education here, according to Dr Ellen Hazelkorn of DIT, one of the national co-ordinators. The events include a dance performance from eight different dance institutions - rehearsed remotely over the Internet! Temple Bar venues are staying open late on Thursday, and there's a free open-air showing (from 7 p.m. in Meeting House Square, Temple Bar) of 20 three- minute European student videos on the theme of Looping the Loop. Comhar opens on Tuesday and ends on Sunday, October 27th (www.elia.ahk.nl).
True gritting of the teeth
Readers of Radio Times were asked to nominate the greatest British people of all time, and the 100 highest scorers will be analysed in Great Britons on BBC2 tomorrow, Tuesday and Friday. There are a couple of silly or mischievous choices (Robbie Williams and Satanist Aleister Crowley) among the great and the good (William Caxton, Lawrence of Arabia, Captain Scott, Queen Victoria, Horatio Nelson, Stephen Hawking, Jane Austen and most of the usual suspects). Also voted into the Top 100 are several people who aren't British at all, like our own Bob Geldof (although Mrs Thatcher did once call him "a true Brit with true grit") and Bono. Also on the list with the boys: Henry VIII and Oliver Cromwell.
Innovation in progress
Those interested in the work of the innovative Readco should drop in to the Project Cube in Dublin at 3 p.m. today. The company presents a work-in-progress and discussion afterwards of Michelle Read's The Other Side, a new piece of theatre devised by Tara Derrington, Natalie Stringer and Read, focusing on perspective and dividing not only the characters but the audience. Reservations can be made by tel: 1850- 260027.
Irish ascendant in Geminis
Good to see Irish-Canadian co-production Random Passage getting six Canadian Film and Television Academy Award ("Gemini") nominations: Best Actor (Colm Meaney and Aoife McMahon), Best Supporting Actor (Deborah Pollitt), Best Cinematography (Pierre Letarte), Costume (Michelle Hamel) and Production Design (Normand Sarrazin). Winners will be announced next month.