WEST Cork Music (WCM) is celebrating after securing planning permission for a project that has been a pipe dream for three decades.

Cork County Council last week granted permission for a 1,970sqm development expected to cost around €20m to provide a venue for concerts and other festival events.

'For 30 years, we have dreamed of creating a permanent home for the performing arts and arts education in West Cork, and this decision brings that dream significantly closer to reality,' Francis Humphrys the CEO of West Cork Music said.

Francis said he and his team are thrilled by the warm response to the news that the scheme, designed by award-winning Dublin practice McCullough Mulvin Architects, has been given the go-ahead.

The landmark facility will sit alongside Bantry's iconic library as part of an emerging cultural quarter right in the centre of the harbour town.

WCM has already raised €1m and is confident that it will open the doors of its new purpose-built venue in 2030.

The good news was announced at the opening night of the Masters of Tradition festival by Minister of State Christopher O'Sullivan.

Francis told The Southern Star: 'So much work has gone into reaching this milestone. We are deeply grateful to everyone who has helped us along the way, from local businesses and the Bantry Community Fund to Irish and international festival-goers. 

'The enthusiastic response from our community, and from our audiences and friends across the world, is a great spur to push on and deliver on our vision.’

Long-term, the new building will support the trio of festivals run by WCM, namely the annual West Cork Chamber Music Festival, the West Cork Literary Festival, and the five-day Masters of Tradition Festival.

The final Masters concert marked the end of a summer season that saw hundreds of WCM concerts and readings take place at venues across Bantry from morning to night over 23 days.

According to an independent report from Cork University Business School, WCM’s festivals created an economic impact of €7.67m in 2025 alone, with close to 16,000 tickets sold.

The proposed development will consist of the demolition of a warehouse at the former GW Biggs site at Bridge Street and the construction of a 271-seater auditorium, a dedicated education and rehearsal space, a café, and a public plaza. 

There will also be a linked three-storey education hub incorporating a ground floor café and bar, teaching and education room, and a multi-purpose performance space.

For more than 30 years, Bantry enjoyed some unique venues, such as the incomparable Bantry House, St Brendan's Church, the Marino Church, the Fellowship Hall, and even the town's plaza, which provided the perfect backdrop for open air concerts that brought music to the people. 

'The new development won't replace the brilliant collaborative festival model we've created with our friends and neighbours over the years,' Siobhán Burke, WCM’s venue development manager said. 'But when we have purpose-built facilities of our own, we can expand our programming even further, deliver education activities year-round, and help make the arts more accessible to all.'

With so much major arts funding having gone to developments in city centres in the past, Bantry's gain is being welcomed as a gain for the cultural life of all of West Cork.

Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns, TD for Cork South West, whose father Clem was instrumental in developing the West Cork Literary Festival, agreed: 'This will be a huge boost for the area, and for the West Cork arts sector.

'It was a long process getting to this point, and the West Cork Music team must be congratulated for their incredibly hard work in getting this project over the line.’