TWO proud West Cork women gave context to the success of the three festivals organised by West Cork Music, and its potential to build a new and ground-breaking cultural centre in Bantry town.

Director of the Crawford Art Gallery, Mary McCarthy, from Whitehall near Skibbereen, deputised for the Minister for Culture, Patrick O’Donovan TD, at the festival launch on Friday night. Addressing a crowded room at Bantry Library – a county-wide service that is celebrating its centenary – Mary said: ‘We are here in a house of literature courtesy of West Cork Music, which is doing an incredible service in providing three major festivals, and to be ploughing on ambitiously with an extraordinary plan to build a venue here in Bantry.’

Mary said West Cork Music is working with incredible architects to create something that will be of an ‘exceptional standard.’

She said the project is very much in keeping with the minister’s own stated ambition to ensure that people in Ireland have access to culture within 100km of where they live and to counteract the huge centralisation of culture in the capital city.

The Crawford director ​urged people to support West Cork Music in challenging those norms and build a venue that will host the West Cork Chamber Music Festival, the West Cork Literature Festival and the Masters of Tradition, as well as offering a centre for a lot of educational-related matters.

‘Why do literary festivals matter?’ Mary asked and answered. ‘It is a way of bringing people together at a time maybe when we are probably less present.

‘We know from research that we are giving less time to each other physically in meetings, in exchanges, so what I love about festivals is that they force us to pay attention.

‘We put ourselves in the trust of the authors, the publishers, the interviewers. Literary festivals create the space for us to hold ambiguous thoughts, the ability to hold different tensions and ideas simultaneously.

‘We are very fortunate, particularly in the Cork region, that there has been a real strong growth in writers – in published and very successful writers. And I have no doubt that is due​, in part​, to this festival, the funding of the Arts Council, and Cork County Council which sponsors the festivals.’

The impressive line-up for this year’s literary festival included Miriam O’Callaghan, Ian Rankin, Louise O’Neill, Karl Henry and Jung Chang.

Referring to well-known artists in the room, Mary said West Cork is a repository for artists because artists get to encounter other artist’s work and engage with artists from other places.

‘Festivals, like this, remind us that it is not only travel that gives us adventure,’ said Mary. ‘We can have adventure right here, this week.

‘Certainly, those were fortunate to have been at the West Cork Chamber Music festival in the last two weeks had such global experiences like the incredible Ukrainian opening performance.’

Mary’s final comment on Bantry’s growing stature as a cultural centre was to remind readers how lucky they are to have an independent bookshop in their town.

Miriam O’Callaghan speaking on Monday night. (Photo:Karlis Djamko)

‘Support independent bookshops because we have an opportunity to form a community of readers right here, right now,’ she said.

Journalist, broadcaster and author Alison O’Connor spoke to The Southern Star before Miriam O’Callaghan’s engaging talk on Monday night.

Alison, a native of Bantry, said each of the three festivals are fabulous. She spoke with pride when she said: ‘That a town, like Bantry, has managed to anchor these festivals is fantastic.

‘I live in Dublin with people who will mention the festivals to you, and how much they enjoy them, and coming to them.

‘I know the amazing weather at the moment isn’t very festival friendly. People are more inclined towards the beach, but if you look at the programme it is always so strong I think there is enough there to lure people in from the sun and to enjoy the next couple
of days.’

On the subject of Miriam O’Callaghan and her memoir, Alison said: ‘One of the things I love about Miriam is that she is so wonderfully positive. You leave her presence with a pep in your step and feeling that there is an awful lot of good going on in the world. And that is some feat given everything that is going on in the world at the moment.’