THERE is widespread welcome for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Minister, Jimmy Deenihan’s announcement that Limerick will be the first National City of Culture in 2014.
It is, the President of Limerick Institute of Technology, Dr Maria Hinfelaar says, the most significant recognition to date of the city’s enormous heritage in this area.
“The city’s rich history of culture fully deserves this recognition.
“Limerick is a heartbeat of Irish culture, in all its spheres, and having been actively involved at LIT, and particularly through our Limerick College of Art and Design (LSAD), in helping Limerick achieve this honour, we must all commend Minister Deenihan and his Department on this initiative,” said Dr Hinfelaar, who adds:
“We were aware something of this nature was in the offing after the Minister alluded to this at our recent Graduation ceremony and we are delighted that it has now come to pass.”
Welcoming the development of “a project designed to lift the spirits of the entire community, given the recent statistics that have established Limerick city as having the worst unemployment levels and health status in the country,” Cllr Tom Shortt, leader of the Labour Party in Limerick said:
“The National City of Culture project must be designed to lift the spirits of the entire community and to provide employment for Limerick artists, actors, musicians, performers and technicians.
“Funding of arts organisations and venues in the city which have been drastically cut must be restored by Minister Deenihan and the Arts Council to levels that will make a lively programme of arts events produced by Limerick artists for Limerick people.”
Emphasising that the programme for the year must see the arts reaching out and involving children in schools, teenagers and senior citizens, with free family events bringing colour and life to the city’s streets and parks, he said:
“The programme of theatre, visual arts and music events in 2014 must be of the highest quality, accessible and not elitist – the year long festival of Culture has the potential to boost tourism significantly supporting jobs in the hospitality sector if marketed effectively.”
Delighted that Limerick will be Ireland’s first National City of Culture, Deputy Kieran O’Donnell said it will present an opportunity to showcase “our beautiful city and rich cultural history to a national and international audience.
“I believe this will have significant tourism and economic benefits for our city in 2014 and beyond – we have a job of work to do over the next 18 months in order to ensure that Limerick 2014 is a memorable experience”
