Galway Advertiser 2006/2006_02_09/GA_0902_E1_010.pdf 

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10 N E W S

www.galwayadvertiser.ie

February 9 2006

Alternative arts festival organisers to hold major public meeting
BY KERNAN ANDREWS The arrival of Project `06 has caused quite a stir since it was announced last week and is set to cause further controversy and debate on the arts in Galway with a town meeting on its aims at the end of this month. Project `06 will run from July 18 to 29, alongside the Galway Arts Festival and will feature a carnival parade, street art, happenings, art exhibitions, music concerts, dance, literature events, and theatre. In order to "democratise" and open out Project `06 to the public, its organisers will hold a town meeting, on how to progress Project `06, in the Great Southern Hotel on Monday February 27 at 8pm. All are welcome to this meeting. Speaking to the Galway Advertiser, the Town Hall Theatre manager Mike Diskin, who is involved in Project `06 said: "You can come with comments for or against, or if you want to be involved you can come and meet the people taking part." The festival's website, www.project06.com, goes live today and will be an open access site and will run an `ideas board'. "The festival will not be curated," said Mr Diskin. "Through the website and the way the festival is being organised, we are attempting to be as democratic as possible. Project `06 is about democratising the arts and anybody who has a project and wants to be involved will be on the website. We will put up a notice board and that way the projects can be discussed. It gives people the chance to get involved and get to know what's going on." Project `06 was established in reaction to a perception among some members of Galway's artistic community that the number of Galway-based acts, artists, musicians, and companies, included in the Galway Arts Festival has diminished over recent years. According to the organisers Project '06 is a one year only event which hopes to open a dialogue with the Galway Arts Festival and influence its future direction. However until the last few days, those involved in the festival, including Ollie Jennings, Paraic Breathnach, and Mike Diskin, remained anonymous. This secretiveness puzzled some onlookers. In reply, Mr Diskin, who is giving "administrative help" to Project `06 said: "In my own case I am a Galway City Council employee and I did not want to be seen as criticising the arts festival. Therefore I thought it appropriate to take a back seat until the announcement was out of the way. For most of the artists involved, they want to put on shows and don't want to finish with the Galway Arts Festival. Some were afraid that maybe they wouldn't get to work with the arts festival again if they chose to go with Project `06." If Project `06 felt the number of Galway companies included in the festival were diminishing, why did they feel a separate festival was necessary? There must have been other, less public, routes that could have been pursued to address this perception. "We felt this was the best way to approach this," Mr Diskin said. "We didn't feel we were getting anywhere with informal contacts. We feel this is a dignified way of doing this, an artistic way, by putting on events." A number of those involved in Project `06 said the Galway Arts Festival is now so big and such an international event that it is not able to cater for smaller events and Galway groups. If this is the case, why not set up Project `06 as a fringe event to cater for Galway groups at festival time? This means local, national, and i n t e r n a t i o n a l artists/groups will be catered for and both festivals will complement each other and there will be no need for friction or division. "This is a major undertaking for those involved and a lot of volunteer work," Mr Diskin replies. "The sort of project we are talking about, and atmosphere we are trying to bring back to the streets of the city, could and should be undertaken by the arts festival. It is possible that one of the results of this project could be that it takes place in future years but if that happens then we have failed. We are setting out to influence the direction of the arts festival, not set up a competing festival." Another criticism levelled at Project `06 is that by focusing so much on Galway acts that it will become too parochial. However Mr Diskin says the festival will include national artists and groups as well. "All involved so far are Galway acts but don't assume that just because they are Galway the standard won't be high," he says. "There will be groups from outside Galway as well. A lot of people want to play Galway during festival time and who are we to stop them?"

Corkman barred from Galway city and county for calling garda abusive names
A 20-years-old Cork man who came to Galway to celebrate Hallowe'en with friends and became very abusive to a garda outside a city centre night-club, has been barred from the city for two years following his appearance before Galway District Court this week. Daniel Dwyer (20), Knockleigh, Belgooley, Cork, pleaded guilty to breaching the peace and being drunk in public at Abbeygate Street, Galway, in the early hours of October 31 last year. Inspector Pat McHugh said Garda Claire Burke was outside Halo nightclub when the accused came out of the premises in a very intoxicated state. He walked into the garda and she went to arrest him for being drunk and a danger to himself and others in public. Dwyer took umbrage at being arrested and shouted abuse at Garda Burke, calling her all sorts of names, the inspector said. Defence solicitor Valerie Corcoran said her client had a very low tolerance for alcohol and it did not agree with him. She said he might not drink for a few months but would then drink too much. His family, she said, was assisting him overcome his problem. Describing the accused as "an avid golfer", Ms. Corcoran said her client was of impeccable character when not drinking and he wanted to apologise for his behaviour on the night. Hearing Dwyer had four convictions for public order related offences, Judge Mary Fahy said he had been getting into trouble in Cork and had come to Galway where he also got into trouble. Judge Fahy warned the accused that if he continued to behave in the way he had behaved towards Garda Burke, he would be going to prison. Calling the garda names, she said, had been outrageous. She sentenced Dwyer to two months in prison for breaching the peace but suspended it on condition he stay away from Galway city and county for the next two years. She also imposed a fine of 400 for breaching the peace and a further 100 for being drunk in public.

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