The Points of View Lectures

26th Aug 2010

Points of View Lecture Series

David McWilliams has been invited to speak at the first free public lecture in the 2010 Points of View Lecture Series at 6pm on Thursday the 2nd of September in Millennium Hall, Cork City Hall. The five lecture series, taking place in September and October, is bringing world-renowned artists and cultural entrepreneurs to Cork and aims to give the people of Cork a unique chance to shape the direction of arts and culture in the city.

The Points of View lecture series brings together some of Ireland’s leading cultural and economic thinkers to give their perspectives on the role of arts and culture in the life of the city. The free lecture series also sees leading European cultural experts talk about how Cork must look outside itself and learn from international experience.

The lecture series will feature five free public talks focusing on some of the key questions facing the cultural sector today. On the 2nd of September, David McWilliams, economist and driving force behind the 2009 Farmleigh conference, will start the series with a lecture focusing on the economic value of arts and culture, the similarities between the entrepreneur and the artist and how we drive the value of Cork’s cultural heritage on the world stage.

The other lecturers in the series are - Aidan Connolly, the Executive Director of the Irish Arts Centre in New York, Bob and John Crowley, Cork-born brothers who have pursued award winning careers in theatre and filmmaking in Ireland, London and America, Dragan Klaic, a cultural analyst, theater scholar and lecturer based at the Felix Meritis Foundation in Amsterdam and Raumlabor Berlin, an architectural and artistic collective who specialise in work that is centred on urban renewal and social intervention.

The Points of View lectures are taking place on the following dates:

David McWilliams
2nd of Sept - Millenium Hall – 6pm to 7pm

Aidan Connolly
th of September – Atrium, Cork City Hall – 6pm to 7pm

Bob and John Crowley
15th of September – Millenium Hall – 6pm to 7pm

Dragon Klaic
29th of September – Millenium Hall – 6pm to 7pm

Raumlabor Berlin
13th of October – Millenium Hall – 6pm to 7pm

The Points of View lectures are being run in tandem with the ‘By the Artist’ talks, a series of five talks given by some of Ireland’s leading practicing artists that will examine the role of art in the city.

These talks, beginning with writer and director Oonagh Kearney, will give people a look at the reality of working in the arts and cultural world today, giving a rarely seen insight into the creative process and how a film or play makes it onto stage or screen.

The first talk in the By the Artist series with Oonagh Kearney will take place at 1.00pm on Thursday the 2nd of September at the Crawford Art Gallery Lecture Theatre.

The By the Artist series will also feature talks by world-renowned short story writer, Claire Keegan, choreographer and Course Director of the MA in Contemporary Dance in UL, Mary Nunan, Cork-born electro-acoustic composer Linda Buckley, and Emma Underhill, Director of UP Projects, which curates and produces art projects and events outside traditional gallery and museum space.

Cork City Council is establishing an online presence to help people discuss the lecture series and the direction of Cork’s cultural policy. People can visit www.corkcity.ie for information on the lecture series. To join the discussion on arts and culture in Cork, people can visit www.facebook.com/corkcityarts or follow@corkcityarts on www.twitter.com.