After the application of some internal, and external, pressure the Ulster Council of Comhaltas reversed their earlier decision in time for the organisation’s central executive to select Londonderry to host their All-Ireland Fleadh during the UK City of Culture year in 2013. In the event, the only other candidate was Sligo… [Adds – Apparently Ennis withdrew their bid “for the greater good”.]
Meanwhile, in the aftermath of the launch of a £1million Big Lottery fund for UK City of Culture celebrations, there has been some unseemly bickering between councillors in Londonderry and the Culture Company 2013 Ltd – an “independent company (limited by guarantee) formed to manage and deliver the UK City of Culture 2013 programme”. From the BBC report
[Chair of Culture Company 2013 Board] Mr [Martin] Bradley said the organisation was being “choked by red tape” and it wanted to get on with planning the programme for 2013.
“The Culture Company team have been working night and day to engage with the city community and the arts world as a whole,” he said.
“And a whole series of other announcements will be made within the coming months – including our complete draft programme of events in April and the full programme in September.
“In spite of this we find that we have been subject to intense petty criticism this week, all of it erroneous, misdirected and unjustified.
“The amount of time we have wasted addressing completely inaccurate comments about branding and alleged snubs to city stakeholders has been extraordinary.” [added emphasis]
[Would those “comments about branding” relate to the U.K. prefix? – Ed] Possibly…