Offaly Community Arts Group €10K Donation to Esker Arts

Community support for the arts in Co Offaly has always been strong, with so many businesses and individuals happy to put their money where their cultural interests are. Esker Arts, the Offaly arts centre which recently celebrated its third birthday is a case in point. With the recent announcement that the Tullamore Community Arts Centre (TCAC) committee had achieved their target of raising €500,000 towards the cost of the building, the generous spirit of the Tullamore community was very much centre stage.

That generosity was reiterated last week, when a group called the Offaly Community Arts Group, represented by Ed Cunningham, arrived with a cheque for over €10,000 to support the operation of the centre.

The group was active in the 1980s and 90s and collected money and presented events in a move to create an appetite for culture in the hope that some day the town would have a dedicated venue devoted to the arts.

Ed describes the origins of the group: “Tullamore people will remember with fondness, Bean Uí Chuinneide (‘Boni’ as she was known), in the 1960s and up to her passing in 1992. She had a wonderful interest in all things cultural and tended to flowerbeds in the roundabouts in town. She was an artist, and her paintings were very much sought after, with her interest in music she formed the Elm field Choral Group. Move on to the late 1980s and a group of like-minded people came together and formed the Offaly Community Arts Group.”

From the outset the group was busy and ambitious, and soon began to bring some of the country’s top artists to Offaly. Well-known groups such as Na Casaidigh, The Jim Doherty Trio, jazz guitarist Louis Stewart, the RTÉ Vanbrugh Strings, Spanish guitarist Agustin Maruri, pianists Phillipe Cassard and David Franchetti, Sopranos Regina Nathan and Cara O’ Sullivan, the Cambridge Winds Ensemble, the Ulster Brass (part of the Ulster Orchestra), the Irish Chamber Orchestra, the Aurelia Sax Quartet, and the Trinity College Singers came and performed. Famous writers too were invited to do readings with Maeve Binchy, Brendan Kennelly, Paul Durcan, Nuala O’Faolain and Michael Longley among the literary titans who came.

Ed continues: “The Offaly Community Arts Group painting exhibitions were held in the summer and Christmas every year in Seamus and Catherine Sheedy’s Courtyard Restaurant, and were a platform and launchpad for many Midlands artists. For the year of the millennium, Offaly Community Arts Group brought the RTÉ Concert Orchestra on their first visit to Tullamore.”

Gareth Hudson and Sam Ellis of the Orchestra came to Tullamore some months before the performance and Ed recalls that he and members of the committee brought them to inspect possible venues in the town for the concert. “The Tullamore Court Hotel was selected for its huge capacity. Conductor of the Orchestra was Prionnsías Ó Duinn, and guest soprano was Virginia Kerr. Also with the Orchestra was Offaly-born Des Keogh, star of the Music for Middlebrows show on RTÉ radio. The concert began with an excerpt from Smetana’s

Dance of the Comedians, which had been the signature tune for Des’ radio programme. The piece also served as an encore at the end of the night, this being a measure of its popularity with the enthusiastic audience. In a way it was a very sad night for Des, as it was the end of his Middlebrows radio programme on Radio after 31 years. Early in the morning of the concert, the RTÉ Rig Truck pulled into the rear of the Court Hotel to erect the huge stage and lighting for the 50-piece Orchestra. The concert was a terrific success with 700 hundred seats filled and many who failed to secure a seat turned up in the hope of getting a cancelled seat. They were the great times in Tullamore.”

Conor Brady, Chairperson of Esker Arts, said: ""The Offaly Community Arts Group (OCAG), followed later by Tullamore Community Arts Centre (TCAC), laid the foundations for today's Esker Arts with its first-rate facilities and excellent programming. The current board and staff are immensely grateful for the generous contribution of funds which have now been transferred from OCAG. A great thank you to Ed Cunningham and those who have worked with him on OCAG."

He continued: "Funding for Esker Arts remains a challenge. We are fortunate to have the financial input of both Offaly County Council and Tullamore Municipal District along with the support and patronage of the community across the county. Artistic Director Sean Walsh and his small team operate a tight budget efficiently and imaginatively. But every additional contribution is most welcome."

The Offaly Community Arts Group wound up many years ago, but the funds they had raised were secure in a Credit Union account, awaiting the day that it would be needed.

With the centre now very much up and running, Ed fulfilled his obligations and the pipedreams of people like Bean Uí Chuinneide who trusted in the magnanimous spirit of the Offaly people.