Sir, – It appears from Frank McDonald's excellent piece, "Thirty Years of Temple Bar" (Magazine, July 3rd) that this much vaunted cultural quarter is suffering something of a cultural vacuum. But this is not without solution. Standing among the ever-expanding pubs and fast-food joints, we still have Project Arts Centre, the Olympia, New Theatre, Smock Alley, Temple Bar Studios & Gallery, Graphics Studio, the two galleries of photography, the Irish Film Centre, the Ark and various festival bases. And more?
So where do all these bodies stand on the future development of Temple Bar? For over 20 years most of them paid Temple Bar Properties (later TBCT) to market them collectively, also to negotiate on their behalf with other local stakeholders such as residents and businesses, but most of all with Dublin City Council. But since DCC effectively took over the operation, some years back, these arts producers have, in a sense, been orphaned.
It’s time for the arts sector in Temple Bar to come together and find a new mechanism to engage with other stakeholders in the quarter, to build solidarity, playing a fuller role in their community, and to speak externally with one powerful voice.
– Yours, etc,
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JOHN STEPHENSON,
Rathmines,
Dublin 6.