A FORMER member of the team behind the Three Sisters 2020 European Capital of Culture (ECoC) bid, Corner Boy frontman Mick d’Arcy, has spoken of how the team were exhausted and disappointed when the region was not awarded the title after working tirelessly on the bid effort for 18 months.
Blessed among women, d’Arcy was the only man on an eight-strong team comprised of representatives from the three local authorities of Wexford, Waterford and Kilkenny.
“Some of them didn’t see their kids for about a year and a half,” Mr. d’Arcy explained, describing how he manned the base office at Ferrybank, Waterford, in the aftermath of the defeat and received phone call after phone call from enthused fans of culture around the region disappointed with the result.
The musician presented a Facebook Live broadcast of the event at which the winning city, Galway, was awarded the title.
“The feed went down, I’m not sure whether it was because so many people in the one room were accessing social media at the same time,” Mr. d’Arcy said, adding “it went down just as the announcement was made and when I had it back up I looked over to our team and saw several dejected faces.”
Local supporters and dignitaries around the three counties watched in anticipation, including at Wexford County Council headquarters, willing the ‘Three Sisters’ region on to claim the title which would have brought with it huge economic and societal benefits for Wexford, Waterford and Kilkenny.
Reflecting on why he thought the title went to Galway, the passionate fan of all things purple-and-gold referred to presentations made by the teams from each bidding region to the judging panel prior to the announcement.
“The Galway team came into the room after the Three Sisters presented and they said ‘this is what they plan to do, we’re already there’,” Mr. d’Arcy said.
With Europe experiencing a time of some turbulence, Galway is thought to have represented a safe option to judges as the city already boasts a well-established arts scene.
The Three Sisters, in contrast, was an entirely new coming together with common cause for the three counties involved.
In terms of his immediate future, the Corner Boy frontman is excited to be back behind the microphone and performing to audiences around the world.
When speaking with the Wexford Echo, Mr. d’Arcy and bandmates had just recently returned to the model county from playing to a crowd of thousands in the middle of the Dubai desert at the Sports City arena.
Corner Boy take to Wexford’s spectacular quayfront Spiegeltent stage tomorrow night, Wednesday October 19th, for a special gig with Limerick band Hermitage Green which is set to treat hometown fans.
Read more in the Wexford Echo.