On Culture Night 2022, University College Cork (UCC) launches the first Arts and Culture Plan in its history.

The four year plan – Igniting UCC’s Creative Potential - will work to harness and activate the University’s cultural, artistic, heritage and creative assets, and champion transdisciplinary arts research and new models of engagement.

Among the actions in the plan include the appointment of a dedicated arts and cultural officer, who will to drive delivery of the Arts and Culture Plan, as well as University-wide engagement with arts and culture. UCC will also create a global ambassadorial programme to promote pride in, and association with, UCC’s commitment to the Arts.

Opportunities for student development will be targeted through the plan, whether through University-wide academic programmes, mentoring or extra-curricular activities. The plan also commits UCC to work with and support Cork City and County Councils to achieve their vision to become a European Centre of Excellence for Inclusive Arts.

Notable UCC alumni in the arts and cultural community include Fiona Shaw, Graham Norton, Siobhan McSweeney, Samantha Barry, Philip King, Theo Dorgan, and Doireann Ní Ghríofa.

Commenting Professor John O’Halloran, President of UCC stated, “We have seen some of Ireland’s best writers, theatre-makers, musicians, and artists come through our campus; they’ve shaped us, as much as we have shaped them. This plan seeks to establish how we can further harness and activate those distinct attributes and values to ensure that we continue to produce the breadth of creative and inspirational graduates the world.”

UCC welcomed students, staff and the arts and cultural community to the Aula Maxima on Culture Night to launch the plan.

Through UCC’s Glucksman Gallery, the Granary Theatre and its academic and cultural programmes and Artist in Residence schemes through strategic partnerships with The Arts Council, UCC seeks to deliver on its ambition for lifelong and life-wide learning for citizens of all ages and abilities.