For over ten years, CELT (the Corpus of Electronic Texts), has been a pioneering and highly successful digital Internet site for Irish history, culture, and literature. Managed by UCC's History Department, CELT caters for academic scholars, teachers, students, and the general public bringing Irish literature and culture to a worldwide readership from the sagas of ancient Ireland to the poetry of Goldsmith, the dramas of Wilde, from the Annals of the Four Masters to the leading political writers of the twentieth century.
Every day, 20,000 people read and download CELT's texts. Texts are accompanied by introductions, background information, graphics, translations where possible, and scholarly bibliographies. Texts can be searched, read on-screen, downloaded for later use or printed out. Used in hundreds of universities worldwide, CELT's texts support the research work of hundreds of scholars abroad. Over 6,000,000 people log on in search of Irish writers every year. Literally, CELT is bringing Ireland to the world.
Under the academic directorship of Professor Donnchadh Ó Corráin, Department of History, UCC, CELT is managed by Beatrix Faerber and employs a core team of six people as well as numerous part-time and voluntary staff. Year after year, CELT has successfully secured government funding based on the amount of words published online. However, after the last round of funding the project required a major investment in new equipment to facilitate growth. Unfortunately by doing so, the budget for salaries was considerably reduced, and on application for funding last year, CELT was unsuccessful and faced imminent closure.
To sustain this important cultural project, a group of regional, national and international artists have come together to provide 26 pieces of art to be auctioned at UCC on Friday, 23 June. To mark the event CELT will host a black tie gala dinner in the Aula Maxima. The evening commences at 7pm with a champagne and canapé reception where patrons will be welcomed at the entrance to the Stone Corridor. Guests can view the works of contributing artists, which will be on display in the Staff Common Room and the Graduate Room, North Wing, UCC prior to dinner, which will be followed by the auction. CELT has arranged that all artists involved receive 50% of the auction price of their work. It is hoped that the remaining 50% of the proceeds and tickets for the evening at €100 euro per person, payable on entry, will secure the survival of CELT until the next round of funding in 2007.
On-line catalogues for the event may be consulted on http://www.ucc.ie/celt/Art%20Auction.html Enquiries: Sinéad Deignan on 021 4901878 or Beatrix Faerber on 021 4902736.
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