Creating a safe space for creativity in Cork

CORK has long stood out as a fertile crescent for young creatives, nurturing a thriving culture of artistic expression. It is home to many local events and open mics, and people willing to do the work to run them, often at a loss.

As I sit down with Ciarán Shanahan, of The Underground Loft, a bi-monthly poetry event held in The Liberty Bar on South Main Street, it becomes clear I’m speaking to one such person, running one such event.

Ciarán begins by sharing how his rural upbringing and the unique challenges he faced in accessing creative resources in his community served as inspiration for starting The Underground Loft.

“This is probably just me, but [back home] you have to fight for so long just to have the right itself to try and be creative and that impacts on your creativity.”

With much local focus directed towards what Ciarán rather wryly refers to as “the Holy Trinity” - that is, the hurling, the church and the pub - the space for literary expression was constrained. This experience served to enhance the feeling of creative liberation Ciarán felt upon moving to Cork, which only gave him added motivation to ensure a welcoming, inclusive and supportive space would be available for young creatives. This was the start of The Underground Loft.

With Cork being a melting pot of students, workers and expats from all over Ireland and abroad, The Underground Loft seeks to be a home from home, Ciarán explains.

“I want people to feel like they have a grounding in Cork, because I can still struggle with navigating the life.”

With the usual format of the event consisting of an eclectic mix of poetry, films, hip-hop, storytelling and an open mic, the modes of expression are about as diverse as the crowd who attend.

Although there is an overarching focus on poetry, The Underground Loft seeks to be a safe space for creativity more generally, and attendees are of course under no pressure to perform. The social and community elements of the night are given equal significance.

In fact, Ciarán argues that the social element and creative elements lend themselves to each other, helping people attain the confidence to get up and read for the first time. In that hazy vulnerable environment, nervous writers “get an energy from” the other attendees.

The importance of these creative outlets is hard to overstate, according to Ciarán. The open mic can help people to discuss raw emotions, and this is where the event’s compassionate and nurturing ethos becomes critical.

Amidst the “mix of emotions”, Ciarán emphasises that “everyone’s there to support each other”. Put more simply, The Underground Loft puts a lot of effort into being a “no bull****” event, a culture that has helped foster a strong community ethos amongst attendees.

Just as Ciarán described his own fight to express his creativity, it’s fair to say the event he runs has had a similar fight to secure a regular venue, something that The Liberty Bar has been able to provide in recent months. Ciarán feels The Liberty Bar is helping The Underground Loft to secure longevity.

“Moving to Liberty, they’ve been very helpful. It feels a little bit more personal and what we want is some kind of autonomy. We want to run the events. We spend money there, we enjoy ourselves, nothing gets too wild, and that’s good for the business.”

The Liberty Bar has provided The Underground Loft with this freedom, and this is benefitting all involved, none more so than those looking for a space to read their work, he confides.

All this speaks to the broader need for investment in community spaces for Cork’s artists, the lack of which, Ciarán argues, could be a result of people seeing the arts as in some way less “professional” than other careers.

Events like The Underground Loft, and privately run events like it, could all benefit from more “spaces, workshops and grants” coming on stream, he tells me. It’s clear that regardless of whether these supports come on stream or not, the drive from artists in Cork like Ciarán Shanahan, and events like The Underground Loft, to provide a creative infrastructure for artists is not going to dissipate.

“It’s a passion thing. The joy is from running it, hearing people,” he says. With attendance growing rapidly and such a clear vision from the organisers, it’s unlikely The Underground Loft will stay underground much longer.

If you’re passionate about poetry, stories, hip-hop and everything in between, The Underground Loft is on every second Thursday in The Liberty from 8pm.See @the.undergroundloft on Instagram.