This is a Cork town on the rise... and new cultural centre will play a major role

THE spring of 2016 was a horrible time for the arts in Cork. In February that year, the sod was turned on the much-heralded events centre on the old Beamish and Crawford site in the city. The less said about that painful saga, the better.

Just three months later, the Briery Gap in Macroom suffered a devastating fire. The town’s artistic hub had been a venue for drama, music, comedy, and much more for decades. Now it was no more.

However, hope springs eternal, and, unlike the city venue, a brand new Briery Gap is rising from the ashes of the old.

In recent weeks, the scaffolding around the new-build on the town’s main street has been removed, and now work is beginning in earnest on the interior.

The hope is that the newly-renamed Briery Gap Cultural Centre will be ready to reopen on schedule in May, 2024, representing another positive development for modern Macroom.

For so long a town choked by traffic, the new bypass - the latest section only opened last week - has given the historic and pretty place a new lease of life, and the new arts venue is the latest project to add to the air of optimism.

It is a sentiment that the newly-appointed Artistic Director of the Briery Gap, Mike Ryan, has grasped, as he prepares to start his new role on September 4.

“It’s perfect timing to be reopening the venue,” he enthused. “it’s been lined up that way really, in line with the bypass and other initiatives.”

These include ambitious plans to make Macroom a service town for the Múscraí Gaeltacht, like Dingle and Letterkenny are in their counties - a role that will secure funding for promoting the language. Mike also references the fact Macroom has been chosen by Cork County Council as a pilot town for decarbonising.

There is also a regeneration project in the works to create a ‘cultural quarter’, from the Church of Ireland building on Castle Street to the Mill Dam and Masseytown. Plus, plans for a new garda station in Macroom are in place.

It’s a town on the rise, and Mike is delighted to have a major role to play at the Briery Gap.

“It’s an exciting job, and I get to be involved from the start, from the ground up,” he says.

He will be hitting the ground running, working with the builders on ensuring the interior of the 217-seat arena looks great and is fit for purpose for its May opening.

So, what can locals expect to see at the newly-reopened venue?

“It will be a multi-disciplinary venue,” says Mike, “there will be amateur drama, local musicians and comedians, writers’ groups, we will be developing links with the community, and there will be the cinema too.”

The building will also again house the town’s library, which has relocated down the road since 2016.

And more good news: Mike is keen to restore the popular Macroom community pantos to the Briery Gap, which went down a storm with audiences back in the day.

For any curator of a local theatre, there is always a balancing act. Mike is keen to stress the Macroom centre will forge links across the community - “that is our audience after all.” 

He adds: “My whole career, I’ve strived to be a champion for artists from every walk of life, and for me this role will be no different.”

He also has “ambitious” plans to attract nationally-known acts to the Briery Gap. 

“I want the community to be proud to show off their venue and to welcome people here,” he adds.

He plans to sit down in the weeks ahead with the last manager of the Briery Gap, Ann Dunne, to get her insights.

Mike points out that there is a gap - no pun intended - in the entertainment market in Cork.

“You have smaller venues, like Cork Arts Theatre, which has 100 seats,” he said, “then larger places like the Everyman, which has 600 seats. The Briery Gap sits in between those, and is a really good size for staging events.”

Of course, the cinema will hardly be putting on world premieres of the newest releases, but Mike feels there is plenty of scope for a programme that will attract audiences.

He says that one local on Facebook asked if Macroom would have to endure a wait again to see the latest blockbusters, and Mike joked back: “Let me get the projector in first!”

Realistically, the blockbusters will go to the big cinema chains, but Mike says: “There are plenty of arthouse films, Irish films, and contemporary films we can show. Maybe we will show films three times a week.”

Mike, of Newport in Tipperary, admits he is an “oddity” in his family in pursuing a career in the arts. He is from a working class, farming background and says: “I don’t know where the artistic genes come from. I have two cousins who are drummers and a grand-uncle played the fiddle.

“I feel lucky to have been give the opportunity to be able to study creative fields.”

He studied music and English at UCC, winning several national student and amateur awards for his sound and lighting designs for theatre.

A resident of Cork city for the past 15 years, he has become immersed in its vibrant artistic scene, as a writer and director for theatre.

There has been an artistic hub on the Briery Gap site for 70 years. The Palace Cinema opened on the site on April 25, 1953, showing the film Scaramouche. When it closed in 1987, Crocodile Dundee was being shown.

The building was bought by Cork County Council and refurbished in the late 1990s, serving as a theatre, library and cinema until the 2016 fire.

Mike is looking forward to leading the venue into a “new chapter in its long and storied history”.