FACT OF THE DAY: Europe is coming to a shore near you. Or at least that’s the Cyprus accession theme announced by Irish Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism John O’Donoghue yesterday.
As you all know, the EU Council has a rotating presidency and Ireland (the EU’s model of rags to riches) currently holds the spot. This puts Ireland in the unique opportunity of ushering in the biggest enlargement in the Union’s history. To mark the accession of 10 new member states to the EU, the Irish presidency will be organising ‘A Day of Welcomes’ on May 1. Each new member state will be officially ‘welcomed’ into the EU by an Irish city or town, which has been invited to take part in the programme.
The ‘Day of Welcomes’ will be at the heart of a national weekend of celebration to mark the occasion starting on April 30 with a Fireworks Extravaganza in Dublin. A major concert of Irish and international stars is planned for Dublin City on May 1 while the Irish capital will also host ‘The European Fair’ during the accession weekend, expected to attract up to 100,000 visitors.
According to the Irish Ministry website, Dublin will also present Dublin Elevations leading up to that weekend, one of the most unique and largest on-line artworks.
People from around the world will be invited to light up the sky with their own autonomously designed light show, which operators can design at www.dublinelevation.net and see the fruit of their work lit up by 18 searchlights on and over the buildings in O’Connell Street, Dublin’s most famous street, via simple instructions on the website. Every six seconds a new design will be rendered on the sky for all to see while a large screen will display the signature and comments of the authors. This piece will be live for the two weeks running up to May 1.
Meanwhile, the 10 towns and cities around Ireland invited to officially welcome one of the new members – Bray, Cork, Drogheda, Galway, Kilkenny, Killarney, Letterkenny, Limerick, Sligo and Waterford – will be enjoying their own European Fair and specially themed ‘Day of Welcomes’ programme, with artists and performers from across the acceding countries.
The city of Bray will welcome Cyprus in the European Union on behalf of the Irish Presidency. On Monday, Minister O’Donoghue announced the theme chosen by Bray to celebrate its unique link with Cyprus: Bray-Cyprus ‘From Our Shore to your Shore’.
“The themes of sea, beach and coast link Cyprus to the seaside town of Bray and provide the inspiration for a wide range of events due to take place. Locals and visitors to the town will find the streets bustling with performances, sculpture and music from both Ireland and Cyprus,” says O’Donoghue.
Themes for other incoming states include song, cooking, literature, colours, art and crafts.
I suppose the best we have to offer Europe is are beaches, which are usually littered with sprightly-looking Europeans anyway. As an afterthought, if the ministry wishes to send a Cyprus-based correspondent to these events, please contact [email protected].
