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Overview: Rapporteur Fiona McGaughey summarizes themes from the speeches and the salient points from the various workshops at the end of today's conference on cultural tourism in County Donegal.
Summary: A well run and well attended conference on cultural tourism in Donegal took place in the Villa Rosa hotel in Ballybofey, Co. Donegal today. Among the speakers were Shona McCarthy of Derry-Londonderry City of Culture 2013, Michael Starrett of The Heritage Council, Ian Brannigan of the WDC & Michael Wheeler of Rathmullan House. To get us in the competitive mood, we also had the siblings of two great sporting icons speaking in the form of Kevin Kidney of Failte Ireland and Hannah McGuinness of Donegal Designers Makers.
Star of the show though was polymath Philip King who deftly reminded us that where poetic champions compose, the ersatz Arthur's Day deserves to decompose. What we have to offer the world is a lot more than an annual marketing ploy, but we need to grow up, to learn to cope with failure by failing better, to collaborate more and to appreciate we have a lot to offer the world with our existing resources and innate musicality. He reminded us of Gabriel Conroy's words in Joyce's 'The Dead': -
"A new generation is growing up in our midst, a generation actuated by new ideas and new principles. It is serious and enthusiastic for these new ideas and its enthusiasm, even when it is misdirected, is, I believe, in the main sincere. But we are living in a sceptical and, if I may use the phrase, a thought-tormented age: and sometimes I fear that this new generation, educated or hypereducated as it is, will lack those qualities of humanity, of hospitality, of kindly humour which belonged to an older day."
The words are old, but the sentiment remains to this day; we have an authenticity and ingenuity that needs to be savoured in these changing times. Finally, all praise to Donegal County Council's Aideen Doherty for organising the event and for having the good sense to hire a rapporteur to remind us of the points we need to come away with. Let's not have this event become a lip service lido or another talking shop. Everyone in the room needs to listen to Fiona's feedback and ask themselves how they can actively make those points come to life - we all must play a part.
Read this week's Red Door blog on our cultural tourism endeavours in Donegal: http://bit.ly/qZ67MC