FEW enough are aware that University Concert Hall is a self-financing company in its own right. (For the record, UCH Company was made a subsidiary of the University company Plassey Campus Centre back in July, which trades as Campus Life Services. This develops and manages many of the communal facilities on a self-funding base as there is no state funding).
Since artistic director David Collopy left in September to return to opera, the 1000-seat venue has been without an obvious head, with marketing manager Emma Foote its public face.
A new appointment as general manager is imminent.
Programming has been the responsibility of a management team with Linda Stevens, director of Campus Life Services, having an input. A member of Limerick Choral Union herself and “having a strong interest in the arts”, she has been avid attender at events in Limerick, nationally and overseas such as Edinburgh Festival for decades.
Stevens paints a present and future rooted in a variety of entertainment, with regional audiences, comedy, community arts and popular music being growth areas of special interest.
“I have learnt a lot in the last 12 months of the running of the arts in Limerick and at the concert hall,” Linda Stevens tells Arts page. “We have quite an eclectic programme and offer a lot to the wider community, having been successful with comedy and putting on the showbiz concerts such as ‘Reelin’ in the Years’, and with hosting the [TG4] Gradam Awards.”
The steer is towards broadening the concert hall’s agenda, with Billy Connolly having brought the house down and Jimmy Carr booked for a return slot in November.
“We have had Red Hurley and Christy Moore along with opera – it’s about being relevant to many tastes in the region and growing the arts. And what is very important is community arts with groups such Limerick Choral Union and Voices of Limerick who really enjoy using the facility of of a concert hall.”
She cites UCH’s professional pantomime as another strength, the triumphant combination of Twink, Leanne Moore and Richie Hayes returning on December 17 with ‘Aladdin’ this year with a show fuelled by the terrific production values of their ‘Cinderella’: “We have to be a busy receiving house and it has to be about finding the right shows”.
“It’s the right thing to be appealing and build up our base,” she states with a strong intuiton that our coming City of Culture status “will give the city a blip” and that the concert hall’s unique status can be a contributing factor.
