A round-up of digital media events in the city this month …

WHATS ON DERRY-LONDONDERRY LAUNCH:
September 3rd, 11am-1230pm, Guildhall

Derry City Council will be launching their new What’s On guide, whatsonderrylondonderry.com with a reception at the Guildhall on Friday September 3rd.

DIGITAL SKILLS TRAINING PROGRAMME:
September 15th, 2-430pm, Nerve Centre

Culture Northern Ireland will be launching their new Digital Skills Training Programme with simultaneous events in Belfast and the Nerve Centre, Derry, from 2pm – 4:30pm on September 15th. A two-way Skype connection will stream the event between the venues. The session will include free training from digital marketing expert Aoife Flynn. Aoife specialises in strategic digital marketing and is a mentor for the Arts Council of Ireland in digital marketing and online audience development.

You can get a taste for digital media by trying out some of the equipment for yourself and watching demos. Trainers will be on hand to answer your questions. Beginners and experienced digital media users are all welcome and you can register by visiting www.eventelephant.com/culturenorthernireland

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE CLOUD:
September 15th, 1-4pm, City Hotel

Hosted by Derry City Council and InvestNI, this short seminar will highlight the business opportunities created by cloud computing and improved connectivity. Speakers to be confirmed include Sinclair Stockman and representatives from InvestNI, Microosft and BT.

Aimed in particular at those involved in the technology, telecommunications and digital media industries, this free event will include lunch and extensive networking opportunities. Please RSVP with name and company details to digitalderry@gmail.com or visit http://bit.ly/derry15th

DIGITAL DERRY LAUNCH:
September 15th, 6-8pm, Void Gallery

The Digital Derry project will be getting its official launch on September 15th with an informal drinks reception and networking event. The venue will be announced shortly and the event is open to anyone with an interest in digital media. You can RSVP by email with your full name and organisation (if applicable) to digitalderry@gmail.com or visit www.bit.ly/derry15th

SHOWCASE:
September 16th, 9:30am-5:30pm, Magee Campus

SHOWCASE (www.showcaseconf.com) is set to be the North-West’s biggest digital technology conference to date with 200+ attendees gathering for a full day of demos and workshops. This free event is now completely full but you can add your name to the waiting list by visiting the website.

OPEN COFFEE x CULTURE NIGHT:
September 24th, 6-8pm, Verbal Arts Centre

OpenCoffee makes a return with this Culture Night special. It’s a free, informal event with speakers examining the role of technology and digital media in the changing face of culture. No registration required, just bring yourself along.

This week is Gay Pride week in Derry with many events organised across the city. It is a great opportunity for the people of the city to celebrate our diversity and also to tackle some serious issues.

It was notably that we launched the festival in front of Free Derry Corner, so long a symbol of our struggle for civil rights. The struggle for equality for gay people is the new battlefront in the civil rights struggle. Homophobia will only be defeated when all sections of our society, especially government, recognise everyone’s equality.

It is very worrying to see that the Northern Ireland Executive’s Good Relations Strategies do not include the lesbian, gay and bisexual community.

There are significant gaps in the Cohesion Sharing and Integration (CSI) Strategy and the failure in the draft strategy to promote good relations between many sections of our community and the wider community is a fundamental error that needs to be rectified. A CSI Strategy that doesn’t both guarantee equality and accelerate good relations is missing a big part of the picture.

The Rainbow Project, representing gay, lesbian and bisexual people, has rightly identified this as a central issue that needs remedy.

The organisers of this week’s festival have done tremendous work to bring about a greater understanding of the issues affecting the LGBT community and they should be supported. This week is about having fun and celebrating but it is also about facing up to reality.

If we are to really change people’s mindsets we have to ensure that equality for everyone is at the heart of everything we do.

There is one memory that will always stick out for me from during my brief stint as a data entrant in the City Centre earlier this year.

It’s 5.30 p.m. and I’ve just left work along with my colleague from Letterkenny. As we head down Shipquay Street, it’s as if we can hear a pin drop.

That’s right. Despite there being no news of trouble, the future City Of Culture is dead. Why are we hearing nothing but the sound of silence during 5 and 6 on a calm weekday night?

It’s an oddity, and not just because our neighbour in the east tends to have lots and lots of people trundling down Donegall Place, onto Royal Avenue and through Queens Arcade at the same time, especially on a Thursday.

My former work mate had already told me how active Letterkenny was by comparison. But that was nothing compared to what Cool Discs owner Lee Mason had to say to me about the vibe in the Galway streets in the early weekday evenings. Why do our friends in the south seem to have so much more “life” in them, even during rush hour?

What are they doing right that we aren’t?

While it’s true that everyone looks to go home between 5 and 6, you would expect more people, in particular those who don’t have access to a car, to pass through the city centre on the way home, especially when there is late night shopping.

On the other hand, the Foyleside centre is outside the city walls. And that is where we see the most shopping activity and the most popular coffee houses such as Starbucks and Costa. It’s also worth noting that the brand names in The Big Smoke are more easily accessible in the city centre.

And while I know that I have previously promoted our need for Derry’s identity to hold firm at the expense of franchises, maybe some more popular corporate trade in the city centre might not be such a bad idea after all. Failing that, how about organising more cultural events between 5.30 p.m. and 7.30 p.m.?

It’s quite possible that we may yet need more than the likes of Cafe Del Mondo, Café Artisan and Cafe Nervosa if we are to really increase the early evening life in the Walled City.

The weekend’s marches in the city centre seem to have, by and large, passed off without major incident – which is good.

But simply not having large scale violence attached to an event is not a particularly high bar to set for a city that in two short year’s time will be under the spotlight at the UK City of Culture.

So what would a higher bar look like?

For one thing it would mean that the city centre wouldn’t resemble a ghost town on what would otherwise be a bustling Saturday. We also wouldn’t feel the need to spend a small fortune trying to police the day and dozens of shops wouldn’t choose to pull down the shutters, costing the local economy and generally freaking out tourists.

In fact, it should be just the opposite.

So the real question must be, “what would have to change for these kind of events to become a boon for the city and not a burden?”. What would the Apprentice Boys have to do? What would nationalist communities have to do? What would business and civic leaders have to do? What would the police have to do?

At some point the internal arguments must go past ‘we have a right to do this’ and become ‘what is best for the city?’.

Suggestions, comments, rants and debate below please.

Director: Jonathan Burgess

Starring: Conor O’Kane, David Mulhern, Elizabeth Lane, Rachel Harkin

Essentially “Romeo and Juliet” over a Cold War Chessboard, the musical “Chess” was given a vibrant, always interesting and sometimes quite powerful turn from the Millennium Forum Youth Theatre Group.

The lighting, choreography and set design were all excellent, especially during the upbeat “One Night In Bangkok” sequence and during the chess matches themselves. I especially liked the use of a life size chessboard – a la the first “Harry Potter” film – to depict the movements of both the American and Russian chess challengers to the audience.

The undisputed star of the show was Elizabeth Lane, from Portrush. She took a little bit of time to find her footing, but from the moment she belted out “Nobody’s Side”, she grabbed the show by the scruff of the neck and didn’t let go until the final curtain went down.

Her breakdown near the end was entirely believable. Whenever her character, Florence, wasn’t on stage, the show found itself missing that extra bit of power. It was just unfortunate that she and Conor O’Kane, who played her Russian lover Anatoly, never really clicked on stage.

Truthfully, the female leads definitely upstaged the male ones. Both O’Kane and David Mulhern, who played the American challenger, were solid, although neither O’Kane’s rendition of the magnificent “Anthem” nor Mulhern’s fine leading of “One Night In Bangkok” could quite compare to Lane’s best moments or the entrance of Rachel Harkin, who played Anatoly’s wife Svetlana, in Act Two. Harkin’s rendition of “Someone Else’s Story” was really something to behold, as was Harkin and Lane’s duet, the classic “I Know Him So Well”.

The talent of the four leads, the determined chorus and the fine production values transcended the rather limited source material. As a musical, “Chess” does have its fair share of memorable and iconic numbers, but it suffers from both an uncertain tone and a comparably uncompelling narrative.

It lives and dies by its music, which unfortunately tends to fluctuate between inconsistent ABBA-esque rock and poignant ballads. Indeed, if this production of “Chess” was a film, it’d be “Jurassic Park” – mostly excellent in execution, always watchable, but let down by lacklustre source material.

Nevertheless, the industriousness of the cast, crew and orchestra, and the goodwill of the relatively packed Forum audience, helped to carry this through the rough spots. In the end, this production of “Chess” succeeded both by being quite enjoyable and by opening our eyes to yet more of the developing musical talent of the North West.

This weekend will be a real challenge for us all. The country’s media are waiting, (and in some cases hoping) for violence on the streets of Derry. This cannot be allowed to happen.

The Apprentice Boys of Derry will once again march through the city centre to commemorate the ‘Relief of Derry’. Ten or fifteen years ago the march would, almost certainly, end in major violence. We have come a long way since then, we do still experience some trouble but it’s more anti-social than political. Understandably, people are expecting ‘dissidents’ to orchestrate more serious and sinister trouble this year.

My view is that it is far from inevitable that ‘dissident’ elements will want to cause trouble. In fact, it would be completely counter-productive for them to do so. There is a prisoner dispute continuing in Maghaberry Prison. The prisoners have, I believe, real and justified concerns about their treatment. I have conveyed my concerns to the Justice Minister David Ford and I believe very serious efforts are being made to solve the problem.

All prisoners deserve to be treated humanely no matter what they have done and we all know that Irish history is full of warnings of what can happen if prison disputes are allowed to escalate. The prisoners have support from many different quarters on this issue but that support could be threatened if there is serious violence in Derry on Saturday. Equally it’s imperative that the prisoner issue is resolved to ensure that people do not have an excuse to cause trouble.

More important than any of these issues is the fact that violence in Derry would be simply wrong. If previous years are anything to go by it will be the people living in Fahan Street and the rest of the Bogside who will suffer the most and the cause of Irish Unity will not be advanced one step. Instead of being tempted or cajoled into getting involved in violence, young people should spend their weekend enjoying some of the great community festivals on across our city.

Much effort has been put in by community workers, business people, politicians, the police and the Apprentice Boys to ensure that Saturday is as peaceful as possible. Now is the time for the city to show that we are mature enough to handle such events.

One of the key benefits promised by the City of Culture bid and win has always been economic – but our local industries aren’t always best placed to benefit.

Case in point; the marketing and promotional industries are an obvious potential winner but at present many of the services in this space are being sourced via Belfast and beyond. With this in mind, a new group is aimimg to ensure that local companies can take advantage of the opportunities created by the City of Culture win.

Representing advertising, design, marketing, digital technologies, public relations and the media, the member run group will provide networking and collaboration opportunities as well as training and lobbying for the interests of members.

A focus will be on highlighting the high quality (and excellent value) of local offerings in the sector to encourage local firms to look again at how they can resource their requirement locally. By supporting local companies, jobs can be created in the region and a vibrant publicity sector can be developed here in the coming years.

With the numerous opportunities that will arise from the City of Culture, practitioners must be positioned to deliver the services required for the range of events and opportunities on offer. A consultation exercise with Derry City Council and ILEX for publicity professionals could highlight areas for business opportunities arising from City of Culture.

In addition to identifying opportunities and areas for development, the group hopes to facilitate world-class training in each of these areas. Likewise, networking and collaboration will further help local companies to work together to increase innovation.

If you are involved in advertising, design, marketing, digital technologies, public relations or the media – are based in the NorthWest – and want to get involved in setting up the group come along to Starbucks (Crescent link) for a coffee and a chat on Wednesday 18 August at 6.30pm.

For further information email Donal Doherty on donal@conversegroup.com or call 028 7128 6767.

A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME WOULD SMELL AS SWEET.

What’s in a name? Derry? — Londonderry?—Which? It has to be conceded that Londonderry is the constitutionally correct name for the city but equally this constitutional name is rejected by the vast majority of the citizens along with U.K. constitution.

This constitutional dichotomy has bedevilled Ireland for centuries. After Republicans made a brute force futile attempt to overthrow the constitution and depose the Crown in ’98 the 1801 Act of union was imposed undemocratically in Ireland. This Union was opposed by O’ Connell who pressed for a return of government to Dublin under the Crown. O’ Connell’s stance would have been acceptable to Butt, Parnell and Griffiths in Early Sinn Fein but another futile brute force Catholic sectarian attempt to overthrow U.K. constitution was made in 1916 which ended in partition. The Provisional I.R.A. made a further Catholic sectarian brute force attempt to overthrow the constitution in the late 20th century but this was defeated. This attempt was laced with atrocity. A Republican constitution wounds the historic cultural psyche of Loyalist Ireland which is loyalty to the Crown so the Crown will have to be a constitutional part of Ireland (all of it).

In this thumb-nail sketch of history the U.K. has been a bone of contention in Ireland for centuries. The sensible intelligent thing to do in the 21st century is to change it to a Federal Kingdom constitution expressed democratically in the written Government of Ireland Act which can be made acceptable to all in Ireland. In such an Act Derry’s name can be changed constitutionally.  The ways and means of doing this are spelt out in the trilogy— The Way Ireland Ought to Be(2007)—The Rape of Virgin Munchindun(2010)—Size Matters(Out in September 2010) available from Amazon.

Derry/Londonderry

On a personal level, this week was supposed to be about taking photos of the life in St. Columb’s Park, catching up with friends in the city, and possibly covering the Walled City Music Festival.

The endlessly dull weather put paid to the photos in the park. But truthfully, there were far darker clouds to be concerned with.

It turned out to be a week where I, and several others, found ourselves posting Facebook status updates about how the Strand Road bomb had affected us all. It was really sad for me to note that in spite of all the positive vibes and relentless optimism that had been flowing through the city in recent weeks, some things just didn’t seem to change.

On Tuesday, one girl commented how she was not now able to get into town to see Toy Story 3, since the town was closed off until Thursday. Another guy noted, on my profile, how much of a shame it was that frightened tourists who’d just been saying how wonderful Derry was suddenly had to experience this.

Can We Learn? Apparently, not everyone can. On this evidence, you would think that Derry really is only flourishing on the surface.

But a dark side in a celebratory atmosphere is nothing new. Even in the halcyon days of 1995, when Van Morrison’s “Days Like This” was ubiquitous on the local airwaves, all was not well. Just days before Air Force One prepared to touch down in Aldergrove for commencement of the Clintons’ famous visit to Northern Ireland, a man had been beaten to death in North Belfast simply because of his religion.

The key to Derry overcoming hurdles such as this one lies in the goodwill within this city. And I know from what I’ve seen that it doesn’t have to be this way. Please let such a pointless act of violence be an aberration, and not an indication that our city is dancing on a volcano.

Video courtesy of Donal Doherty.

NB: The camera is motion sensitive so only records when there’s movement. The gap between the car driving away and the blast is about 8 minutes.