Hannah Holmes, age 12, from Ballet Theatre Ireland Dance Academy in Cork ahead of ‘The Children of Lir’ at the Cork Opera House next month. Picture: Patrick Browne

Cork is the most culturally vibrant city in EU

CORK has been rated the most culturally vibrant city in Europe, according to a report carried out by the European Commission.

The EU report states that Cork obtained the maximum score for concerts/shows and cinema attendance which correspond to around 12 concerts per 100,000 inhabitants and 10,700 cinema tickets sold for every 1,000 inhabitants.

The city was also named the best small city in Europe for ‘business friendliness’ by the Financial Times magazine, which ranked Cork as one of the overall top 25 European Cities of the Future 2018/19.

Ghent, in Belgium, also did well in the survey, coming first on theatres with 12 theatres for every 100,000 inhabitants while Florence in Italy scored 91.9 on museums meaning it hosts 30 museums for every 100,000 inhabitants.

The study found that in 15 countries non-capital cities outperformed capitals on cultural vibrancy. According to the report, the culturally vibrant environment of Europe is encouraging and will likely help attract and retain educated and creative individuals.

“These inhabitants are key to capacity building and can foster innovation, economic growth and strengthen resilience should a city face or recover from challenging circumstances,” it said.

Recent literature has shown that in a post-industrial economy, highly skilled individuals seem to prefer locations with better education, heritage, arts and natural amenities.

The results of the study also show that cultural assets, such as music, cinema, theatres and heritage, contribute to a ‘diversely’ vibrant cultural landscape across the European Union.

“Such diversity can help cities to learn from each other about how to proactively invest in arts and cultural sectors that have different characteristics to help increase cities’ appeal and attractiveness to creative talent and investments.”

Cork Chamber Public Affairs Director Thomas McHugh said the ranking was fantastic news.

“It is a great validation of what we already know to be true,” he said.