Crawford hoping for a great year
The Crawford Art Gallery is hoping to build on a successful 2019 with several exhibitions already planned.
Mary McCarthy, Director of Crawford Art Gallery, said she wants to see an increase in visitor numbers in 2020 after it recorded more than 250,000 visitors last year.
This was a record for the gallery and even eclipsed the previous all-time high figure when Cork was European Capital of Culture in 2005.
Ms McCarthy said: “We are grateful to our audiences who contributed to a great year at Crawford. We had a high number of first time visitors for our summer exhibition 'Seen Not Heard'. Sunday openings have been a significant success for Crawford Art Gallery with an average of 700 visitors on Sundays. We will continue to work with the Department of Heritage Culture and Gaeltacht, Fáilte Ireland and Cork City Council to extend our impact and to continually improve the visitor experience.”
2020 will see the Casanova Casts, which form the basis of the Collection since 1819, feature on BBC with classicist Mary Beard. The Crawford will also be the only Irish venue to showcase ‘Rembrandt in Print’ from the renowned Ashmolean Museum in the summer of 2020.
Ms McCarthy added: “It is by working collaboratively with other important cultural organisations in the city like The Glucksman, Nano Nagle, Cork Film and Midsummer festivals that the gallery continues to reach out to diverse audiences.”
As well as a very full exhibitions and education programme in 2020, the Crawford is currently readying itself for a multi-million euro refurbishment, with the support of Project Ireland 2040.
Work on this should commence in the next two years and once completed will deliver an even more impactful visitor experience for locals and visitors alike.
Mary Houlihan, Programme Manager Fàilte Ireland said: “Crawford Art Gallery is a visitor gem in Ireland’s Ancient East. It has done great work to attract tourists from our core overseas markets and I’m delighted to see it reach this milestone number.
“At Fáilte Ireland we have a range of plans in place to drive visitor growth and revenue into Cork and having top-class attractions like the Crawford Art Gallery are key to achieving this.”