West Cork Music, the non-profit rural arts organisation behind the West Cork Chamber Music Festival, the West Cork Literary Festival, and Masters of Tradition, has submitted a planning application for a landmark arts venue and education hub in the heart of Bantry.

If approved by Cork County Council, the development will create a striking destination in the harbour town for audiences seeking to experience world-class performances across genres and disciplines including music, song, the spoken word, and theatre.

Currently local audiences must travel for over an hour to either Cork or Killarney to reach a purpose-built concert hall. Specialist facilities for music education are also out of reach for local communities, and many of the venues West Cork Music uses for its festivals and growing concert series are not designed to support access for all. While the organisation’s festivals, now in their 31st year, will continue to spill out across venues including Bantry House and the West Cork islands each summer, the new facilities will create a home and hub for the organisation, enabling it to act as a year-round engine for the arts across Bantry and its hinterlands.

West Cork Music’s ambitious plans include concerts and community performances, as well as lessons, workshops and masterclasses across disciplines for musicians, writers, and performers of all ages and abilities, from beginner to elite levels.

Designed by award-winning Dublin practice McCullough Mulvin Architects, the concert hall and education hub, with a total floor area of 1,970 sq m, comprise a 250-seat auditorium and dedicated education and rehearsal spaces, along with a café and public plaza. Sitting alongside Bantry Library, the venue and hub will help shape an emerging cultural quarter in the harbour town, transforming access to the arts in a rural area, as well as supporting Bantry’s vibrancy and year-round tourism appeal.

Local, Irish, and international donors have already rowed in behind the project, helping to raise close to €1 million towards its costs.

Much-needed arts infrastructure for a creative region

“West Cork is an extraordinarily creative region, but it has been under-served in terms of permanent arts infrastructure. Our venue and education hub — thirty years in the making — will bring world-class performances to West Cork year-round, develop local talent, and make Bantry an even better place to live and visit. We are hugely grateful to everyone who has helped us reach this point.”
— Francis Humphrys, CEO & Artistic Director, West Cork Music

West Cork Music is a registered charity. Its innovative festivals attract artists and audiences from across the world, and they created an economic impact of €7.67 million in 2025 alone. In readiness for its expansion, WCM is already extending its programme – it charity staged its first autumn festival, a celebration of Shostakovich, last October, and its concert series, featuring talented Irish singer-songwriters, is growing out across the year.

To find out more and donate to the project, visit https://bantrymusiccentre.ie

Video by Karlis Dzjamko