During the past year and a half, Kieran Cooney has become accustomed to dealing with challenges. Restrictions have impacted the arts industry severely so the managing director of Cue One continues to show admirable composure and adaptability arriving with solutions to various problems.
Fresh ventures and projects have been embraced by Cue One, who opened its new Studio@5 space in Claregalway in 2020.
“It has been incredibly difficult,” Cooney says. “Looking back, in January last year I had hired additional staff to cope with all of the work that was coming down the tracks, the Capital of Culture.
“We had eight staff at the time in January, I had to hire extra people and then, of course, we had the infamous Storm Dennis that came. It basically put a halt to the opening ceremony in February last year.”
Cue One was to be heavily involved in the event at South Park. “That was our first chink in the armour in the year. Covid was being murmured a bit in the media, but at the time we didn’t really know what was coming down the tracks.
“So we thought that if we could get over Storm Dennis we could get over anything, but that wasn’t the case. We ended up having to stop in March while in the middle of moving premises too.
“We were located in a 4,000 square foot premises on the Tuam Road in the city, we had plans to move to Claregalway after the opening ceremony.
“We acquired an 8,000 square foot space here so it was twice the size. It was always in the plan that we would incorporate a studio/rehearsal space. We moved everything a week after the opening ceremony and then Covid hit.”
Significant potential in Claregalway space
The studio space, though, has significant potential for the future of Cue One. Comhluadar Ceoil on TG4 was recorded at the venue to illustrate what can be achieved,
“They shot 13 episodes of a music talk show which is being aired on TG4 every Sunday now,” he explains. “It is down to the last two episodes now. We were very lucky to get that show in. It is probably one of the biggest shows on TG4 in the last year.
“It is produced by a production company, Tyrone Productions. They would work for RTE and the other stations, they would produce shows for them on behalf of TG4 or RTE. They would have crews that they would work with. So they’d bring their own camera people and outside broadcast truck, all that stuff. Our side of it we’d provide the lighting and staffing and space.
“We also had the Galway Simon Community virtual sleepout in October last year. They did a great job, it raised something like €150,000.
“That was way more than they would raise in a normal year. So we were really happy with that. We’ve had a couple of small ad agencies in too. Considering the situation we are in with the restrictions and stuff we’ve probably done all right.”
Providing a creative space with modern facilities will attract television shows and theatre groups to Claregalway. “It is a creative space, that is what our aim was - we wanted to make a space available for all types of theatre, television, dance - whatever you want to do the venue is totally flexible,” he says.
“We have our dressing rooms and changing areas, and toilets. We haven’t actually called them anything, we have left it all to be free and flexible. So if you want your green room area in one container, you can put your dressing rooms in another. It isn’t set.
Flexibility
“I feel a lot of people that are involved in this industry they want to be able to be creative, to change things. If you put a set thing in it doesn’t allow people to be creative. That was the idea behind that flexibility so people can use their creative skills.”
Significant possibilities exist and when crowds are allowed attend shows in the future there is a chance Cue One’s facility could be used. “It is not too far off the Black Box in size, it is about two to three metres shy on the width,” he states.
“Anything is possible these days. Our idea was aimed at television and theatre and rehearsal space, but we may go down that live event route at some stage.
“I think there is going to be a shortage of venues in the next couple of months. People will want to put on events with smaller numbers, there will be areas that we can probably work with.”
Six years ago Cooney set up Cue One. Having studied video and sound technology in Limerick IT, he worked in a few companies before setting up his own business.
There is a requirement to be flexible, to offer assistance. “Our main core of the business is hire,” he responds. “We also do sales too. We would service markets like the theatre market, the festival market, we would work with people like Druid, Galway Arts Festival, Irish National Opera, the Abbey Theatre, different venues that put on shows and events.
“We would also sell equipment to these venues, these venues need specialised equipment for their lighting systems. We also have service and maintenance contracts with a lot of these venues. You have a couple of different arms to the business, one nearly backs up the other.
“When you are going out hiring equipment to the likes of Druid, they go out on the road, then you’d have other venues and companies that will see that equipment, wonder where it came from, so the two work hand in hand.
Back up and support
“The main difference between ourselves and others doing it in the country is we provide a very strong back up and support.
“We are always available to take a call or whatever, we have been known to take calls at seven o’clock, an hour before a show where a lighting console breaks down. We will have a console into them before the show starts. That is the service we offer. Nobody else offers that service in a country.”
Being innovative too matters. When the restrictions commenced Cooney is proud of the fact that his team manufactured and delivered face shields for a couple of months to try to help nursing home and hospital staff. Keeping ‘hearts and minds active’ during a testing and worrying time active is how Cooney describes it.
Another source of pride is how Cue One’s touch screen version of the #LightHack by ETC labs was put on to the market. “The pandemic was a good time to push it forward because there wasn’t anything else happening gig wise,” Cooney states. “We spent a lot of time getting the software to work.”
Despite the fact that problems have been encountered in the industry, a sense of optimism and hope remains. Brighter days await.
“The studio side of it is going to be fantastic for us,” Cooney says. “When somebody comes in to the studio they don’t just take the studio space, they will take lighting and whatever else. From that point of view it is a good business model.
“They don’t have to take the lighting we have, they can bring their own, but it just works three fold. You come in, you get your space, all your equipment, and you also get the crew side of it done too. It can be difficult to get people with that level of experience. We have some really good staff which stands to us.”
Working alongside progressive production companies is crucial according to Cooney. “That is our goal,” he replies.
“We have a kids tv show coming in this June. A company from Cork called stop.watch Productions, they produce content for RTE Jr. It is basically a kids science TV show, so they will record that here for three weeks in June. There is a lack of space like this to do things, especially outside of Dublin.
“They are a company from Cork coming to Galway for three weeks. They would have shot other series in old warehouses that weren’t fully equipped in the past.
“Anyone who comes in is just delighted because it is so well kitted out. It is ready to rock. It is clean, warm, cosy, and has got everything you need.”
Arts and cultural activity throughout the world is getting ready to make a welcome return. Cue One’s studio in Claregalway will play a central part in the west of Ireland.
