comprehensive database of key contacts internationally

Cork City Council Motion

That Cork City Council will create a comprehensive database of key contacts internationally, consolidating the information received from project reports city departments/ organisations, building up a ‘map’ of figures internationally who have already supported Cork interests that can be used as a resource for future international projects. 

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Currently each organisation who travels internationally from Cork builds up their own international links (generally a slow ‘trial and error approach of sending out blind emails) but there is no coordinated city effort to sustain these newly forged ties after the project is over. When the next organisation who goes abroad, this process starts from the beginning again, trying to form new ties, which are then exclusive to the organisation, and often fade if the event organised is just a once off. This is a key issue in why long term plans for international relations are hard to form. Mutual contacts/personal recommendations are the most effective way for organisations to make an impact when they travel internationally.

When any organisation supported by the City Council goes abroad, a key element of their report should be to outline the contacts they have made, stating the field in which they are based, how the contact was made, and how they can be contacted again.

This information is included into an international ‘map’ of contacts that are divided into various industries and artistic fields within each city. With each contact, information included would be the history of the city’s contact with that figure/organisation. Thus, the city can put organisations travelling abroad in direct contact with the key people in the region that they are travelling to, people who have a track record of supporting Cork City projects.

(The issue of how much personal information that could be given out from this database would have to be investigated. If the giving out of contact details was not possible, the city could put the organisation looking to travel abroad in touch with the original organisation who made the contacts, who could then make the introduction. This is far more effective than organisations blindly sending out letters introducing themselves. )