Cork 2005: An important new scheme of visual arts awards amounting to €50,000 a year was announced in Cork last week by native son Brian Goggin, group chief executive of the Bank of Ireland.

The occasion was the opening of On Reflection, the first major public exhibition of the bank's art collection - now at the Crawford Gallery.

A buoyant economy in an enlightened society recognised the value of cultural and artistic work, said Goggin, and the exhibition represented 30 years of corporate sponsorship of the arts.

However, a recent policy review has led to a more regional approach to sponsorship, and a change in emphasis from exclusive support of emerging artists to one of recognition of those who consistently have produced high-quality work.

"Our new policy is to hold an annual regional art exhibition showing part of the bank's collection and making a number of awards to coincide with these exhibitions," said Goggin.

"The awards will consist of purchase prizes to the value of €5,000 for graduates of regional art colleges, who will also be invited to exhibit at the bank's arts centre in Dublin. We also intend to present a special €5,000 recognition award for an artist in mid-career who has studied at the regional college concerned in each case, while we will continue our existing substantial annual investment in acquiring artworks throughout the country."

Already the bank's advisers have selected prizewinners from the Crawford College of Art in Cork - they will be announced when the scheme is inaugurated at the college's exhibition at the Glucksman Gallery in October.