Culture night

FROM relatively humble origins six years ago, Culture Night has become a hugely popular nationwide event.

It started as a local arts evening in Dublin’s Temple Bar neighbourhood and is now a highlight of the arts and cultural calendar across the country.

Last year 150,000 attended Culture Night events in Dublin alone. In 2012, 34 cities and towns will participate. ED POWER picks out some of the highlights.

Cork Film Festival, Family Screenings, City Hall

A selection of films chosen with children and parents in mind. The screenings will be at the City Hall. The movies are curated by Cork Film Festival. Later in the evening there will be a programme of horror and macabre shorts (not for kids). Starts 3pm.

Cork Opera House, Tours

A behind-the-scenes look at life at the Opera House is through three ‘access all areas’ tours, from 1pm to 2.30pm. Entry free, but you have to book in advance. The Half Moon Theatre at the Opera House presents Lunar Conversations, a space-themed audio visual installation for children from 5pm to 8pm. And from 10pm there will be a Culture Night ‘after party’ there.

Art in the Park: Lord Mayor’s Pavilion, Fitzgerald’s Park, Cork:

A series of workshops and showcases, featuring Ghost of Shandon author Alan Corbett from 5pm and a drawing workshop with Gillian Cussen from 6pm, where the illustrator will explore the differences between charcoal pencil, ink and graffiti. And there will be an exhibition and Q&A session with, Irish-Brazilian artist Patricia Gurgel-Segrillo. Her exhibition is entitled ‘Urban legends and magic crossroads’. From 4pm.

Church Of The Annunciation, 10 Great William O’Brien St, Blackpool

A rare screening of the acclaimed short film The Headstones of Seamus Murphy by Pádraig Trehy. The documentary investigates sculptor Murphy’s parallel career as a carver of headstones. Trehy will introduce it at 5pm.

Quaker Meeting House Summerhill South

The first Quakers arrived in Cork in the 1650s and have contributed richly to the city’s cultural and economic life, especially via their philanthropic work. They throw open the doors of their meeting house for an exhibition chronicling Quaker life in the south. From 5pm.

Flava Floors Hip Hop Studio, 2a Corburg Lane

At this new hip-hop dance studio, Adam O’Connor and Claire Hattie will provide classes in breakdancing, ‘street’ choreography and graffiti art. Children, adults welcome. Starts 5pm.

Cork International Short Story Festival, Triskel Art Centre, Tobin Street

Five writers from the festival’s Flash Fiction workshop read super-short stories through the night. Writers are competing for Farmgate Cafe €200 Flash Fiction Award. Starts at 11pm.

Port of Cork, Custom House Str, Cork

The acclaimed RTE Vanbrugh Quartet will perform in the storied boardroom of the Port of Cork, which has a world class collection of maritime paintings. Book ahead. At 6.30pm.

Glucksman Gallery, UCC,

Inspired by the 1971 Dennis Oppenheim movie Two-Stage Transfer Drawing, the Glucksman invites the public to help turn the space — and everyone in it — into one huge sketchbook. You can draw on easels, on the floor, on the walls, even other people.

“We are inviting you to try out this shared kind of drawing, either with someone you know or a complete stranger,” says the gallery. At 5pm.

Masonic Hall, 27 Tuckey Street

Explore the fascinating history of Freemasonry in Cork, stretching back to 1845. There is a tour of the ornate lodge and an introduction to Freemasonry and its rich heritage in the city. Starts 7pm.

Lord Mayor Youth Council Meeting, City Hall

The Lord Mayor will throw the Council Chambers open to a ‘youth council’ in which young people from the city will express their thoughts, have a dialogue with councillors and share creative work with the public. Such work will include music and rap, spoken word, and multi-media presentations, which together will convey a sense of what it is like to be young in 21st century Ireland. At 5pm.

Circus Factory, 12 Albert Quay, Cork

A ‘bespoke’ miniature circus will feature acrobats, aerialists and ‘modern mountebanks’ performing gravity-defying feats. At 2pm and 3pm there will be circus skills workshops for young people. Later, a ‘circus cabaret’ for grown-ups, with coffee and cake laid on.

The Abbey Theatre, Dublin

Archivist Mairead Delaney will give a behind-the-scenes talk on the production of Sean O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock. At 3pm and 4pm. Free, but must be booked.

The Ark Children’s Cultural Centre, Temple Bar, Dublin

There will be art workshops for children from between 5.15 pm and 7.15 pm. And, on the half hour, you can attend music and theatre performances, from 6pm to 8.30pm. Conveniently located in Temple Bar.

Copper House Gallery, Synge Street

A unique opportunity to sample Europe’s largest collection of limited edition fine art and photography prints, in one of the city’s most evocative galleries.

The Mansion House, Dublin

The official Mayoral residence since 1715, the Mansion House opens its doors for the day for a series of guided tours.

Computer and Communications Museum, NUI Galway

Children of the 70s and 80s will relish this showcase of vintage video games. Nerd out over such hoary staples of the genre as Space Invaders, Pong and Pacman.

Bat Walk, Kildare

Bat Conservation Ireland and Kildare Bat Group hold a walk through the 240 hectare Donadea Forest Park.

The beautiful north Kildare forest, with its lake and weaving paths, is the backdrop as bat enthusiasts gather for an informative walk. It all starts at the coffee shop at 8pm.

Opera Showcase, Wexford

Wexford’s state-of-the-art opera house will stage a series of concerts. The goal is to raise awareness of opera so even if you don’t know your Puccini from your John Adams, you are encouraged to attend.

Regia Exhibition, Belltable Arts Centre

Artists Patrick Corcoran, Carl Doran, Maurice Foley and Laurence Weiner exhibit their work. They share an interest in Limerick’s urban environment and the possibility of solitude and contemplation amidst the pace of city living. From 6.30pm.

Chain Mail Workshop with the Raggle Taggle Consortium, corner of Henry Street and Sarsfield Street, Limerick

Medieval revivalist Derrick O’Sullivan presents a workshop on chain mail. He will show how the raw material for the armour is fashioned and bent into interlocking loops. The artists from Raggle Taggle add colour. 5pm.

King John’s Castle, Limerick

This Limerick landmark will stay open until 8pm. Constructed in 1200, St John’s was one of the most advanced castles of the era.

A state-of-the-art exhibition will explain why it was so far ahead of its time. Plus, there is a restored medieval courtyard and officer quarters to investigate.

Frank Lewis Gallery, Bridewell Lane, Killarney

An exhibition of landscape paintings of Kerry by Dutch artist Joop Smits from 7.30pm. Music accompaniment from box player John Brosnan, singer Helena Connolly and the Killarney Klezmer Trio.

Cill Rialaig Art Centre, Ballinskelligs

Free admission to exhibitions by leading Irish and international artists. Also, pop-up exhibitions at venues around the town. ‘I Love Petrol’ by Spain’s Marta Revillas will be at the local garage, for instance.

In the Udaras factory you can see ‘Printed Matter’, a group exhibit of sketchings. And at Rosie Sigerson’s pub see ‘Ballinskelligs Faces’, black and white portraits by James Fennell.

The Back Lane Gallery, Killarney

The large gallery space will exhibit landscape and portrait pieces by 19 artists from Cork and Kerry. At 4pm Robin Alger will give a pottery demonstration; from 5.30pm Tina Reed will show how to use a pallet knife.

Ronnie Moore will perform traditional music from 7pm.

Urban Art Trail, Tralee

A number of vacant properties have been transformed into pop-up art spaces for the evening. Beginning at Tralee library and finishing at Wetlands Culture centre, the trail wends its way through the town and encompass cutting edge exhibitions in a variety of disciplines.

Greyfriars Gallery, Waterford

The Dutch-Irish rock band House of Cosy Cushions will perform songs from their new album. There will also be a painting exhibit at the venue. Doors at 7.30pm.

Garter Lane, Waterford

47 Roses by Peter Sheridan. The writer will discuss his childhood in 60s Dublin, conjuring the sights and sounds of a city on the edge of huge social change. There will also be lots of humour as he recalls the eccentrics who populated his neighborhood. From 10.30pm.

Soma Gallery, Waterford

The new look Soma presents an audio visual exhibition based on the writings of philosopher Karl Popper.

An Interactive Insight into the Lives of the Butlers, South Tipperary County Museum, Clonmel

Re-enactors give a demonstration of weapons used in the 17th century, outline the power and influence of the reigning Butler family and provide the audience with a sense of what life was like in Clonmel in the 1640s. From 5.15pm.

Nenagh Heritage Centre

The heritage centre is a passport to another time and place. Follow in the footsteps of the condemned as you tour the cells of men sentenced to death and the nearby execution area. A rural Ireland exhibit gives a sense of the way our ancestors lived and the adjoining art gallery collects arts, crafts and photographs from down the centuries. From 7pm.

Playboys, Paycocks and Playbills: Abbey Theatre Poster Design, 1970-1980, GLór Ennis

A look at the work of the Abbey Theatre’s in-house designers through the ‘70s, Kevin Scally and Brendan Foreman. Includes their interpretation of the work of writers such as Samuel Beckett, Brian Friel, Anton Chekhov and George Bernard Shaw. At 6.30pm there will be a guided backstage tour of Glór.

Clare Museum, Ennis

An exhibition by Memories Of Clare, a voluntary group dedicated to the preservation of local folklore, oral history and traditions. Included are interviews with over 260 of our oldest citizens, 14 aged over 100.

Sustainable Writing with Michael Coady and Kitt Fryatt, The Hole in the Wall, High Street, Kilkenny

Two poets discuss making your way through the world as a man (or woman) of letters: how to get published, pay the bills, and avail of funding. Afterwards, both will read from their work. From 6pm.