20 things to do on Culture Night: A selection of events for Cork, Munster and Dublin
Ballet dancers Kate Haughton and Lauren Speirs with drummer Ricky Lahart promote Culture Night at Marlay Craft Courtyard at Marlay Park. Picture: Sasko Lazarov/Photocall Ireland
Visitors to Nano Nagle Place tomorrow night will be spoiled for choice by their offerings, which will also be available to join online. Their ‘Changing Habits: 250 Years of Convent Life‘ exhibition will be in the museum, a new exhibition by Clare Keogh exploring convent life in Nano Nagle Place today will be opened, and Cork Printmakers’ Inflorescence exhibition in The Print Gallery will be open too. There will be music from violinist Caitriona O’Mahony and organist James Taylor, who will perform the Glorious Mysteries live, while a virtual concert of the same will also be released on the website. A video recording of Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin reading poems from her book The Mother House will also be available.
One for all the family, Fitzgerald’s Park will present a series of short circus and street performance shows that have been specially programmed by the Circus Factory for Culture Night. The evening of circus, music and art will also feature Cork Puppetry Company and other local artists and creatives, and Fitzgerald’s Park is the focal point of the city’s Culture Night celebrations this year, so there will be lots to see and do in the area.
If you’ve missed the music of the oldest band in Ireland wafting through the city’s streets, you’ll be pleased to know you can see Cork’s Barrack Street Band perform at an outdoor open rehearsal on Culture Night, which will also stream live on its Facebook page. Featuring musicians from the youth brass and wind programme, which runs in partnership with Music Generation Cork City, the band will perform a range of concert band standards including marches, music from the movies, and pop music in a rehearsal setting.
Cork readers are spoiled on Culture Night as literary magazine The Stinging Fly brings an evening of readings and conversation to the city. Poet Dean Browne and fiction writer Niamh Prior will read from their work while a conversation on craft, moderated by Stinging Fly editor Danny Denton, features chef Denis Cotter and writer Danielle McLaughlin. They will compare notes on the tools of their respective trades, their work processes, and the lessons learned in the journey of apprenticeship in their craft.
Wow the smallies by allowing them to make their own pottery in this historic area. Shandon Art Studio is welcoming adults and children to free pottery workshops in their creative space, where they will host a make-your-own hanging pottery decoration class for all ages. These decorations will be fired in a kiln and available for pick up at a later date. Visitors can also see some of the samples of art and craft work made by the artists and the studio will be open for tours.
- For more info, go to CultureNightCork.ie.
Cork Crime Writers on Spike Island
There isn’t a more perfect location for a night of crime than the island prison of Spike Island. Cork crime writers Michelle Dunne, Kevin Doyle, Catherine Kirwan, Amy Cronin and Tadhg Coakley will speak with moderator PJ Coogan about their work and their love of crime fiction. Attendees will journey from Kennedy Pier in Cobh to Spike Island via ferry, where they will be given a short guided tour of the spooky isle before a meet and greet with the authors.
Guitartown’s first outdoor cinema will transform Emmet Square briefly and safely into a theatre of dreams suitable for all ages. They will premiere performances exclusively filmed for Clonakilty International Guitar Festival at iconic locations throughout the town. There will also be screenings of Scoil na mBuachailli’s Scoilavision 21, a series of performances from Shanley’s piano bar and the world premiere of a new concert film recorded in Clonakilty by Ireland’s top music documentarian, Myles O’Reilly.
The talented members of Cork Printmakers are bringing their works west with an exhibition of art prints in Ballydehob. They partnered with Working Artist Studios (WAS), which encourages art created through sustainable, environmental friendly processes, to display the pieces. The artworks explore a range of printmaking processes and techniques including etching, lithography, screenprint, monoprint, wood engraving, lino print, mezzotint, collagraphy and digital processes.
There’s no thrill like a circus being in town, and one is rolling up in Carrigaline for Culture Night. Circus Factory will bring the stories, colour and life of circus arts to the streets of the town, with performances throughout the day in different areas of Carrigaline. Among the highlights is Wobbly Circus, which will be in the area with a clown on a bike: they call it free-range circus with added bass.
Mitchelstown is a town with much culture and history, and this walking tour will take it all in - warts and all. There will be demonstrations of native games along the way, such as road bowling and skittles, vehicle the route on the night will take in St Fanahan’s Abbey, Pagan Well, the ballroom of romance, and orphanage and so much more.
- For more info, go to: CultureNightCorkCounty.ie
From Tom Crean to the Rose of Tralee, the exhibitions at Kerry County Museum showcase Kerry’s rich history and culture. For Culture Night, the Kingdom’s museum will remain open late and host a special exhibition by a group of young people from St John of God Kerry Services.
We’ve touched upon the history and traditions of the music of Sliabh Luachra in these pages many times, and this is a perfect opportunity for the devoted and the curious to get an insight into it. A new mural will be unveiled on the night at the Sliabh Luachra Heritage Centre with music and song at a very special outdoor event.
Limerick’s iconic Milk Market will feature music, food and fun for Culture Night in partnership with the Limerick Food Group. We’re not telling porkies when we say there are lots of events for families to take part in: events will include a display of the giant pig and recently commissioned family pig floats, and a pigtown mask-making demonstration. Elsewhere, food producer displays, close-up magic by illusionist Steve Spade, and music by the Downtown Dixie Band will entertain visitors while shops and stallholders will be open for the night.
You’re familiar with Limerick’s dominating cathedral, but do you know what’s hidden beneath it? For over 850 years, St Mary’s Cathedral has been at the historic core of Limerick City and on Culture Night, archaeologist John Elliott will host a tour of the cathedral grounds, taking in its medieval history, and investigating elements of the medieval streetscape of the city that survive in the cathedral grounds.
American folklorist Henry Glassie has spent half a century writing in-depth studies of communities and their art, including those in Ireland. Inspired by his writings and ideas, ‘Field Work’ is an immersive documentary that follows working artists across Brazil, Turkey, North Carolina and Ireland. There is a particular focus on the artists’ real-time process of making, of the work of hands and of the close attention the artist is bringing to the work.
If you’d like to put more art on your walls, why not something of your own? Visit this Stoneybatter studio on Culture Night to try your hand at creating your own limited edition print. There will also be live screenprint and risograph demonstrations and a chance to see the work of the studio’s print masters.
Inspired by the music books at the library at Farmleigh, music will be performed under the porch at Farmleigh House and feature a selection of pieces housed in the Benjamin Iveagh Library. Performances will include music from Thomas Moore’s Irish Melodies, Old Irish Folk Music and Tunes by PW Joyce and broadsheet songs published by the Cuala Press, arranged for voice, guitar and fiddle.
An hour-long live performance from IMMA Outdoors will take place at the IMMA’s beautiful courtyard on Culture Night. ‘In Place’ is a unique live performance produced by Croí Glan Integrated Dance and is a multi-faceted work. Choreographed by Croí Glan co-artistic director Tara Brandel, the performance offers insights into how our environment shapes our trust, attachments, and closeness and is an aural and visual feast for the senses.
You might know Dublin’s landmarks, but this is one that probably hasn’t been on your radar. Marsh’s Library is a hidden gem and since opening in 1707 has welcomed writers like Jonathan Swift, James Joyce, and Bram Stoker through its doors. Home to over 25,000 books, the building is one of the few Georgian structures in Dublin which is still used for its original purpose. The library, complete with reading cages and the oak bookshelves, has been largely unchanged and preserves a long-ago era, which can be explored via guided tours on Culture night every thirty minutes on a first-come, first-served basis.
This outdoor screening of short films has been curated by Screen Ireland and has a focus on female filmmakers. Each of the short films screened is directed, produced or written by women. They include Procession by Claire McCabe, Welcome to a Bright White Limbo by Zlata Filipovic and The Dead Hands of Dublin by Niamh Herrity.
- For more info, go to: CultureNightDublin.ie
