INCREASED ACTIVITIES and workshops to promote the arts among children will form part of Culture Night 2008.
Hundreds of free events, including exhibitions, tours, talks, workshops, performances and concerts will take place on the night, with more than 100 cultural venues participating.
The event, on Friday, September 19th, has been expanded this year to include venues in Cork, Galway and Limerick. It had taken place in Dublin for the past two years. The move to incorporate children's activities into the event comes following research which highlighted a lack of participation by children last year.
Gráinne Millar, head of cultural development at Temple Bar Cultural Trust (TBCT) which is co-ordinating the event, said research showed that over 70 per cent of people in attendance at last year's Culture Night were in the 18-44 age bracket.
The research, conducted by the trust in conjunction with Dublin Institute of Technology's tourism research centre, found that the majority of the remaining visitors were in the over-45 age group.
Ms Millar added that feedback obtained from the 2007 Culture Night in Dublin also showed that parents felt there were not enough interactive activities and workshops for children.
Ms Millar said Dublin City Council had given €80,000 in funding to support an events programme aimed at children and senior citizens.
The Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism had also given an additional €5,000 in funding to extend the reach of Culture Night to youth groups.
She added that a number of cultural venues and organisations would be putting on activities and workshops for children including Filmbase, the Gaiety School of Acting and the National Youth Theatre.
Eileen Kearney, retail and communications manager for the Glucksman Gallery in Cork, said the gallery would be putting on activities for children between 5pm and 8pm on the night. These will include a word hunt, a comic book project and exhibition tours.
Clare Creely, project and administration officer at Filmbase in Dublin's Temple Bar said: "We are going to be holding a number of workshops for children between the ages of 8 and 12, as well as workshops for young people over the age of 12".
Ms Millar also said that TBCT was planning to create a cross-border partnership with the cities of Belfast and Derry for Culture Night 2009.
"We have liaised with representatives from both cities, and they will be attending this year's Culture Night in Dublin to see how the event works," she added.