MORE THAN half a million people are expected to attend events in an expanded Culture Night on Friday, September 25th next.
Museums, theatres, artists’ studios and other cultural venues will stay open late, many until midnight, to give the public a taste of free culture.
Towns and cities in 11 counties in the Republic will take part in this year’s event: Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford, Sligo, Kerry, Donegal, Mayo, Wexford and Roscommon. Culture Night will also take place in the Cathedral Quarter of Belfast on the same date.
More than 120 cultural venues have been confirmed for Dublin, including Christ Church Cathedral, Guinness Storehouse, the Light House Cinema, the National Museum of Ireland, the Chester Beatty Library and the Ark Cultural Centre for Children.
Gráinne Millar, of the Temple Bar Cultural Trust, said the expansion of the event was a major development. Some 100,000 people attended Culture Night events in Dublin last year, she said, and thousands more were expected to visit venues around the State. She said the events were designed to encourage the involvement of people who might not normally visit a cultural venue. “Culture is not elitist and everyone has the right to participate and visit these public spaces,” she said.
This will be the fourth year of the initiative. In the first year, an estimated 30,000 visited participating venues in Dublin. Ms Millar said the Book of Kells had proved to be particularly popular on Culture Night, with more than 5,000 people visiting Trinity College Dublin to see the famous book last year. Other popular venues included Dublin Castle, Leinster House and TCD’s Science Gallery.
The full programme of events will be announced next month.
