Chair of the Arts Council Maura McGrath and Director of the Arts Council Maureen Kennelly. They were accompanied Culture Night ambassadors Keelin Moncrieff and Celaviedmai. Photo by Julien Behal
Culture Night 2024
How will you Culture Night this year?
Now in its 19th year, Culture Night is a national moment celebrating all that makes up the richness and diversity of culture in Ireland today; connecting people to cultural activities locally and nationally and opening up pathways to ongoing engagement. The night and the associated events, is developed in partnership with local authorities and many other organisations and individuals across the island. This year, Culture Night aims to be even more inclusive, accessible and diverse while showcasing the best of both the traditional and evolving arts in Ireland.
How will you Culture Night? On Friday 20th September, the Arts Council is highlighting the many ways for people to Culture Night. Are you heading out with family or friends or staying in and enjoying events on TV or radio? Are you looking for accessible venues? Are you looking for late night events? Are you looking to attend a dance class? Are you looking for something new, an art form you’ve never engaged with before?
To help figure out How To Culture Night, the Arts Council have enlisted five Culture Night ambassadors. They will be offering suggestions and continuously promoting new events on their own social media platforms and across the Culture Night digital channels. The group consists of a mix of Ireland’s young artists and creators, many of whom will be performing on Culture Night.
These include Stiofán Ó Fearail, singer, songwriter, musician and founding member of the bilingual contemporary folk group Seo Linn; pop music sensation SexyTadhg; rapper, songwriter and one of the most exciting names in Irish hip hop, Celaviedmai; and traditional dancer extraordinaire and children’s book author Edwina Guckian.
These artists are joining writer, podcaster and sustainability advocate Keelin Moncrieff in spreading the work about Culture Night between now and September 20th.
Audiences can check the Culture Night website to find out about accessibility and about what will suit their tastes, from among the thousands of FREE events taking place in both rural and urban settings in villages, towns and cities late into the night.
The first step in finding out how to Culture Night is to go to www.culturenight.ie.
Culture Night 2024 will follow last year’s extraordinary success, where 1.2 million people participated in over 1,700 free cultural events around the country. This makes it a real strategic opportunity for audience development year round.
Culture Night is about exploration of the arts and of our cultural offerings. It is about openness, discovery, celebration and belonging. Doors open late and special and unique events are programmed at participating locations, online and broadcast.
All activities are FREE.
Culture Night Late
Culture Nigh Late returns with a series of events running later into the night than previous years, and many into the early hours. The initiative is presented thanks to additional support from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Night-Time Economy Taskforce. Highlights from this year’s Culture Night Late programme include Hip Hop on Stage, an event to celebrate all five elements of hip hop culture in venues across Limerick and in Galway City An Croí Óir an outdoor theatre performance will take place at the Spanish Arch with Fíbín Teo. This initiative was created in response to public interest in late events and the Report of the Late Night Economy Taskforce (September 2021).
For more info: Culture Night Late 2024
Read Mór
Following from the successful collaboration with the HSE, The Read Mór book gifting project is back again for its third year. This year, the Arts Council is partnering with the Irish Prison Service on Culture Night to gift a curated list of titles from Irish and Irish-based authors within all prisons nationally. Once again, Read Mór will ensure that more people in more places can enjoy Culture Night.
For full details of the book-gifting project in 2024 see Read Mór.
Find out more about Culture Night
Informing the Future of Culture Night
The Arts Council is pleased to publish
Informing
the Future of Culture Night the evidence review, research and consultation report by Janice McAdam, Annette Nugent and Heather Maitland. Culture Night is the annual all-island event which celebrates culture, creativity and the arts. The report
is the culmination of an extensive national research programme, which uses data up to 2020 to chart the evolution of Culture Night, understand Culture Night’s current and potential public value and provide a benchmark and recommendations on its future
evaluation, vision and delivery.
For queries contact: Eimear.Kelleher@artscouncil.ie