Athlone Castle and Visitor Centre is in the throes preparation as Culture Night 2020 fast approaches.
To take place on Friday, September 18, Culture Night is an annual public event which invites people to spend their evening exploring the best cultural offerings available to them on their doorstep.
Culture Night 2020 is much different from previous years, as Athlone Castle and many other cultural and heritage sites across the country offer a diverse programme of events and activities within national health guidelines.
Athlone Castle will extend its Visitor Centre openings hours for Culture Night and offer free admission from 5 to 7pm (last admission at 7pm ) on a first come first served basis and has organised online events and activities for those who cannot physically visit the site.
Queueing lanes and a one-way system will be in place with the Castle team ensuring adherence to Government guidelines particularly with regard to the sanitising of hands, social distancing and visitor capacity numbers.
This year, Athlone Castle will focus on highlighting the story of the Great Siege of Athlone 1690-1691. The Castle team will be on hand to engage with visitors as they explore the visitor centre and grounds and learn about the fierce battle that took place between the Jacobite and Williamite soldiers.
Take home activity sheets will be available for families to keep the younger culture vultures entertained.
An online activity and tour have been prepared for those who those who cannot visit the site on Culture Night. The tour and talk will highlight various weapons used during the Siege of Athlone and will be delivered by Athlone Castle’s Cultural Assistant, David Landers.
A children’s activity prepared by Athlone Castle’s Cultural Officer, Joanna Grobosz, will outline ‘how to build a cannon’ with everyday materials and objects.
The tour and children’s activity will be available to view on the Athlone Castle social channels with further details and social channel links outlined on www.athlonecastle.ie
For further information please contact Athlone Castle on 090 6442130 or [email protected].
Luan Gallery Culture Night events
Luan Gallery will safely offer a varied programme of events on Culture Night 2020.
The gallery opening hours will be extended to 7pm and visitors will have a final opportunity to view our current group exhibition ‘CROWDED THRESHOLDS’ curated by Fiona Mulholland.
Highlighting some of Irelands best known talents in Applied Arts, this group exhibition offers a humorous and thought-provoking presentation of the ‘emotional geography’ of its makers. It generates interesting visual interplay between authentic storytelling and artistic expression, with infectious imagination.
For those unable to visit the gallery in person on Culture Night, ‘CROWDED THRESHOLDS’ can be taken in virtually, as a specially commissioned walkthrough will be available, via the gallery website www.luangallery.ie and social channels.
Weaving its way through the gallery, providing close-up inspections of the works, the video offers a unique perspective of the exhibition and its relationship to the historied architecture of the gallery building.
In addition to this, Luan Gallery is delighted to announce that from 12pm to 7pm Valeria Ceregini, Curator of the upcoming exhibition ‘OVER NATURE’, will be hosting an Instagram take over on Luan Gallery’s account.
Valeria will give an insight into her motivations for the exhibition, an overview of the work on exhibitions as well as answering questions from the gallery followers.
Touring six venues across Ireland and the UK, ‘OVER NATURE’ offers a new optical experience, greater ecological awareness and responsibility towards the landscape and environment which surround us.
Luan Gallery would like to assure its visitors that it will remain operating at a limited capacity whilst adhering to Government guidelines including social distancing, one way system and capacity thresholds firmly in place. In line with the Government guidelines on Covid-19, face masks are required to be worn in the gallery at all times and hand sanitising stations are available throughout the premises.
Culture Night 2020 at Luan Gallery is generously supported by the Westmeath County Council Arts Office.
Additional information can be found at www.luangallery.ie, contact [email protected] or follow the gallery social channels for further details.
Luan Gallery is open to the public Tuesday to Saturday from 11am – 5pm and Sundays from 12 – 5pm.
