On Thursday September 10 at 7pm Cathaoirleach Cllr John Cribbin will launch Mayo County Council’s Culture Night Brochure. The launch will take place in Mayo County Library and all are welcome to come along. Entertainment on the evening will be provided by Mayo Arts Squad.
Culture Night is an initiative co-ordinated by Temple Bar Cultural Trust and supported by the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism in partnership with Mayo County Council. For the last three years, on one night in September Dublin City has hosted Culture Night. On Culture Night, key artistic and cultural organisations in the city extend their opening hours until late in the evening to provide the public with increased access to the various collections, workshops and other events hosted by the organisations. Since its initiation in the capital Culture Night has expanded to include Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford in 2008 and Donegal, Wexford, Roscommon, Sligo, Kerry, and Mayo in 2009.
In a unique take on Culture Night, all arts venues in County Mayo have been keen to participate, so the event will be county-wide, with a wonderfully diverse programme of events taking place in Áras Inis Gluaire in Belmullet, Ballina Arts Centre, Ballinglen Arts Foundation in Ballycastle, Custom House Studios in Westport, Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar, the National Museum of Ireland – Country Life and the Jackie Clarke Library and Archives.
This event provides venues with an occasion to showcase to local communities the wealth and variety of cultural activity that exists on their doorsteps, while also promoting Mayo’s contribution to the arts on a national level. Culture Night’s main focus is on access, and on Friday September 25, participating Mayo venues will extend opening hours, and organise events which are free of charge and which are open to the public. This is an unprecedented opportunity for Mayo audiences to engage with and investigate arts activity in their locality. So if you’ve ever been curious about what happens at your local arts venue why not go along on September 25 for a look, you never know what you might find.
