If free, fun, family events are what you are looking for, then Mayo Culture Night 2009 has them all. On September 25 the people of Mayo will be presented with a marvellous opportunity to experience the rich and diverse arts and culture scene in the county, as venues county-wide throw open their doors a little later than usual.
Last year’s Culture Night event was an overwhelming success and saw the event go national for the first time with the cultural venues in Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford participating. Over 100,000 people alone attended Dublin Culture Night in 2008. This year with the addition of Tralee, Sligo, Letterkenny, Mayo, Wexford and Roscommon, numbers are expected to exceed 250, 000 nationwide.
In its first year in Mayo, the culture night looks set to get off to a wonderful start with galleries, workshop spaces, artists’ studios and other cultural venues opening late, some until 11pm, welcoming visitors of all ages in for a taste of free culture for one night. The occasion provides an unprecedented opportunity for Mayo people to go along to their local arts or cultural venue and see what really goes on behind the scenes.
What’s on?
Boasting one of the best art collections in the country, Ballinglen Arts Foundation is hosting an exhibition of some of the works from their collection. After a stroll round this exhibition why not pop into their workshop space and begin work on your own masterpiece or take a look inside their artists’ studios to see where all the work happens.
Encouraging their audience to maximise their participation in Culture Night 2009, the Linenhall Arts Centre, Castlebar are asking visitors on the evening to Sing for their Supper – so call in, sing and come away with a free cup of coffee, tea, hot chocolate or a glass of wine. Also on the night Oisín Heraghty will take you behind the scenes of a working arts centre for a glimpse into the controls room. However if you would rather be in the limelight, Drama Queen Donna Ruane will teach you to improvise and take your place centre stage. There will also be an opportunity for local arts groups to display their wares on the night. All workshops will run for 15 minutes, are suitable for families and will recur over the course of the evening. Numbers will be limited, with booking available only on the night.
The Custom House Studios in Westport are also offering people the opportunity to come along and have a peep inside their artists’ studios. They, too, are running workshops in their print room and the recently renovated gallery space will have an exhibition of work by Katja Wittmer whose work evolves around creating abstract and semi-abstract mixed media paintings on canvas and paper.
Films, films and more films; on Culture Night Ballina Arts Centre will be running a drop in, drop out short films screening throughout the evening – the films were made through the Filmbase Shorts scheme. And while you’re taking a break from the screenings why not visit the Altered Images Exhibition, the first exhibition of its kind in Ireland, which aims to be accessible to all sections of the community, particularly disabled people. Each work will be displayed by conventional means, accompanied by audio descriptions and relief models. As part of the exhibition, there will be an Exhibition Response workshop room running a variety of interactive workshop activities for children and adults.
In north Mayo Áras Inis Gluaire is celebrating its maritime culture with a special screening of the RW Paul short film Whaling Afloat and Ashore. This is thought to be the last of his films to survive, and exists only in an incomplete copy. Filmed in Ireland (along with several other films, now lost ), it was made to commemorate the opening of the Arranmore Whaling Company at South Iniskea, an island off the Mayo coast, close to Belmullet. There will also be a screening of Idealny facet dla mojej dziewczyny, a 2009 film by polish director Tomasz Konecki. The centre will also have music by Craobh Chlann Lir, the Comhaltas branch in Erris and a recital by well known English mezzo-soprano Margaret Probyn, entitled Dreams and Wishes.
The Museum of County Life in Turlough will also remain open late on the night until 9pm. Ever wondered what a blacksmith’s forge looks like or what games our grandparents played? Well if your curiosity for such things is rife, why not join the guided tour of the museum at 7.45pm on the night. Likewise you can take a look round the museum and explore the collection for yourself. On the night you can experience first hand some of the practices of our ancestors, from a Harvest Knot workshop to a Rush Basket demonstration. There is plenty to see and do at the Museum of Country Life.
With another glimpse of the past in store, this time the 1950s and 1960s , The Jackie Clarke Library and Archives, Ballina in association with the Irish Film Institute will premiere a screening of films from the Jackie Clarke Film Collection. In a change to the original billing this event will now take place at Ballina Library, Pearse Street, Ballina from 9pm to midnight on Culture Night. This film collection contains footage of a people and a way of life that are now gone forever and includes local as well as national material. The Library and Archives will also remain open on the evening from 6pm to 9pm, the perfect end to Mayo Culture Night 2009.
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. The main aim of Culture Night is to increase access, and venues will extend their opening hours and organise events which are free of charge and open to the public. This event provides a unique opportunity for Mayo audiences to engage with and investigate arts activity in their locality while providing venues with an occasion to showcase to local communities the wealth and variety of cultural activity that exists on their doorsteps. Culture Night is also a wonderful chance to promote Mayo’s contribution to the arts on a national level. So why not take the opportunity to go along to your local venue on the night, you never know what you might discover!
This is merely a glimpse of what’s on offer in the county on Culture Night. Brochures with full details of events in Mayo are currently available from the Arts Office and participating venues. If you would like to receive one please contact the Arts Office on 094 902 4444 Ext 7558, 7560 or e-mail [email protected]
