Culture Night co-ordinator Melissa Nolan shares her tips for what’s worth seeing …
Culture Night returns to Dublin on Friday September 18, with multiple exhibitions, performances, workshops and tours. Some of the most interesting parts of the programme are the chances to visit places you would not normally go or hear stories you may not know. For example, The Office of the Attorney General is opening its doors to the public for the first time, with guided tours of this iconic building. There are also tours of the Mansion House, King’s Inns and Freemasons’ Hall, all offering a look inside some of Dublin’s better-known historic beautiful buildings.
At Marsh’s Library, visitors can see one of the city’s oldest libraries and access its normally private garden. For something rather different, the Moving Crib Museum offers a visit to its basement collection of more than 120 working mechanical figures dating from the 1950s, along with various old curiosities.
For something quieter, the Dublin Buddhist Centre is hosting a series of mindfulness and meditation sessions, including introductions to breathing meditation, loving-kindness practice and mantra. Visitors can also make a panel for a collaborative prayer flag.
For those interested in the Irish language, Trinity College is offering guided tours of its historic campus entirely in Irish, departing from the Campanile at 5.45pm, 6.30pm and 7.15pm. At the Alliance Française, poet and performer Cúán de Búrca will perform slam poetry in Irish at 6pm, bringing the language to life through rhythm and performance. For something darker, the Gravedigger Ghost Bus Tour takes visitors through some of Dublin’s more unsettling stories, travelling through six centuries of the city’s history.
There are several walking tours worth considering, particularly if you want to spend the evening outside rather than moving between venues. The two-hour, 2km Black History Walking Tour, created by Jess Majekodunmi, looks at more than 300 years of Black history in Dublin. It includes stories of people such as performer Rachel Baptiste, Frederick Douglass, African students at Trinity College and musician Phil Lynott. It also draws on Majekodunmi’s own family history.
Music is a big part of the programme, with outdoor stages at Meeting House Square, Wood Quay, North Earl Street and elsewhere. At Wood Quay Amphitheatre, Avenue 68 bring R&B, jazz and funk before the St James’s Brass & Reed Band take to the stage. The band has a long history in Dublin and dates back to the 18th century. There is then a change of pace, with professional breakdancer Leon Dwyer, known as Aleon, followed by Dublin Youth Choir. Calpulli Mictlan, a Mexican ceremonial dance group brings Indigenous Mexican traditions to the programme before Dublin Gay Men’s Choir closes the evening [they memorably performed at THE GLOSS Gala last year].
The visual arts programme includes the Dublin Painting and Sketching Club exhibition, photography from the ÍOVA Photography Collective and the Dublin Camera Club’s 80th-anniversary exhibition. Sol Art will also host live painting demonstrations, while the Ceadogán Rugmakers exhibition at City Assembly House focuses on Irish craft. Literature is represented too. Oxfam Books is hosting an open mic with musicians, poets and spoken-word performers.
For art and architecture fans, St Joseph’s Church in Terenure is worth a visit. Stained glass historian Dr David Caron will give a presentation on the church’s remarkable collection of Harry Clarke windows, among the finest examples of 20th-century ecclesiastical art.
The appeal of Culture Night is that you can make as much or as little of it as you like. Book one event, pick a few places nearby, or simply walk around and see what is happening.
For full details of the Dublin events see culturenight.ie/Dublin
