Jimmy Deenihan TD, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, has encouraged the public to participate in
Culture Night 2012 which will take place this
Friday, 21st September.
Culture Night, which has been held every year since 2006, is the night when a range of arts and cultural organisations - including museums, galleries, churches, historic houses and artist’s studios - extend their opening hours and arrange events which are free of charge to the public.
Culture Night 2012 features a record 34 participating locations, making it the biggest and most extensive Culture Night to date. Amongst the new locations participating in 2012 are Limerick County, Galway County and North Tipperary. 2012 also sees the welcome return of some locations which have previously been involved but were absent last year such as Sligo and Roscommon.
Culture Night is an initiative co-ordinated by Temple Bar Cultural Trust and supported by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht in partnership with the regional arts offices and local authorities throughout the island of Ireland. Minister Deenihan today commented:
"Culture Night gives us all the opportunity to step outside our normal routine and to take part in an artistic event - or visit a cultural location - in our neighbourhood. With Culture Night 2012 taking place in a record 34 towns, cities, counties and islands across Ireland, I would encourage people to find out what is happening in their locality and to take part.
"Last year, I visited several of the events and was very pleased to see people of all ages enjoying facilities that were on their door step but that they previously had either not had the time to visit during the day or had found too costly. This year I'm hoping will be similar."
Culture Night will take place in the following regions on Friday September 21st: Down, Belfast, Armagh, Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Cloughjordan, Cork City, Cork County, Derry-Londonderry, Letterkenny, An Ghaeltacht, Galway City, Galway County, Kerry, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Louth, Limerick City, Limerick County, Mayo, Navan, Offaly, Roscommon, South Tipperary, North Tipperary, Sligo, Strabane District, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow. Full details are available on www.culturenight.ie
"Opening late into Friday night is a simple but very effective way of tapping into a new audience. Culture Night - the third Friday in September - is fast becoming a firm fixture in the national cultural calendar." added Minister Deenihan.
Click here
for full list of events taking place throughout the country.