Culture Night Dublin: Everything you need to know

Culture Night Dublin returns this Friday, September 17, with 300 free in-person and online events taking place at 240 venues across the city and county.

Museums, galleries and cultural heritage sites will open their doors and welcome visitors from 4pm until late.

To keep visitors entertained, the event’s official transport partner, Dublin Bus, will host a number of pop-up performances of The Commitments on the rooftop of one of the city’s famous DoDublin buses.

Brought to you by Verdant Productions, the performances will feature music from the iconic Dublin film and other soul classics by original members of the West End cast.

To help visitors navigate the city, Dublin Bus has also announced that they will be providing free Culture Night buses every 20 minutes along three tailored bus routes.

Starting at College Green, Aston Quay and Bachelor’s Walk, the free shuttle services will bring visitors to and from their favourite cultural quarters. Detailed route information available here.

On Friday night, the city will come alive with exhibitions, performances, interactive classes and workshops.

A number of outdoor performances and newly commissioned art projects, entitled Dublin Holds My Mind, will also be presented.

Barnardo Square will be illuminated with a series of screenings from 8pm-11:30pm courtesy of the Irish National Opera, Screen Ireland and artist Niall ‘Kurb Junki’ Cullen.

At the Wood Quay Amphitheatre, two of Ireland’s last remaining Traveller tinsmiths, James Collins and Tom McDonnell, will be demonstrating their craft at 5:30pm, followed by performances by Irish Modern Dance Theatre, Lewis Barfoot, The New Brass Kings, Bollywood Ireland and Dublin Circus Project.

Join Jerry Fish and Dave Rudden at 6pm for an action-packed retelling of Gulliver’s Travels at Meeting House Square, with a performance from Kíla from 7:45pm. Finish off the night with a dynamic audio-visual experience curated by Give Us The Night from 9:30pm until late.

The full programme of events is now available to view at culturenightdublin.ie the website can be searched by genre as well as location to help visitors plan their route on the night. All events are free for the public to attend.

Amongst this year’s programme:

Visual Art Exhibitions

Kerlin Gallery, South Anne Street, Dublin 2; 4pm – 8pm

An exhibition of artist Merlin James with guided tours each hour. More information here

First Day Gallery at the Guinness Storehouse,  St. James Gate, Dublin 8, 5pm – 7pm

The Guinness Storehouse is thrilled to present its Culture Night event in collaboration with First Day Gallery. Recent works by some of Ireland’s leading visual artists including Ciana Fitzgerald, Michelle Malone, Matthew Stickland and Sean Whelan. More information here

Newbridge House and Farm, Hearse Road, Donabate Co. Dublin; 5pm – 9pm

Guest Curator, Marysia Wieckiewicz Carroll’s exhibition called “New Considerations of Familiar Settings”.

More information here

Literature

Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI), 86 St. Stephen’s Green; 5pm – 9pm

Free entry to the Museum of Literature Ireland and their temporary exhibition on children’s book illustrator and writer Chris Haughton. More information here

A Burning Tide, Loughshinny Harbour, Loughshinny, Fingal; 5pm – 9pm

Fingal Arts Department in association with the Irish Writers Centre will host an outdoor screening of “A Burning Tide” a film of new writing, including short stories, poetry and prose commemorating the anniversary of the formation of the Irish State in 1921. More information here

axis Ballymun, Main Street, Ballymun; 5pm – 9pm

An interactive trail of spoken word and poetry curated by writer Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan. Visitors find their way between Ballymun and Finglas using our creative poetry map. More information here

Performance

CoisCéim Broadreach, 42 Fairview Strand | Venue (TBC), Dublin 2; 4pm

Experience a vibrant outdoor music and dance performance created by older people and led by Broadreach guest curator Aoife McAtamney. More information here

Contemporary Music Centre, 44, Prussia St., Dublin 7; 5pm – 10pm

The Contemporary Music Centre (CMC) will present a series of short live concerts in association with Kirkos as CMC’s Ensemble-in-Residence. More information here

Smashing Times Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin 14; 4pm – 6pm

Smashing Times will present a site-specific, live outdoor pop-up installation featuring  theatre, literature, poetry, and song. More information here

Free Workshops

Silver Works Dublin, 24, Drury Street, Dublin, Dublin 2; 6.30pm – 8.30pm

Learn how to make a sterling silver ring from scratch. More information here

The Fumbally Stables, Fumbally Lane, Dublin 8; 5pm – 9pm

Demonstration of weaving with The Liberties Weavers. More information here

Damn Fine Print, 32 North Brunswick Street, Stoneybatter, Dublin 7; 5pm – 9pm

Try your hand at creating your own limited edition print. More information here

Family Friendly

Lemuel Gulliver Adventurer Extraordinaire, Meeting House Square, Temple Bar; 6pm – 6:45pm

Join Lemuel Gulliver and Jonathan Swift on a journey of musical comedy through stormy seas, strange lands and the shortest war in history. A rollicking and action-packed spoken-word adventure, written and performed by award-winning Knights of the Borrowed Dark author Dave Rudden and music maestro Jerry Fish. More information here

Mother Tongues, Rua Red Arts Centre, Tallaght, Dublin 24; 4pm – 8pm

The contemporary art space Rua Red will temporarily host the touring Interactive Museum of Languages for Young Audiences. More information here

Flying Turtle Productions, 27 Pearse Street, Ground Floor, Ireland Institute; Dublin 2

Showdown at Hickory Gulch: The site-specific live outdoor performance will take you back to the world of the wild ,wild west! More Information here

LGBTQ+ Events

EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, Custom House Quay, 6pm – 11pm

An exhibition that highlights twelve stories from the vast yet largely untold history of Ireland’s LGBTQ+ diaspora. More information here

Tonie Walsh: LGBTQIA+ History Tour

Activist Tonie Walsh has created a self-guided audio tour that will guide listeners on a “time-travel” through Dublin’s socio-cultural and political queer life”. More information here

National Photographic Archive, Meeting House Square, Temple Bar, Dublin 2; 5pm – 9pm

An exhibition celebrating the life and photographs of activist Christopher Robson. More information here