TWENTY TOWNS and cities will take part in this year’s Culture Night, when participating arts and entertainment institutions stay open late and are free.
Culture Night 2010 is on Friday September 24th, Temple Bar Cultural Trust announced yesterday.
This year also marks the first time the Gaeltacht regions will host Culture Nights. The King of Tory, Patsaí Dan Mac Ruairí, represented his island at yesterday’s announcement, which was also attended by Minister for Culture Mary Hanafin.
“It’s a very historic day for Irish culture because I think this is the first time we’ve had one of our kings meeting one of our Ministers to talk about culture,” said Temple Bar Cultural Trust chief executive Dermot McLaughlin.
This is the fifth year of Culture Night, with the event expanding to 20 different places throughout the Republic, including the islands of Tory and Inis Meáin. Derry and Belfast are also involved.
The event began as an open night in Temple Bar in 2005, with the first Culture Night taking place a year later, attracting some 40,000 visitors to participating cultural institutions in Dublin.
Last year, 11 regions took part, including Cork, Galway, Letterkenny, Limerick, Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo, Tralee, Waterford and Wexford.
“Culture Night gives an open invitation to thousands of people in towns and cities around the country to get a free taste of late-night culture ranging from theatres, museums and galleries to churches, parks and street performances,” said Ms Hanafin.
Last year, some 152,000 people attended Culture Night in Dublin alone, where 124 venues participated.