Culture Night 2017 is on Friday September 22nd this year. This is the 13th year of free activities and events around Ireland during September and it is growing bigger and better. As usual we asked our staff what they recommend near our hostels in Ireland and below is the list of their suggestions for Culture Night 2017.
Distance: 22 minutes walk
Dublin Castle will once again host the flagship Culture Night event. There will be music, comedy, poetry, banter and theatre and most of it will be broadcast live on the radio.
Time: 5pm – 10pm
Address: Dublin Castle, Dame St, Dublin 2
Website: rte.ie/culture
Distance: 30 minutes walk
Cork will be busy as usual but one of the most interesting events will be the jazz night in Cork Gaol. This is the only way that you can visit one of the most atmospheric looking Victorian prisons in the land during Culture Night 2017. It will be a strange experience to listen to the happy jazz within the thick walls.
Time: 6pm – 7pm
Address: Convent Avenue, Sundays Well, Cork
Website: www.corkcitygaol.com
Phone: 021-4305022
Burren Hostel, Lisdoonvarna, Co Clare
Distance : 15 minutes drive
The nearby town of Ennistymon is showing new Irish surf documentary, Between Land and the Sea. This is a film about the community of surfers who are drawn to ride the giant waves that batter the coast of Clare and who stay to make the area their homes.
Time: 4.30pm – 7pm
Address: The Courthouse Gallery, Parliament St., Ennistymon
Website: www.thecourthousegallery.com
Phone: 065 7071630
Distance : 22 minutes drive
You don’t normally associate James Joyce with Donegal but this year there will be an outdoor showing of clips from “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” in Gortahork not far from the hostel beneath the mountain. Local actors will also be performing a new play and there will also be an art installation.
Time: 7.30pm – 1pm
Address: Oideachais Aosaigh & Oiliúna (An Sean Tec) Gort an Choirce
Phone: 0872523932
Distance: 5 minutes walk
Galway is home to Baboró International Arts Festival for Children. This year they are having a bi-lingual traditional music session for children and adults. There will be singing and dancing and trad instruments galore. Rumour has it that Mary Coughlan will pop in for a few songs.
Time: 4pm – 6pm
Address: Town Hall Theatre Foyer, Court House Square, Wood Quay, Galway
Website: www.baboro.ie
Phone: 091562667
Connemara Hostel, Leenane, Co Galway
Distance : 10 minute drive
In case it rains in Connemara, Culture Night 2017 will gather around a cosy fire for traditional storytelling and music sessions. There will be folktales, fairytales and tall tales all told by local talent.
E-mail monmary@hotmail.com
Time: 8pm – 11pm
Address: Leenane Hotel, Leenane, Co. Galway
Phone: 086 2027427
Distance: 20 minutes drive
This is one of the biggest events for Culture Night 2017 and it requires pre-booking. These two musician are living legends in the traditional music pantheon. To see them play in the grounds of Muckross which is a traditional experience in its own right will be a night to remember.
Time: 7.30pm – 9pm
Address: Muckross Schoolhouse & Traditional Farms, Muckross, Killarney
Phone: 064 6630804
Ballyhoura Luxury Hostel, Kilfinane, Co. Limerick
Distance : 24 minutes drive
The nearby village of Bruree will have a traditional Irish music session in their museum. Once a schoolhouse, the museum is now home to the De Valera Collection so it is steeped in nationalist history relating to the formation of the country.
Time: 8pm – 9.30pm
Address: De Valera Museum and Bruree Heritage Centre, Water St, Bruree, Co.Limerick
Phone: 086 3949230
Distance: 23 minutes walk
Westport House is one of the most iconic stately houses in the west of Ireland. There are 30 rooms to tour and each one of them is full of interesting treasures from the past. On the night a choir will try to lift the roof off with their singing on the marble staircase.
Time: 6pm – 9pm
Address: Westport, Co. Mayo
Website: www.westporthouse.ie
Phone: 098-27766
Beach Haven Hostel, Tramore, Co. Waterford
Distance: 8 minutes walk
Tramore is home to the Lafcadio Hearn Japanese Gardens which are dedicated to the Irishman who became one of the most popular writers in Japan. There will be readings and music including a special reading of Sean Dunne’s poem ‘A Shrine to Lafcadio Hearn’.
Time: 6pm – 7pm
Address: Tramore House, Pond Rd, Tramore East, Tramore, Co. Waterford
Website: lafcadiohearngardens.com/
Distance : 3 minutes
Youth talent show including fire breathers and drumming.
Time: 6pm – 8.30pm
Address: Brú Ború, Cashel
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