Dublin Culture Night: 25 September 2009

In my many hours spent online this summer researching all-things-Trinity, I did not realize Culture Night was the night after I arrived in Dublin!  Culture Night runs from 5pm to 12am and consists of live performances, workshops, tours, talks, all free admission.  It began in 2006 and is sponsored by the Temple Bar Cultural Trust.  Since then, it has expanded to Galway, Limerick, Cork, Waterford, Tralee, Sligo, Letterkenny, Mayo, Wexford, Roscommon and now in Belfast in "The North". 

When I was in Dublin in 2007, we were lucky enough to be here for Culture Night and took advantage of free admission to the beautiful Book of Kells!  (Incidentally, now that I'm a student at Trinity, I always get free admission to the Book of Kells as well as 2 free guests - awesome!)  This year's culture night is said to have over 120 organizations hosting both indoor and outdoor events, with activities for all age groups

I discovered that tonight was Culture Night when I picked up a brochure on campus early this evening.  At this point I only had a few hours to enjoy as much of it as I could, so I quickly planned my evening agenda:

I first stopped in to the ISS wine reception.  I didn't know anyone, but introduced myself to a few girls.  It turns out one of them is studying law as an undergrad here.  We chatted for a few minutes, then I made my way to the Irish Architectural Archive, near Merrion Square.  They were leading small groups through the house, including a room exhibiting portrait miniatures from the Comerford Collection.  

I next watched a brief film presentation from the Irish Manuscripts Commission.  This was very interesting, with discussions of its digitisation initiative, the history of the Dublin fires that destroyed many historical documents, and new publications available for purchase or to review at Irish libraries.

I then made my way closer to Trinity, planning to stop by the Alliance Francaise, but when I arrived they had closed early, with a sign on the door stating "out of food and wine!  sorry!"  Bummer.  Oh well, at least it is close to campus and I can visit another time.

Next stop was down the road to Taylor Galleries.  This small gallery is right down the street from Trinity and usually exhibits one or two artists' collections.  Tonight's event description caught my eye, as the artist was named ... Sean McSweeney.  Take out the S and you have the name of a crazy friend whom we could all agree specializes in a "different" form or art, typically involving a beer glass.  Mr. McSweeney is an Irish landscape artist, born in Dublin in 1935.  I liked his collection, especially those depicting the boglands and the coast.  The other room with another artist's collection was closed off for the night.

At this point it was getting late and many places were already closing their doors, so I just took a walk through city centre and made my way to Temple Bar where they were showing outdoor films in Meeting House Square.  When I arrived, they were showing "Voyage to the Stars" including footage from the space shuttle mission to repair Hubble.  It was almost 1am when the film ended; I made my way back to campus and called it a night.

For not having much time to plan, I was happy I made it to 4 places and was able to check out new places in town.  If you are here in late September 2010, I would definitely recommend checking out this annual event here.