Circus mastery in West Cork features on TV show celebrating Culture Night

For 19 years, Culture Night has celebrated culture, creativity and the arts in Ireland.

The 2024 edition takes place next Friday, when there will be events held across Cork and the country.

A special programme, Culture Night 2024, on RTÉ1 on Friday, September 20, at 8pm, will broadcast some of the highlights from the annual festival.

Included on the show is some hair-raising aerial circus mastery from Ballydehob in West Cork, and a treetop display of street dancing from Avondale in Wicklow.

Denise Chaila anchors the RTÉ show from The Round Room in Dublin’s Mansion House, as she interweaves a line-up of exceptional one-off performances as part of Culture Night 2024.

Among them will be the Scottish singer-songwriter David Gray, who makes a voyage to Skellig Michael in the company of his long-time friend, Colm Mac Con Iomaire.

This is a trip that David has dreamed about for decades, a place that has loomed so large in his imagination that he named his last album after it and painted it for the album cover.

“It was nothing short of magical to be there”, gushed David after the filming.

Also featured on this celebratory TV programme are Leitrim’s Edwina Guckian and adopted sons Mohammad Syfkhan and Ultan O’Brien, who provide the soundtrack for dancing at the crossroads in Effrinagh, Co.Leitrim.

The show also features a celebration of punk rock from Derry,

All of this artistic variety will be interspersed with a series of orchestral explorations with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, helmed by conductor David Brophy with special guests vocalists Villagers, Niamh Regan, New Jackson and Joe Chester with Gemma Hayes.

Culture Night / Oíche Chultúir is organised by the Arts Council, and has the aim of actively promoting the belief that a rich and varied culture is alive and well in Ireland, treasured and nurtured in people’s lives, today and every day.

Events are delivered nationwide in cities, towns, villages and rural locations, as well as online.

All activities will be available to the public free of charge.

Events in Cork city this year include a Potato Festival, a Dance & Drama Performance by CADA Performing Arts, and a Circus ‘Scratch’ Night at the Circus Factory.

There are a host of events taking place across Cork county - see https://culturenightcorkcounty.ie/ for more details.