5 things to do on culture night in Cork city
Enjoy culture night experience in Cork city
Sustainable outdoor venue TEST SITE, currently on Coal Quay, hosts a series of free participatory workshops and demonstrations that will contribute towards creating a co-designed Ecological Vision for the Marsh.
The evening will also include the return of Drawn In Common, an ongoing collaborative project with visual artist Morvern Odling, of the Living Commons community space on Shandon Street.
If you’re not living on the Northside, the 202 bus from the city-centre quays will take you directly to a hidden gem for music on Culture Night. At the Hollyhill library, from 5pm to 6.45pm, the Cork Community Gamelan gives you an opportunity to try your hand at the Javanese suite of gongs and metallophones, learn classical pieces in the form and improvise your own music.
Then, at 6.15pm, head across the green to the Kabin community studio for beginners’ friendly adult music sessions - join the studio’s crew themselves for a contemporary music jam, or sit in with Creative Tradition’s open trad session and learn a few tunes as you go. Stick around at 8.30, then, for the Kabin’s annual Culture Night showcase.
At the Hayloft Bar, upstairs at the Long Valley Bar on Winthrop Street, the monthly Ó Bhéal poetry night welcomes guest poets, showcases poetry films from its archives, tests would-be poets with its renowned Five Word Challenge, and hosts an open mic for new verse.
Guest poets on the night are Qui Qarre, a Women Slam Africa-winning, Kenyan-born spoken word poet, author, speaker and mentor, and Leon Dunne, Dublin-based poet and the reigning All-Ireland Slam Champion - both of whom keep a sharp focus on social issues throughout their work.
Aside from its leading-edge reputation for music and education - graduates include popstar Cian Ducrot and members of The Altered Hours - the School of Music is an intriguing centre of culture in and of itself - lecturers and students will lead tours of the building throughout the night.
Meanwhile, a visual art exhibition, night-time music recitals and the launch of a new listening spot in the Fleischmann library underpin the night’s programming, but discerning music heads might want to pop into the Curtis Auditorium for 7.30pm for a performance of Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians.
Before the major works begin on the Emmet Place arts facility, the Crawford Art Gallery is hosting a massive programme of Culture Night collaborations, including a late-evening set of events in conjunction with promoters/festival heads The Good Room.
At 9pm in the Lecture Theatre, Cork-based film-maker and sound-art exponent Vicky Langan hosts a selection of boundary-pushing Irish music videos, while in The Long Room, The Stinging Fly’s Danny Denton hosts an evening of poetry and conversation. Meanwhile, at 9.15pm, there’s music in the Upper Gallery from Cork-based electronic musicians Elaine Howley and Trick Mist.
