Over 30 local arts and cultural venues have signed up to be part of Derry and Strabane’s Culture Night 22 that takes place on the evening of Friday 23rdSeptember with a diverse programme of free entertainment and activity for all ages.
Every county across the island of Ireland celebrates this evening with amazing events, which bring communities together to have the craic, have a go or experience something new.
Derry and Strabane are part of that all island celebration and are delighted to get a chance to showcase the wealth of culture and heritage that exists across the Council area that everyone can be part of and enjoy.
The theme for this year’s festival is One Night for All and Derry Strabane Culture Night most definitely reflects this.
The programme offers a snapshot of the District’s rich cultural ecosystem and features music, dance, visual arts, theatre, spoken word, heritage, literature, environment, language, circus, carnival, talks, tours, exhibitions and workshops.
Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Cllr Sandra Duffy, speaking at the launch said Culture Night is a very popular event in the city and district’s events calendar and an important celebration of the region’s local arts and culture scene.
She said: “We have an international and well deserved reputation as a Festival City and that is thanks to the amazing creative talents of local people and our many artists and arts, cultural and community organisations who have embraced our history, pride and sense of place and combined it with our rich diversity and unique sense of humour and identity.
“Culture Night provides us with a wonderful opportunity for audiences, young and old, to explore our cultural venue and experience something new and different and for free.
“I’d like to congratulate the cultural community on presenting such a diverse and exciting programme and look forward to getting out and about on Culture Night to experience some of the events that are happening.”
John Kerr, Arts and Culture Manager with Derry City and Strabane District Council is hugely excited about this year’s programme and looking forward to seeing as many people as possible coming along on the night.
He said: “The 2022 programme sees an emphasis on family friendly programming and activities for all ages as well as late evening events.
“Audiences are invited to relax in one venue or move around, there are lots of short sessions and drop in any time events so audiences can take in lots of different wonderful things over the evening.
“The programme has been tailor made to enable people to have a really enjoyable evening of entertainment visiting a number of venues and experiencing lots of different types of cultural projects for free. “
The Culture Night programme is entirely organised by arts and cultural organisations with support from Derry City and Strabane District Council.
Among the many highlights of this year’s programme include a take-over of Guildhall Square by the hugely talented YES and Our Streets groups.
Clare from Our Streets says it’s a great initiative to be involved in and they are really looking forward to September 23rd.
She commented: “Our members are delighted to be taking part in Culture Night and to have the opportunity to showcase their talents and interests.
“Together we have planned a celebration of youth culture featuring a portable skate park, music stage featuring local young musicians and a safe space for young people to come together.
“We very much hope families and young people will come along to support, enjoy and have a go!”
In Your Space Circus’ youth Space Cadets will also take to the streets for walkabout street performances and the Siege Museum will be hosting 17thcentury canon firing demonstrations outside the Museum on Society Street.
The public wishing to explore the city on September 23rd can wander between venues starting out at The Museum of Free Derry and moving on to venues such as St Columb’s Hall, The Siege Museum, Tower Museum, Guildhall, Harbour House, St Augustine’s, Carlisle Road Methodist Church and St Columb’s Cathedral, who are all offering free access to exhibits, guided tours, interactive demonstrations, VR experiences, music, performance and literary events.
The Void Gallery, CCA Derry Londonderry, Art Arcadia, Eden Place Arts, The Gasyard Centre, UV Arts Urban Art Gallery are among the venues offering a strong programme of Visual Arts exhibitions, talks and interactive workshops while a variety of music and dance performances recitals and open mic sessions are also taking place. This year will see the first Culture Night Mini Jazz, Folk and Funk trail happening in various venues and for all ages.
Climate Change and Social Justice feature very prominently in some of the exhibitions and hands on workshops and there is a strong literary, theatre and spoken word programme with events across venues including the Verbal Arts Centre, An Culturlann, the Waterside Theatre, St Columb’s Hall andThe Playhouse.
Details of all events are featured on the website and with over 50 events happening across the Council area. The website also offers a handy tool to help you plan your own trail to best suit you and your friends and family’s time, interests and curiosities!
For more info visit - https://www.derrystrabane.com/culturenight or follow us on facebook at DerryStrabaneCultureNight
