Perhaps it was the occasional sunshine and the drier skies after Storm Ali, but Culture Night proved a great success all around the county tonight. Numbers were up on last year and the early estimates indicated that crowds of almost 6,000 people attended various events across the county. Artists, arts organisations and arts centre offered up a diverse selection of free events late into the night. The evening was supported by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and the Creative Ireland programme in partnership with Kerry County Council. 

Key events in Tralee, Killarney, Listowel, Dingle, Cahirciveen saw record numbers and the towns of Killorglin, Ballinskelligs, Waterville, Fossa, Castleisland, Scartaglin, Tureencahill, Ballybunion and Lixnaw had full houses at their events.  

The catch phrase this year was ‘Culture is Catching’ and this seemed apt at Baile Bhuire Day Care Centre in Tralee where Catherine Young Dance created a Ceilí Afro Dabke that packed the house and had everyone dancing well into the evening. At Siamsa Tire the premiere of Ceol Sa Chroí, a specially commissioned piece by composer and musician Neil Martin received a standing ovation from a packed house. At Kerry County Museum families enjoyed tours, music, art and medieval family fun and reported an increase in numbers on last year. 

Meanwhile in Killarney, Culture Night started early at St. Brigid’s Secondary School, the first school in the county to put on a special event for Culture Night. “We have a wonderful young group of creative minds in our school and it is not often that their hard work, dedication and high standards in art is seen outside of the classroom, so we were delighted to be part of Culture Night”, said Alice Quilter one of two teachers, along with Fiona Archibald and Kate McEroy who also worked on the event at the school. 

The work of professional artists was on view at Kerry Visual Arts Showcase at Government Buildings, in a show that runs until 16^th October. The Showcase is an opportunity for the recent work of visual artists to be shown in Kerry and all work is for sale. Killarney’s events were very well attended again and joining the line-up this year was pianist Criostóir O’Loingsigh with an event that linked the music listened to in Killarney House to the people who lived in the great house through the centuries. Kerry Diocesan Youth Service received very positive acclaim for the creative and cultural work of the ‘Rooted’ project which links to young people living in direct provision in Kerry, while a great vibe was left across the town and out to venues like the Brehon and Muckross House and farms who did not event have standing room available with the interest shown in their events.  “Over-all we had 60 events in thirteen towns using forty-nine venues right across Kerry, and we want to thank all the artists, event organisers, ambassadors and audiences for making Culture Night the very special occasion that is was this year”, said Kate Kennelly, Arts Officer and Creative Ireland Kerry Co-ordinator at Kerry County Council. It looks like Kerry can be very proud of its cultural community and events are already in the planning for 2019. Time to look forward to next year already! 

Pic: Valerie O'Sullivan