Culture Night 2023

What is Culture Night?

Culture Night is an annual event that celebrates culture, creativity and the arts that takes place on Friday 22nd September, 2023 from 6pm till late. Arts and cultural organisations across the country open their doors until late with hundreds of free events, tours, talks & performances for you, your family and friends to enjoy. We are looking forward to in-person events again this year following the return to live events in 2022

What’s special about Culture Night?
Exciting and unique events happen on culture night on the streets and in other public spaces around Ireland.

It’s a reminder of the fantastic cultural facilities and resources that we have and it encourages more people to visit cultural venues and experience culture in their area.

Venues stay open later and longer than usual and it’s promotes what's on offer from cultural organisations, artists, venues, artists’ studios, performers, galleries, art collections, archives, interesting buildings, places and spaces, museums, arts centres, libraries etc.

It encourages participation in cultural activity by all ages and all members of our community and everything is free of charge

What’s happening in County Clare?

Building on the great success of previous years, County Clare will again celebrate Culture Night in 2022. Over 10,200 people attended 33 Clare events (in – person or on line) in 2021.
Coordinated by Clare Arts Office, we are now inviting artists (of all disciplines) groups, schools and organisations to hold an event(s) and have it included in a national and county programme of events for Culture Night.

Programming Content
• We encourage and support the inclusion of all voices and cultures that make up Ireland today.
• We seek to engage with and create opportunities for increased participation with those who may not always have easy access to events of a cultural nature, particularly but not limited to, the following:
• Asylum seekers, refugees and migrants.
• D/deaf culture or arts and disability.
• Irish traveller culture.
• Under-represented groups.
• Those promoting gender equality. Culture Night is about access and is geared at all ages. It provides a unique opportunity for everyone to make new discoveries in their area. This in line with the Arts Council’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy and supported by a specific toolkit they have developed.

What types of events could I hold?
Culture night is an opportunity to showcase unique cultural events such as:
• Exhibitions, classes & workshops
• Outdoor projections on buildings
• Multicultural celebrations
• Cultural trails or cultural treasure hunts
• Live music and live art
• Walking tours
• Events involving primary & secondary schools (please note events must take place after 6pm).
• Intergenerational events celebrating positive ageing and young people
• Street performances
• Film screenings
• Book readings or storytelling
• Use cultural venues such as museums, galleries, castles, libraries, heritage and arts centres etc.
• See what others have done. Log onto www.culturenight.ie to see what happened around the Country last year.

Will funding be available for events?

Some events may not require funding, others will.
Applying for funding does not guarantee that your event will be funded. Grants will typically be in the region of €100 to €1,500 (but we reserve the right to give larger amounts for more involved proposals). While there is no fixed number of awards, there will generally be a larger number of lesser value awards and a small number of higher value ones, reflecting a geographic spread county wide.

In selecting events for inclusion we will be looking for

• A county – wide spread and in particular events that encourage participation in a new part of town or the county.
• Events that take place throughout the evening (start times between 6 and 11pm), particularly those that run later in the night in order to extend the Culture Night experience.
• Events that make Culture Night visible in the county by using unlikely venues or public setting (free venues such as outdoor spaces, community halls, libraries etc) will be prioritised over those events taking place in commercial venues / pubs / hotels etc. Funding for venue hire will only be provided in exceptional cases.
• Events that actively target those who may not normally have easy access to cultural events and that diversify the cultural offering to attract and reach new audiences
• Events that encourage participation by diverse artists.
• Family friendly events
• Events that support the making or sharing or performing of work by artists based in Clare and implement The Arts Council ‘Paying the Artist’ Policy.

Funding will not be provided for

• refreshments

Conditions of funding

• All projects / artists must have their own insurance. If awarded financial support you will have to provide a specific indemnity to Clare County Council on your insurance policy in respect of the event(s) and submit to the Arts Office by the deadline specified in letter of offer.
• If your application is successful, funding claim must be submitted to the Arts Office by early October 2023 (exact date to be confirmed in letter of offer if successful).
• Access to all events must be open to the public, free of charge and take place on the 22nd September from 6pm till late.
• It will be a requirement that promotional information on your event is provided by deadlines required for the Culture Night website (exact date to be confirmed in letter of offer if successful)
• All social media and printed material must carry funding logos / use funders tags (to be supplied in the letter of offer). All images used must have consent of those featured in them and must have photographers license or agreement to be used.
• Payments will only be made to the applicant who will be required to provide contact details, bank details and PPS number.
• Changes to the final event from the awarded application may effect the final funding – significant changes must be notified in advance.

You will be notified if you have been successful during July 2023.

How do I apply to be part of Culture Night 2023?

• Consult your group or organisation and relevant community partners to plan what event(s) you will hold.
• Consult owner of proposed location for your event(s) to ensure permission will be forthcoming. It is your responsibility to secure a venue. It is not the role of Clare Arts Office to find you a venue.
• Research costs if any. Priority will be given to artists fees, promotion and documentation
• Phone us if you are not sure about anything or email clareculturenight@gmail.com. Alternatively you can add a question to the FAQ form below.

When ready fill out the Application Form below