Celebrating creativity with Culture Night in Louth

From music to storytelling, visual arts to street performances Louth is set to shine bright with creativity on Friday for Culture Night.

​Now in its 21st year Culture Night, which is a national event supported by the Arts Council and Local Authorities, celebrates culture, creativity, the arts and heritage.

There will be more than 30 free events taking place across Louth for Culture Night on Friday, September 18th offering an opportunity for people of all ages to experience the rich creativity, heritage and cultural life of the county.

Louth’s Culture Night programme is coordinated by Louth County Council and this year they provided more than €40,000 in grant support to individuals, artists, groups, venues, and organisations across the county to deliver events as part of the national celebration.

Moya Hodgers, Arts Officer & Creative Ireland Co-Ordinator with Louth County Council, spoke to the Dundalk Democrat ahead of Culture Night about the hard work behind the scenes to make it happen, the importance of funding for the arts and the impressive selection of vibrant and exciting events taking place for all ages.

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Moya, speaking about Culture Night, says “for the wee county of Ireland we are certainly punching well above our weight when it comes to arts” with the programme showcasing the diverse talent and cultural offerings of Louth.

There will be open studios, street performances, music, storytelling, theatre and much more with events taking place in venues right across the county.

Moya explains the process behind the scenes to make the impressive event happen.

“We decided in recent years rather than trying to curate things ourselves - as we knew there was a lot going on out there that we mightn't have been tapped into - we would make a call out. So this will be the fourth year we did a call out asking people to run events on Culture Night.

“It is such a big night and we want to make sure we are capturing everything that is going on in our communities and supporting what we can both financially and logistically.

“The response has been great; every year we always get really great and interesting proposals.

“We normally open the grant call out early May so we can let people know by around mid June if we are in a position to give them funding and what that funding would be so people can start planning and programming.

“The following few weeks are spent linking in with the local groups, working with the national Culture Night team, because of course Culture Night is a national programme. Every local authority does it in partnership with the Arts Council of Ireland.

“We submit all the details for every single event happening in Louth to the national website. We link in with all the artists and organisations, getting the information needed, explaining the process.

“Then there is getting all the promotional programmes together and promoting all the events that are happening around the county.

“There is a lot of work behind the scenes for us and for the organisers running the events as well.

“We start talking about Culture Night at the start of the year and looking at our budgets and how much we can assign to it.

“We are very lucky this year because of the Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union we were given an little bit of extra money towards any cultural events throughout the six months so we decided to allocate a portion of that to expand the Culture Night programme.

“It is has meant we have been able to do a little bit more, for example in Dundalk there will be a gorgeous event in St Nicholas Church of Ireland with local composer Daithí Kearney who will perform a piece he has written celebrating the Irish EU Presidency.

“He will be performing that with the Louth Chamber Orchestra along with members of the Ardee Concert Band. They will also be playing music from 'The Brigid Suite' that Daithí and Adèle Commins composed for the Brigid1500 celebrations.

“And in Dundalk Library we have David Keenan coming to do a very intimidate gig. To be showcasing Irish local talent in our Dundalk library setting is brilliant.

“In Drogheda there is so much happening too. We have the Lourdes Brass Band performing at the After Dark Session and Epic Theatre are doing a comedic street performance piece about St Oliver.”

Moya said that Culture Night started out trying to encourage people to go into art venues and is now just as much about bringing art into the public arena.

“Culture Night started as a initiative to get people into cultural venues like galleries and art centres free of charge to witness and experience some form of art”, she said.

“But over recent years, particularly post Covid, it has been just as much about bringing art out onto the streets and into the community setting.

“So we have things happening in the Market Square by An Táin Arts Centre and we have stuff happening on West Street in Drogheda, which have been curated by Droichead Arts Centre.

“They have a late night programme. They got additional funding from the Arts Council for a special late night series of events through working with the Night-time Economy Adviser Mark Davies who works with the council.

“The late night programme will run from 9pm until the early hours. We have music in the Spirit Store from 9pm until late and Dundalk Gaol Comhaltas are running a lovely event that will start at 8pm and run until late.

“In Dunleer there will be pop up exhibition of digital and animation images from local artists in the Market House until 9pm.

“Both Bó Studios and Bridge Street Studios are having open evenings so people can go in and see what work they are doing and what an artist studio is like. And it is an opportunity for artists to showcase their work. Similarly in Drogheda artist Els Borghart is opening her studio to the public.

“And we have a gorgeous music event in Roe River Books in Dundalk with music being put to Irish literary voices.

“We have events happening from 3pm/4pm in the afternoon that kids can be involved in right through to things happening late at night for adults. It is brilliant to have such a mix of events.

“To have events happening across the various towns from early in the day to late at night is amazing.

“For the wee county of Ireland we are certainly punching well above our weight when it comes to arts.

“One of the things I found since I came into this role just over five years ago is the breadth of talent out there from visual artists, digital media, musicians, storytellers and spoken word.”

Moya says Culture Night has grown over time since it first started 21 years ago.

“Culture Night has really made arts and creativity accessible. In venues like the galleries and art centres the numbers are continually increasing, particularly after Covid.

“People are really interested to come and do something different on a Friday evening.

“Having it out on the streets also means you are engaging people who maybe don't realise it is happening or don't understand what it is.

“We have often found people walking into, say the library, who met somebody down the street who said I am after coming from that pop up workshop or music event and so they came to see what was happening.

“Having events in so many different venues makes such a difference. We have had such engagement from coffee shops and pubs over the last couple of years across Louth who want to get involved.

“Having pop up events somewhere different makes it really accessible and everything is free which is even better.

“It is about making people comfortable in the space, whether it is going to something in the arts centre or popping into the local cafe or pub, or they could be just walking their dog at Market Square and they get to experience Culture Night.”

Moya said that funding is crucial for Culture Night to happen.

This year, Louth County Council provided more than €40,000 in grant support to individuals, artists, groups, venues, and organisations across the county to deliver events as part of the national celebration.

Funding was made available through the Culture Night Fund, supported by Louth County Council and the Arts Council of Ireland, and Cultúr 2026, the national cultural programme for Ireland’s EU Presidency.

Moya said: “As it s a national initiative there is great drive behind it.

“Each local authority gets funding from both the local authority itself and from the Arts Council of Ireland; and the funding comes from the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.

“It is great that this year we had a little bit of a top up with the Irish Presidency of the European Council; that funding has come from Culture Ireland.

“Without all these different funding strings that we pull from you couldn't do a programme of this scale.

“And every year we try to look for a little bit more when we are doing our applications to see if we can continue to keep building it because it is such a great programme.

“It is a lot of hard work but it is great to have such a prolific night of arts throughout the county.”

With more than 30 free events taking place in venues across County Louth, Culture Night offers an opportunity for people of all ages to experience the rich creativity, heritage and cultural life of the county.

From music and storytelling to visual arts, local history, food and film, the programme showcases the diverse talent and cultural offerings that make Louth such a vibrant place to live, work and visit.

This year will see the Friends of Collon Church host their first-ever Culture Night event, offering an evening of music, architecture, and fascinating local stories in the newly renovated church.

John Rountree, Friends of Collon Church, said: “We are delighted to be hosting our first Culture Night event and to have the opportunity to welcome people into Collon Church.

“The evening will celebrate not only the building’s remarkable history and architecture, but also the stories, music and community spirit that make it such a special place.

“We are looking forward to sharing this unique venue with visitors from across Louth and beyond.”

Commenting on the Culture Night programme, Cllr Dolores Minogue, Cathaoirleach of Louth County Council, said: “Culture Night is an opportunity for people across the county to enjoy free access to an incredible range of artistic, cultural and heritage experiences in their own communities.

“The Louth programme celebrates the creativity, talent, traditions, and innovations that make our county unique while bringing people together to connect, explore and be inspired. I encourage everyone to take the opportunity to attend an event, support local artists and discover something new on this special night.”

David Conway, Chief Executive of Louth County Council, added: “Culture Night demonstrates the important role that the arts play in building inclusive, connected and sustainable communities throughout the whole county.

“Through our ongoing support of artists, venues and community organisations, Louth County Council is committed to promoting and developing the arts across the county and ensuring that culture, expression, and creativity remain accessible to everyone. I would encourage everyone to attend an event this Culture Night, support our artists, enjoy the amazing talent, and have a fun night out.”

For the full Culture Night 2026 programme of events visit culturenight.ie/events and check out Louth Arts Office social media platforms.

Funded by the News Reporting Scheme.