About Culture Night

Following the success of Dublin’s first Culture Night which was initiated by Temple Bar Cultural Trust in 2006 the event has grown from 40 organizations attracting 40,0000 people to over 100 participating organizations in 2008 with a public turnout of 100,000 people. Building on the enormous success of this initiative in public access and participation in cultural activity, Temple Bar Cultural Trust, in partnership with the Department of Arts Sport and Tourism launched Culture Night Goes National in 2008 involving the cities of Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford which was managed by The Arts Officers in each of the respective cities. This was an overwhelming success and in 2009 an additional six towns were added, including Tralee. It is important to remember that Tralee was invited to be part of the Culture Night celebrations!
And that while other towns’ efforts are driven by The Arts Offices in those towns and counties, Tralee’s efforts are being driven by the participating organisations!

Tralee’s leading 3 cultural organisations, Kerry County Museum, Samhlaiocht and Siamsa Tíre will collaborate to deliver a Culture Night celebration to remember!

Kerry County Museum

Kerry County Museum was named 2009 Museum of the Year at the Museum Awards on Monday 18th May. The Awards were hosted by the Heritage Council, in partnership with the Northern Ireland Museums Council to coincide with International Museums Day – making it the best museum on the whole island! It was also Highly Commended in the Education Category for its ‘What’s in the Box?’ project.
The Museum is open for 312 days a year, attracting nearly 32,000 visitors last year and has the highest incidence of visitorship of any regional museum on the island!

Samhlaiocht

In 2007 Samhlaiocht won the prestigious Community Arts and Culture Award in recognition of its invaluable work in enriching Artistic Life in the community. The award acknowledged the key role Samhlaiocht plays in the Arts and Cultural life of Kerry, while in 2008 Samhlaiocht won The Best Festival Entertainment Award from the Association of Irish Festivals and Events for its Easter Festival parade.
The Easter Festival routinely attracts over 10,000 people over the three day duration of the event while the Kerry Film Festival attracted 5,024 people in 2008. In addition to its two festivals it also hosts a year-round gallery programme while also hosting an education out-reach programme.

Siamsa Tíre

Siamsa Tíre is the National Folk Theatre of Ireland and as such plays a vital role in preserving the culture, not just of Kerry, but of the whole Nation. It has won a myriad of prizes and awards since its foundation in 1974. Its mission is to reflect Ireland's great wealth of music, dance and folklore using vibrant, colourful theatrical entertainment while continuing to create new folk theatre presentations. It is at the very heart of Ireland’s rich cultural reservoir, acting as a storeroom for Ireland’s traditions while continuing to produce new work at the cutting edge of Irish creativity.
It is open approximately 310 days of the year and attracted in excess of 86,000 people to its new performances, gallery exhibitions, film screenings and summer season in 2008.

Assuming a crossover of 20%, this means the organisations collectively cater for the entire population of Kerry on an annual basis