An Evening of Ukrainian and Irish Culture at Strokestown Park House.

This will be a free informal event for our Ukrainian and local community in Strokestown to meet with an emphasis on sharing and comparing cultures. The event will be centred around art, music, food and history and will aim to show that while we have different art, music, food as people we all have the same common love of culture.

The event will take place in the Vaulted Stables Event Space and Yard. The centre-piece will be the opening of an exhibition of artwork by Olena Kovalevych, Strokestown Park’s Artist in Residence. Olena’s residence has been by Roscommon Co Co through a Creative Ireland Grant. Alongside Olena’s work will be show the work of her students, who have attended her art workshops this summer.

Also on display will be a special piece of work created for Culture Night by Olena and Strokestown Women’s Shed on the theme of ‘Community’. The event will also feature Ukrainian and Irish traditional musicians playing alongside each other in an informal trad session. Both of these elements of the programme are funded through an Arts Council Grant made available through Roscommon County Council.

The event will also include an opportunity for the informal swapping and sampling of food culture between Ukrainian and Irish participants and visitors with traditional cakes/breads etc. This is a continuation of Strokestown’s efforts to welcome and assist people from Ukraine living in this country during the current crisis.