Kilkenny

Join us for unique Cultural Night festival of self-directed workshops and activities for all ages both online and in person. We will provide the craft materials and self-directed family fun activities for all ages. Just bring along your picnic blankets, cushions & imagination. The main outdoor location for our self-directed activities will take place on the grounds of Kilkenny Castle. Inspired by the work of Fiona Mulholland, we will have safe socially distanced lawn markings for small groups of families & friends, to gather and enjoy a day of exploration and creativity. This year we have partnered with the Kilkenny Arts Office and the Office of Public Works to deliver our Culture Night programme.

Our Culture Night activities are primarily inspired by our Connected exhibition but our offering also includes existing modes of online engagement that help to contextualise our current Generation exhibition and to encourage participation in our public engagement Narrative Tools project. We are offering virtual exhibition experiences, and interesting content for you to engage with, you will find useful links on this website page (https://www.ndcg.ie/learn/culture-night). Our online content includes virtual tours, makers interviews, family fun activities, an exhibition blog and much more. We are preparing self-directed activities as part of our Connected exhibition sculpture trail. All self-directed activities will be downloadable from this website shortly.

CULTURE NIGHT PROGRAMME 2020

Self-directed Learning Experiences
Senses Trail
Connect with your surroundings. Our Senses trail invites children and their adults to explore & connect with nature through sound, smell and touch. We will provide you with an activity sheet available from our gallery, or downloadable via our website. Please refer to our activities sheet for a list of materials you can use to help you explore using your senses.

Connected Exhibition Sculptural Trail Map with Drawing Activity & Quiz
The National Design and Craft Gallery (NDCG) sculpture trail map contains information, maps & images of sculptures as part of the NDCG Connected external exhibition. It includes a mixture of existing sculptures found throughout Kilkenny city, alongside more recent sculptures by invited guest exhibitors.  We have also included drawing activities & a quiz to encourage people of all ages to explore what you see during your trail. Rediscover our city through fresh eyes!

Record Your Own Soundscape
Identify the characteristics of your location through sound. Our soundscape activity sheet encourages you to stop for a moment, listen, and immerse yourself into the acoustic environment. We have included a range of suggested approaches to record your soundscapes, be them urban, rural, natural or human-centred. We invite you to submit your soundscape recording including your name, a brief description & context of your location. Submissions will be uploaded to our dedicated culture night webpage. Email events@ndcg.ie.

Weave a Star – One Million Stars Project
One Million Stars’ at the Medieval Mile Museum is a project born from the Amber Women’s Refuge to raise awareness of domestic violence. This Kilkenny One Million Stars Project is the first of its kind in Ireland. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 crisis has meant that the many community star weaving gatherings have been cancelled. Please help to contribute to this project by waving your own star. We have links to online tutorials and have an activates sheet with a materials pack for you to work with on the day. The more star weavers mean more stars which will influence the impact of the final exhibition in Kilkenny in November/ December 2020. Download here shortly

Narrative Tools Project

We would love to hear stories and see photographs of tools and craft items you received. Narrative Tools is an online and postal intergenerational project hosted by the National Design & Craft Gallery (NDCG) with visual artist Caroline Schofield. We invite you to send a photograph of a treasured handed-down tool or inherited hand-made item and tell NDCG why it is important to you. We advise to photograph or scan your items on a plain white or non-patterned background at a high quality. Email your submission to events@ndcg.ie or post to: Narrative Tools project, National Design & Craft Gallery, Castle Yard, Kilkenny. Include your name, photograph(s) and brief image description. Penned narratives are also welcome (120 words max).

To celebrate craft connections, content submitted will be shared on ndcg.ie and NDCG’s Facebook and Instagram platforms (@NDCGallery). For more details click here

Generation Exhibition
In developing Generation exhibition as a virtual experience, we have shared much interesting content on ndcg.ie/learn, including Virtual Visits with curators Frances McDonald and Muireann Charleton, makers interviews and family activities section. NDCG Digital Library brings together videos, podcasts and articles on the Generation makers and their stories. You are welcome to engage with our new process videos by makers, as part a new initiative Get Ireland Making, led by Design & Crafts Council Ireland, supported by Creative Ireland and Healthy Ireland, which aims to share the skills of our talented craftspeople with communities across Ireland. Silversmith Cara Murphy demonstrates basse-taille enamelling technique, learnt from her mother Deirdre McCrory, while Hugo Byrne records the process of crafting a knife. More Generation makers videos will soon be available. For more details click here

Outdoor Workshop & Activities

Liz’s Mobile Discovery Studio
Friday 18 September 10am – 1pm & 2pm – 5pm
Join multi-disciplinary artist Liz Nilsson for process led site specific activities that investigate connections between, sense of place and belonging. Meeting place will be outside the Parade Tower at Kilkenny Castle. Participants are asked to bring along a notebook and sitting matt. Please wear comfortable outdoor clothing – art supplies included. This outdoor activity will be weather dependant, it is possible that we may need to use the Parade Tower Venue as an alternative premises on the day.

Places are limited to 10 participants per workshop. Suitable for Adults 18+. To register click here
Location: Kilkenny Castle Grounds & along the canal walk

Craft Hunt in The Rose Garden
Friday 18 September 4pm – 5pm
Join us at the castle park for a wonderful fun filled self-directed craft hunt created by visual artist & master of paper cutting, Paul Bokslag. To receive your Craft Hunt Map, pop over to our oudoor Culture Night welcome stand, located outside the Parade Tower. Suitable for the whole family!
Location: Kilkenny Castle Grounds
Map will be available for download shortly here

Designed as a sculpture trail throughout the city, CONNECTED allows audiences to re-connect with culture and craft outside of a gallery setting. The trail celebrates our collective solidarity, connectivity, resilience and creativity in a changed world.

The trail opens up heritage gardens and courtyards at the heart of Kilkenny, and encourages participants to rediscover the city through fresh eyes. Beginning from the courtyard of Castle Yard and the Butler House Gardens, you’ll walk through Kilkenny Castle Park, Medieval Mile, Butler Gallery at Evans’ Home, as well as taking in art at shopfronts, hotels and unexpected locations.

Produced by Design & Crafts Council Ireland with Kilkenny County Council, Kilkenny Arts Festival, Kilkenny Civic Trust, OPW, Butler Gallery, Kilkenny Tourism, Kilkenny Chamber of Commerce and local business owners.

Explore CONNECTED by strolling through the city locations, or from home through the virtual visit which will be available on the Culture Night website on the 18^th September.

Map and full details available on www.ndcg.ie/exhibitions/connected

Please be mindful of the opening hours for some of the exhibits:

Castle Park: 10am – 7pm

Butler Gardens: 1.30pm – 7pm (maximum capacity 50 people)

Medieval Mile: 11am – 9pm

Market Cross: 9am – 9pm

MacDonagh Junction: 9am – 9pm

Castle Yard:        10am – 9pm