The Organiser Toolkit is a resource aimed at all those who regularly participate in Culture Night (artists, event organisers & venues) and is designed to provide useful information on everything involved in producing work for Culture Night.
This toolkit will be updated regularly with new information.
Organiser toolkit
Organiser toolkit
The Culture Night IP Agreement ensures that we have the rights to use each image uploaded to the website in relation to events.
For more details on how the process works please see The IP Agreement – The Process Explained
In 2025, The Arts Council is hosting a series of Capacity Building webinars aimed at Irish arts or civil society organisations preparing to apply to Creative Europe for the European Cooperation Projects call.
This series of webinars will also include useful information on the priority areas of Diversity & Inclusion, Sustainability, Fair Remuneration & Paying the Artist, and building effective Communication and Dissemination Strategies.
Information on the webinars in the series can be found here.
Webinar 1 Video: Diversity and Inclusion with Leon Diop, Head of EDI at the Arts Council.
EDI (Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) fosters a welcoming and respectful environment for all participants, regardless of their background, gender, race, or identity. Incorporating EDI when planning an event ensures that diverse voices are heard and represented, which leads to more engaging, innovative, and enriching experiences for everyone involved. It also helps organisations build stronger relationships with attendees, partners, and communities by demonstrating commitment to fairness and social responsibility.
Useful information when planning an inclusive event:
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion recording, presentations and resources (with Padraig Naughton, Executive Director, Arts & Disability Ireland and Dr Suha Shakkour-Donadio, head of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion with The Arts Council).
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion with Francesca La Morgia of Mother Tongues
2021 – Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in Culture Night Programming
Accessibility considerations when organising a Culture Night event | |
Plain English Guidelines at a glance | |
The Arts Council Equality Diversity and Inclusion Toolkit | |
The Arts Council Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Policy | |
Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) – The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission guides and tools to embed human rights and equality in business and organisations. | |
The Arts Council: Cultural Diversity and the Arts, Language and Meanings | |
Public Participation Networks is a network that allows local authorities to connect with community groups around the country. The PPN is the ‘go to’ for all local authorities who wish to benefit from community and voluntary expertise in their area. |
EDI – Race:
Working in Intercultural contexts – Guide for Local Authorities and Cultural providers | |
Irish Network Against Racism (INAR) – useful information for those who want to learn more about racism in Ireland | |
Race Forward, the centre for racial justice innovation has just published a race reporting guide with useful terminology. |
EDI – Sexual Orientation:
LGBT Ireland is a national organisation providing support, training, and advocacy which aims to improve the lives of LGBT+ people across Ireland. |
EDI – Membership of the Traveller community:
Pavee Point Traveller & Roma Centre is a national non-governmental organisation of Travellers, Roma and members of the majority population working in partnership at national, regional, local and international levels. |
EDI – Gender:
The National Women’s Council – the leading national representative organisation for women and women’s groups in Ireland. | |
Amplify Women, an umbrella group of organisations that represents, works with or carries out research about women working in the cultural and media industries, produced the following toolkit for dealing with harassment and bullying in the workplace | |
TENI (Transgender Equality Network Ireland) – engages in activities that promote the equality and well-being of trans people in Ireland and work nationally in four main areas: healthcare, employment, education and legislation. |
EDI – Socioeconomic Disadvantage:
Department of Social Protection Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020–2025 Ambition, Goals and Commitment |
EDI & Communication:
Centre for Excellence in Universal Design – Customer Communications Toolkit for Services to the Public | |
WCAG / W3C’s Accessibility Principles (image descriptions, alt text, captions, etc) | |
Hootsuite article on inclusive social media | |
Example of Access page on National Gallery of Ireland | |
Example of an Access page on Battersea Arts Centre’s website | |
Edinburgh Fringe Festival Access page on their website |
Access services & training:
Digital training for captions & subtitling by Stagetext | |
Future Learn, Audio Description Training | |
As I Am guidance on Relaxation Rooms |
Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media: Creative Arts: Grants and Funding
Reasonable Accommodation Fund
Under the Reasonable Accommodation Fund, the Department of Social Protection can help employers and employees with a disability through the following grants:
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ADI Current & Past Programmes supporting artists with disabilities
Arts + Disability Connect scheme | ||
Fire Station Artists’ Studios & Arts and Disability Ireland | ||
ADI’s Curated Space | ||
Realise Production Award by ADI & Project Arts Centre | ||
How to livestream on Instagram
How to use Actionbound – an app for playing digitally interactive scavanger hunts or trails and leading your audience on a path of discovery using their smartphones or tablets.
Communications strategy from The Hive PR Agency
CapCut for Beginners – CapCut is a FREE video editing app that allows users to create, edit, and share videos. It’s available on mobile devices and is popular for its user-friendly interface and powerful editing tools. CapCut offers features such as trimming, cutting, adding music, effects, transitions, text, and filters, making it a favorite choice for casual video creators.
GDPR & IP, With Communications and Marketing recording.
Photography Copyright & Data Protection recording & presentation (With Maureen Daly of Beauchamps Corporate Law)
GDPR & IP, Marketing & Comms: Social Media, Lorg
Lorg Media Blog – The Ultimate Guide to Festival Marketing
2021 – Marketing and Communications
The Green Arts Initiative in Ireland is an extension of the Green Arts Initiative operated by Creative Carbon Scotland and aims to provide Irish arts organizations with the resources and support needed to help build a sustainable Irish arts community. Run by Performing Arts Forum and Catríona Fallon, under the guidance of Creative Carbon Scotland, the Green Arts Initiative in Ireland aims to:
- Support members with practical advice on reducing their carbon footprint and overall environmental impact.
- Provide members with opportunities to enhance their sustainability competencies through training and networking.
- Collect information about what members are doing to enhance their sustainability.
Visit the Green Arts resources page HERE for resources, guides, and toolkits for arts organisations and artists who want to play a role in addressing the climate crisis.
For more information email info@performingartsforum.ie
Fáilte Ireland : Sustainable Festivals Guidelines 2023
Sustainability & Climate Webinar
Digital Footprint Resources
Sustainabile Event Management
Useful Arts Council Webinars:
Climate Action Training Content Programming and Communications
Volunteering Ireland Inclusive Volunteering toolkit: This toolkit aims to provide you with information on general aspects of inclusive volunteering and recommendations for volunteer leaders on how to work with various groups.
Volunteer Ireland How To Guides
Volunteer Impact Assessment Toolkit
2021 Webinar – Volunteering
The Arts Council: Pathways 2021 – Critical conversations with festival makers and their stakeholders
2024 Arts Insights Survey – what genres were most attended in what areas of the country?
Hear from a Culture Night Late 2024 Awardee on the benefits of the scheme
2022 – Late Night Events
Increasing Access for Culture Night Webinar Recording
Accessibility Webinar 2024 with Project Arts Centre Recording
Read Accessibility Guidelines here
Presentation Slides on Accessibility
2026 Presentation Slides on Accessibility
Disability Resources:
Arts and Disability Ireland (ADI) is the national development and resource organisation for arts and disability | |
Universal Design Walkability Audit Tool | |
Building for Everyone a Universal Design Approach | |
Customer Communications Toolkit for services to the public | |
Shift in Perspective | |
Thinking About Arts and Disability | |
Find out more about audiences with disabilities and how they engage with the arts by reading The Going Out Survey by ADI | |
Information on access services on ADI’s website | |
Knowbility’s Handbook of Digital Accessibility Resources, from ADI’s Summit workshop series | |
Transcript of Web Accessibility – Learning from Each Other by Knowbility, from ADI’s Summit workshop series | |
Presentations and Transcript from National Gallery’s ‘Every Type of Access’ Workshop for ADI’s Summit workshop series | |
Access into Action ADI’s webinar series – Subtitling Online Content | |
Access into Action ADI’s webinar series – Writing Accessible Introductions | |
National Disability Authority – resources and online Accessibility Toolkit with advice on how to provide a good service to customers with disabilities, and how to make information more accessible. | |
Centre for Excellence in Universal Design provides information on the built environment, products and services, and technology | |
As I Am, Adam Harris leads Irish advocacy charity for Autism | |
Disability Federation of Ireland | |
National Council for the Blind | |
Fighting Blindness | |
Irish Deaf Society | |
Chime (hearing impairment) | |
Inclusion Ireland | |
Irish Wheelchair Association | |
MyClearText, Ireland based captioning and speech to text services | |
StageText, UK based captioning and speech to text services | |
VocalEyes, UK based audio description for Theatres, Museums and galleries |
As in previous years there was a series of commissioned Culture night webinars focusing on a variety of topics useful to those organising and coordinating Culture Night events.
May 1, 2025 Culture Night Open Call Webinar – An information session for new event organisers: Recording & Presentations
May 13, 2025: Culture Night Information and Insights webinar:
June 10, 2025: Open call Webinar
June 24th, 2025: Webinar 2, EDI & Accessibility: Recording and Presentations
July 8th, 2025: Sustainability and Climate: Presentations
July 22nd, 2025: Webinar 4, Audience development and Marketing: Recording and Presentations