Culture Night Tralee Launches Programme Guide

Culture Night Tralee is certainly shaping up to be a fantastic night. Taking place on September 25th the organizers have put together a stellar mix of artistic and cultural events which will kick off with Dancing the Street, an attempt on the Guinness World Record for Largest Irish Dance ever. That, however, promises only to be the beginning of a wonderful evening's entertainment with more than twenty other events programmed for the night, all of which are family oriented and fun with the added bonus that the vast majority of them are absolutely free! The organizers have just announced the launch of the programme guide which details all the fun and exciting events taking place. It's available from Siamsa Tíre or can be downloaded from the web.

"We're absolutely delighted with how the programme guide turned out. We'd love if everyone in Tralee popped down to Siamsa to pick up a copy, because Culture Night is for everyone," said Collette Haverty, Producer of Culture Night Tralee, which is a joint venture between Kerry County Museum, Samhlaiocht and Siamsa Tíre, the leading cultural and artistic organisations in Kerry. "We think the programme guide does credit to all the events that are taking place. And we're sure that people will have a fantastic night. We'd encourage everyone to pick up a programme, it's a wonderful way to plan an evening's free entertainment."

Highlights of the night include the premier of a new dance show from San Francisco, Rithm Rhythm, which is a collaboration between the renowned Printz Dance Project, one of America's most exciting dance companies, and Siamsa Tíre.

"We're also delighted to announce that Senator Mark Daly will MC the event, he's a complete character and appeared on the Treasure Island reality TV show," added Collette. "He'll definitely bring a lot to the main event - Dancing the Street."

Dancing the Street promises to be one of the highlights of the evening, while offering people the chance to return home as World Champions. Culture Night Tralee has taken on the ambitious task of beating the Guinness World Record for the largest Irish dance ever, a record which is currently held by a town called Dublin in Ohio in the USA.

"We think it's time that the record returned home," laughed Collette. "And it doesn't matter if people don't know how to do the Irish dance we'll have Dance buddies placed all along Denny Street to help people do the step."

Dancing the Street will take place on Denny Street, beginning at 6:30pm on the evening of Friday, September 25th. There will be a stage set up outside the Ashe Memorial Hall and there will be face painters, stilt walkers and street entertainers on hand to keep the crowd entertained while the countdown to the big event takes place.

And with events ranging from Basket Weaving to free film screenings by way of traditional music and live bands after Dancing the Street, there's something for everyone at Culture Night Tralee.

Programme Guides can be picked up from Siamsa Tíre or downloaded from the website www.culturetralee.com For more information please contact Collette Haverty on 066 712 3055 or by email at culturetralee@ymail.com

For more information on Kerry County Museum please log onto www.kerrymuseum.ie

For more information on Samhlaiocht please log on to www.samhlaiocht.com

For more information on Siamsa Tire please log onto www.siamsatire.com

Mordern Art Platform presents PILOT in Ballybunion

PILOT the debut exhibition of MODERN ART PLATFORM in Kerry will be opening on September 11th at 8pm. The show will be used to gauge the demand for a contemporary art gallery in Ballybunnion, based on attendance, sales and general feedback. The show will run until September 25th. MODERN ART PLATFORM is located on Ahafona Cross in Ballybunion.

The show will feature work from a number of local and international artists including Brendan Butler and Conrado de Velasco.

Brendan Butler attended the Crawford College of Art and Design, graduating in 2001. He has been working as a professional Artist ever since, exhibiting his work at both solo and group exhibitions. Brendan's work is part of The Cork Opera House Collection as well as forming an integral part of many other state collections. His work is also part of several Irish and international private collections.

Conrado de Velasco's work inhabits the spaces where art, design and technology intersect. His career crosses the whole range of disciplines - graphic design, photography, sculpture, industrial design, visual merchandising, illustration, motion graphics and electronic arts. He believes the future of art lies in the volatile mix of technology and ideas. Conrado de Velasco was born in Manila and presently divides his time between Ireland and the Philippines.

For more information please email the gallery modernartplatform@hotmail.com

Guinness World Record Attempt in Tralee

Though the summer has been a bit of a wash out, the autumn is looking decidedly brighter with Kerry County Museum, Samhlaiocht and Siamsa Tire, the leading artistic and cultural organisations in Kerry partnering to bring Culture Night to Tralee. The partners have just announced a tantalising line-up of events for Culture Night Tralee, which will take place on September 25th as part of the National Culture Night celebrations.

Top of the bill is an event called 'Dancing The Street' which is an attempt at the Guinness World Record for the largest Irish Dance ever, which will kick off at 6:30 pm on Denny Street in the heart of Tralee.

"We wanted to put on an event that was fun, free and family-friendly and Karl and Jonathan at Siamsa came up with the idea of attempting to break the Guinness World Record for largest Irish Dance ever," said Jason O' Mahony, Director of Samhlaiocht.

"Yeah, but I didn't realize we'd need more than 10,000 people when we came up with the idea," laughed Karl Wallace, Director of Siamsa Tire, the National Folk Theatre of Ireland, which is located in Tralee.

Helen O' Carroll, Director of Kerry Museum, concurs, "We thought we would only need about two or three thousand people but when we did a little research we were blown away by the number of people required."

But in true Kerry style they decided to go ahead with it anyway!

Dancing The Street, is just the centerpiece of Tralee's stellar line-up of events, however, with more than 20 other events taking place. The leading arts and cultural organisations of the town have all chipped in, opening their doors until 11pm to give the citizens of Tralee and beyond a chance to experience the cultural delights of the town.

The idea behind Culture Night follows the success of Ireland's first Culture Night which took place in Dublin and 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.

"We were absolutely thrilled to be invited to take part," said Karl Wallace, Director of Siamsa. "Tralee is a fantastic town and we're achieved a critical mass of artistic and cultural organisations and to be invited to take part in a national event like this is an honour for us and for Tralee."

"We really wanted to do something spectacular," added Jason O' Mahony, "and Dancing The Street will certainly be spectacular!"

Highlights promise to include the Irish Premiere of Rithim Rhythm, a dynamic collaboration between one of America's most exciting dance companies, Printz Dance Project, and Siamsa Tire, the National Folk Theatre of Ireland. It's a heavy mix of traditional and contemporary dance, Rithim Rhythm is crammed with Irish step, beat boxing and funky moves.

The line up other events has something for everyone and the vast majority are either completely free or offer a large number of free tickets to the public.

And with Street Entertainment, stilt walkers, face painters and more Culture Night Tralee is bound to offer something for everyone.

For more information on Culture Night and a complete listing of events please log onto www.culturetralee.com

For more information on Kerry County Museum please log onto www.kerrymuseum.ie

For more information on Samhlaiocht please log on to www.samhlaiocht.com

For more information on Siamsa Tire please log onto www.siamsatire.com