Wide range of events on Culture Night had Carlow buzzing
The launch of the 'Bittersweet' podcast drew a big crowd on Culture Night
CARLOW was abuzz last Friday, 18 September, when more than 35 free events took place throughout the county for Culture Night.
The recently-opened café and bookshop Leabhair Agus Latté hosted , which saw the Carlow Ukulele Players perform trad music.
“It was just beautiful,” said Aileen Nolan, Carlow Co Council’s arts officer. “People came across the event who may not have known it was on and they had just popped in to buy a book, but there were people singing and playing the ukulele.”
There was also live music at Visual as The Carole Nelson Trio performed for those attending the official opening of the new theatre gallery.
“The trio played in the bar among the artwork,” said Clare Breen, curator of learning at Visual. “They played all original music that they had written.”
The new gallery is reserved for local artists only, with Mary Cullen Kelly being the first artist to exhibit there. “Mary is a well-known painter who lives in Carlow,” explained Clare. “210 people attended the opening and Mary’s exhibition is called .”
The art in the gallery will change every season, which will give lots of local artists the chance to exhibit. Artists can apply to Visual for the chance to see their work exhibited. Those who are successful in having their work shown are entitled to an artist’s fee from Visual to support their work.
According to Clare, there was a lot of goodwill for Mary at the launch because, alongside her art, she has worked with the disabled community in Carlow for years.
“The opening was buzzing,” Clare said. “It was really busy.”
Likewise, across town Paul Doogue described the launch of a podcast about the history of Carlow Sugar Factory in Carlow County Museum as having a “fantastic turnout” and being a great event.
The podcast is called and is hosted by local photographer, writer and filmmaker Marc-Ivan O’Gorman. For the podcast, Marc-Ivan conducted several interviews with people who worked in the factory, from workers on the factory floor to upper management and then edited it together for the podcast.
