Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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80. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the level of success of Culture Night in Galway; and the plans for 2019 in relation to same. [39453/18]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Culture Night has grown from a relatively small scale cultural event staged only in Dublin in 2006 to the significant national cultural event it now is, with over 400,000 people visiting Museums, galleries, historic houses, artists’ studios and cultural centres across the country on the night. I myself was very impressed in my role as Minister at the variety of events which I was able to attend including reading poetry in the Seanad Chamber, exploring artists studios in Temple Bar and experiencing the crowds attending the RTÉ concert at the National Museum in Collins Barracks.

In 2017, 43 locations towns and cities across the island of Ireland participated in Culture Night, holding over 3,000 events with an attendance of 439,919. Events are run in partnership with local authorities.

Events were also held throughout Northern Ireland and in Paris and Malta.

Statistics are still being collated for 2018 but we are expecting over 4,000 events to have taken place. In 2017, Galway hosted 161 events in 122 venues and welcomed over 27,000 visitors. I would expect the numbers in 2018 to have at least matched these figures.

In 2018, Galway City received the maximum available funding of €10,000 to assist with the cost of these events. Galway County also received funding of €9,500 for 2018. This funding is provided on a matched funding basis through the local authority. There is detail on all this expenditure on my Department's website.

I know that Galway has always been a place with a vibrant, active and devoted cultural community. Some of the innovative events in the Galway programme for 2018 included the Public Paint-in in Clifden, the Ciúnas Project at the City Museum highlighting quiet spaces in the city, Blacksmithing at the Men's Shed in the city and storytelling at the Irish Workhouse Centre in Portumna.

It should be noted that my Department has also allocated a further €322,000 to projects in the Galway area through my Department's Creative Ireland programme in 2017 and 2018 including Barbaro Children's Arts Festival, Ealaín na Gaeltachta and for activities in Cruinniú na nÓg.

My Department will continue to support cultural activity in Galway in the coming years not least as part of the European City of Culture in 2020 to which my Department will contribute €15m.