The awesome nation-wide Culture Night is back on September 17 packed with unmissable events, and here’s just a handful of queer events to mark into your diary!

Out in the World: Ireland’s LGBTQ+ Diaspora – EPIC The Irish Immigration Museum

Across the generations, Irish LGBTQ+ people have emigrated to find opportunities to live and love openly. Yet this journey was rarely a simple transition from an oppressive island to a liberal wider world. Unfortunately, Irish LGBTQ+ emigrants often faced the same prejudice abroad which they had hoped to leave behind. Home, once a place of shame and silence, could also become a welcoming site of return.

This exhibition highlights 12 stories from the vast yet largely untold history of Ireland’s LGBTQ+ diaspora, across six themes – exclusion, community, love, defiance, solidarity, and return. The exhibition also features incredible artwork by award-winning Irish designer and multi-disciplinary artist Richard Malone.

Irish Names Quilt – CHQ

Queer Culture Ireland in association with Dublin Pride and EPIC have organised a display of the Irish Names Quilt created for all those lost too soon. There will be a filmed series of interviews with people talking about the history of the quilt, including the family of the dearly missed Mary Shannon, who was custodian until her sad passing, ACT UP member Noel Donnellon, Hannah Tiernan.

Tonie Walsh: LGBTQIA+ History Tour

Politically active since 1979, Tonie Walsh has been a witness to over forty years of extraordinary change in Ireland’s accommodation of its LGBTQIA+ citizens.

Join him on this self-guided tour as he time-travels through Dublin’s socio-cultural and political queer life, uncovering a history that has remained hidden for too long.

Reality Ends! – The Presentation Arts Centre

The Presentation Arts Centre and artist Kitsch Doom are excited to present a collaborative event celebrating performance, spoken word, experimental theatre and alternative drag performance with host Baroness Von Boomdea, Poppy De Scrace and The Disgraceful Cabaret alongside multimedia artist Kitsch Doom.

Kitsch is inspired by theories on gender, sociology, and post-humanism, Kitsch transforms themselves and volunteers into fictional characters through acting techniques such as improvisation and the Method. The performance will be a cabaret-style introduction to spoken word, experimental theatre and alternative drag performance with performers highlighting various aspects of their artform. This performance is suitable for any member of the community seeking to deepen their understanding of alternative cultures and subcultures.

This is merely the tip of the iceberg of queer happenings in store for Culture Night – make sure to check out the website for more updates!