It's an annual affair in Europe but a first for Dublin: leading museums and galleries will stay open late into the night this Friday. Brian Boyd looks forward to a cultural evening on 'White Night.'

Nothing is really nine to five any more, but sometimes it seems big cultural organisations are slow in adapting to changing lifestyles. With the exception of the performing arts, a lot of this country's most important artistic institutions are only open when people are working. There's a move under way to change this and Dublin Culture Night, which will take place on Friday, will see the city's leading museums, galleries and studios throw open their doors until late in the night. There will be 40 different events with everything free - even your transport.

In continental Europe these late-opening cultural evenings are known as "White Nights" because of all the lights left on in the different buildings. They have proved to be very successful, and now annual, affairs in Paris, Brussels and Copenhagen, and it was in the latter city that Dermot McLaughlin, the chief executive of Temple Bar Cultural Trust (TBCT) had his eyes opened to just how appealing the idea of cultural White Nights could be.

"Having seen how Copenhagen approached the idea, I immediately thought it could work really well for Dublin," he says. "The event virtually took over the whole city and the people there really got behind it. Most everything associated with the arts was open until late at night and there was a real buzz about it. I found it very welcoming and very easy to make my way around.

The tourism agencies got involved and really promoted it and it wasn't just a case of buildings staying open later than usual, you also had places that had never opened before that were accessible. This would have been areas like workshops and studios. For example, a ceramic artist who usually sells work in a shop would open up their studio and explain how they worked with their material and what was involved."

McLaughlin was impressed at how they used their venues. "They put a lot of their spaces to unusual or different purposes," he says. "You would have a church being used for a poetry reading, or a performance by a jazz ensemble or for a painting and drawing class. These things really attracted people in, and other venues had wine or cheese parties or other social type events. It was all very easy and friendly and made a big impression. Everyone, it seemed, was trying something different and showing familiar cultural venues in a new light."

While Dublin Culture Night is by no means restricted to the Temple Bar area, McLaughlin hopes that the night will question some widely held assumptions about the city's cultural quarter. "Pubs are in the minority in Temple Bar compared to the amount of arts organisations, and what we're trying to do here is really highlight the non-pub culture in the area. If we can bring people in on the night and show them what actually happens in the area, hopefully we can help change the perception of the place."

The Culture Night has the backing of the Government - Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, John O'Donoghue officially launched the scheme - and McLaughlin is keen to point out that the idea is civic rather than commercial. "This is not about having longer hours to spend, it's about going after those people who don't normally get a chance to participate in what is going on in the area. People's working lives have changed and that has to be reflected. This coincides with Temple Bar's 15th anniversary as Dublin's Cultural Quarter and we hope it will show that the Temple Bar project has a relevance that goes beyond the area of Temple Bar. This is about trying to pull people together and show them the incredible amount of culture and heritage that we all collectively own."

As well as existing events: the Monet exhibition in the Hugh Lane Gallery, "Bog Bodies" in the National Museum, the Yeats exhibition at the National Gallery and "A Tribute To The Ryder Cup" in Collins Barracks - all of which will be open until 9pm on Friday, there will be a number of special events including a talk about the Abbey Theatre's history ("with and without the bloodbath"), a series of late-night rock gigs in Temple Bar, and a "Morphaton" kids' animation workshop in Filmbase. In addition, the Graphic Studio Gallery will host hand-print demonstrations, the Original Print Gallery promises "surprises", the Irish Film Institute will be showing a surprise film from its archives, the City Hall will be showing a multimedia exhibition, and Imma have a live performance by artist Anne Seagrave.

To help you on your way, TBCT have developed three suggested routes around the city to help guide people to the various locations with ease. Route One includes Farmleigh, Imma, the Chester Beatty library, Dublin Castle and the City Hall. Route Two suggests the Hugh Lane Gallery, The Lab and the Abbey Theatre, and Route Three features The National Archives, the National Museum of Ireland - Archaeology, The Design Tower, Access To Arts Gallery and the Green On Red Gallery.

The Office of Public Works are also involved and will be providing a free shuttle bus service between different venues.

The buses will travel between Dublin Castle, Imma, Farmleigh, Collins Barracks and back to Dublin Castle. The first bus will leave Dublin Castle at 6pm and there will be pick-up/drop-off points at each venue. The last scheduled pick up from Imma is at 8.45pm, from Collins Barracks at 9pm and Farmleigh at 9.45pm.

It is hoped that the Culture Night will become a more regular happening and will become a real tourist feature for the city. McLaughlin feels that the event could have far-reaching effects and not just for audiences.

"What I would really like to see is how people involved with the arts respond to this and how it might shift their perception of how they look at their audiences, how they cater to their audiences, not just in terms of opening hours, but in terms of developing a customer focus. I think everyone has something to learn from this, but most of all I hope people do get involved and celebrate this. And it would be great for places such as Cork and Galway to follow suit."

Full details of Dublin's Culture Night (Fri, Sept 22) are available at www.templebar.ie/ culturenight. The Temple Bar Cultural Information Centre on 12 Essex Street, Dublin 2, 01-6772255, will be open until 10pm