Sir, – The ongoing success of Culture Night is a credit to all involved. Your editorial (September 16th), however, is slightly misleading in its account of its genesis and origins. While references to Nuit Blanche in Paris are not entirely misplaced, they are somewhat misleading.
Culture Night's origins in 2006 were inspired by the Kulturnatten model in Copenhagen, which both myself and my colleagues in Temple Bar Cultural Trust, who founded Culture Night, attended in 2005 on the back of running open days and nights with the Temple Bar cultural organisations for many years.
Kulturnatten in Copenhagen preceded Nuit Blanche in Paris by almost 10 years, kicking off in 1992, as a cultural sector led initiative with little or no public funding. Nuit Blanche, on the other hand, was launched by the mayor of Paris with an investment of €1 million to fund a spectacular outdoor events programme.
In times of continued financial constraints for the cultural sector in Ireland, there are lessons that can be learned from Culture Night’s modest beginnings, relating to the value of taking a more collaborative approach to developing opportunities for the sector and pooling resources.
After all, look what 40 cultural organisations could make happen in 2006 with an initial investment of only €20,000 from the government! – Yours, etc,
GRÁINNE MILLAR,
GM Innovations,
Auburn Road,
Dún Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.