Festival Archive 2017

The inaugural Culture Date with Dublin 8 took place on Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th May 2017. It is a new neighbourhood initiative which brings together a series of free family-friendly events, activities, workshops, guided tours and more in a weekend-long celebration of the cultural and historical life of Dublin 8.

Culture Date with Dublin 8 was officially launched in April 2017 in Richmond Barracks, with special guests Frank McNally, Jim Roche, St James' Brass Band and local school children from Our Lady of Lourdes National School Goldenbridge and Inchicore.

Highlights of the Culture Date with Dublin 8 2017 programme included;

• An outdoor concert to launch the re-opening of Goldenbridge Cemetery to its former glory. The reopening featured performances by the St. James’s Band and Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann.
  
• The launch of Assembly, a touring installation from In Flanders Fields Museum, at Richmond Barracks, accompanied by a sound art installation remembering the 40,000 Irish people who died during the First World War.
  
• Bespoke guided tours of Kilmainham Gaol, including ‘Women of the Gaol’ , ‘Alternative Kilmainham and Turas trí Ghaeilge.
  
• Exclusive guided tours of IMMA’s landmark exhibitions 'As Above, So Below: Portals, Visions, Spirits & Mystics', a creative family workshop, an Open Studio visit with IMMA artist-in-residence Bharti Parmar and free entry to all of their exhibits for the duration of the weekend, as well as self-directed tours of their medicinal gardens.
  
• Guided Tours of the Irish National War Memorial Gardens and the Book Rooms
  
• Guided Tours of the Magazine Fort in The Phoenix Park
  
• Pat Liddy's Walking Tours of Dublin exploring the historical and cultural significance of Kilmainham and Inchicore

Goldenbridge Cemetery was reopened for the first time in nearly 150 years for the inaugural Culture Date with Dublin 8 May weekend in 2017. A concert was hosted to launch the re-opening of Goldenbridge Cemetery to its former glory.

The re-opening ceremony featured performances by the St. James’s Band and Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, and a re-enactment of Daniel O Connell's founding speech by actor Jim Roche.

Founded in 1828 by Daniel O’Connell, Goldenbridge Cemetery was the first of its kind in Ireland, a garden cemetery that took inspiration from the famous Pére Lachaise Cemetery in Paris and a non-denominational cemetery that welcomed those of all religions and none in the wake of the Penal Laws. Goldenbridge Cemetery is operated and managed by Dublin Cemeteries Trust.