The After Hours at the Museum scheme is part of a broader Night-Time Economy initiative to support later openings in museums and galleries. Government funding for this is open to members of the Irish Museums Association and/or the Museums Standards Programme for Ireland. The scheme now also includes private galleries that are members of the Contemporary Art Gallery Association (CAGA). Forty-seven organisations across the country have been granted funding, with amounts of up to €8,000 each available to private galleries and regional cultural centres for after-hours events. This follows on from the successful pilot scheme, Dublin by Dusk, which supported late openings in six national cultural institutions.
Galleries have always performed an essential role in developing awareness, knowledge and an appreciation of the arts. Any move to draw a wider audience into the cultural net is to be welcomed.
After Hours at the Museum represents a dawning awareness of this contribution. The success of CAGA’s Dublin Gallery Weekend, which falls in November, demonstrates that a potential audience is certainly there and keen to engage. Official recognition of the vital contribution of galleries to the cultural texture of society and the nurturing of artistic talent and audiences is long overdue, so it is heartening to hear arts minister Patrick O’Donovan comment that ‘Museums and galleries are the cornerstones of our cultural life.’
Gallerists are receptive and positive to the new scheme. Jessica Taylor of Dublin’s Taylor Galleries says: ‘It makes so much sense. The initiative assists galleries in something we’ve been endeavouring to do for some time – diversifying and broadening our audiences.’
In Dublin, the designated After Hours evening is the last Thursday of the month. On that evening, participating galleries and museums will schedule events from 5pm and stay open until 9pm, with the aim of reaching an audience beyond habitual gallery visitors.
Aidan Dunne
