Culture Night (Oíche Chultúir) takes place on Friday 18 September 2026. It's the annual nationwide evening of free arts and culture events, and this year County Wicklow has more than 50 of them — concerts, workshops, walks and performances. Everything is free, though a few of the workshops need to be booked in advance.
Best of all for us, several are a short walk or drive from the estate in Wicklow Town itself.
In Wicklow Town
Wicklow Library, The Mall is the busiest spot of the evening, running straight through from teatime:
- 4pm–5pm — Mike Nielsen Jazz Music. Mike Nielsen and friends playing jazz. No booking, all ages.
- 5pm–8pm — Beginners linocut workshop with Terry Lawless. Design, carve, ink and print your own lino block and take the print home. No experience needed — bring a postcard-sized image to work from, everything else is provided. Booking required, 18+: email wicklib@wicklowcoco.ie.
- 6pm–6.45pm — Hugh Browne. Traditional music. No booking, all ages.
- 7pm–9pm — Pop-up printmaking in the library's third-floor Gallery space (see below).
Pop-up printmaking, 7pm–9pm — Wicklow Creative Cooperative are running drop-in printmaking at three spots around town on the night, no booking needed and suitable for all ages (under-16s with an adult). You get an introduction to inking up and printing, and take away prints of Wicklow landmarks and seaside scenes. The venues:
- The Great Eastern Brewery, South Quay (the yard is wheelchair accessible)
- Nick's Coffee Shop, Main Street
- The Gallery, third floor of Wicklow Library
Botanical watercolour painting, 5pm–7pm — Bloomin' Plants Garden Centre, Abbey Street. A relaxed evening of drawing and watercolour among the plants, guided by a local artist. All materials provided. Booking required, 18+ via lucycollismalone.com.
Youth breaking jam and dance, 4.30pm–7.30pm — Wicklow Youth Resource Centre, St Patrick's Road. A beginners' breaking (breakdance) jam for ages 7 to teens from 4.30pm to 6pm, then an informal sharing by FYI Youth Dance Company, FYI Dance Crew and the Wheelie Good Dance Group from 6.30pm to 7.30pm. Free, no booking, and the public are welcome just to come and watch.
Worth the drive
If you fancy going a bit further afield, a few of the bigger county events:
- Stories & Rhythms, The Whale Theatre, Greystones — youth theatre, community heritage performance and live music, 4.30pm–10pm.
- An Evening of Jazz with Mike Nielsen, Greystones Library, 6.30pm–7.30pm — and a Joyful Stitching intergenerational textile workshop there from 4pm–6pm.
- Oíche Scoraíochta, St Matthew's Church, Newtownmountkennedy, 8pm–10pm — an evening of music and song in Irish and English.
- Avonbeg River Walk, Glenmalure Valley, 6pm–8pm — river ecology with ecologist Faith Wilson and poetry with Jane Clarke.
- Circus Fergus (5.10pm) and a Rambling House trad session (8pm) at the Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray.
What this means for you
If you want to do one of the workshops — the linocut at Wicklow Library or the watercolour at Bloomin' Plants — book now, as places are limited and they're the ones that fill up. Everything else in town is drop-in, so you can wander between the library, Main Street and South Quay across the evening without planning much at all.
The full county listing, with times and booking links for all 50-plus events, is at culturenight.ie/wicklow.
Source: Wicklow County Council, 19 August 2026 and the Culture Night Wicklow listings. Times and venues can change — check the official listing before heading out.