Nuacht
Nuacht | 31 Iúil 2025
Culture Club Workshops with Photo Museum Ireland
We work with our partners to deepen cultural engagement by making activities more openly accessible and approachable.
Through our Culture Club programme, we are continuously working with our network of partners to develop more ways for people to access culture easily.
Every month we provide opportunities to visit theatres, galleries, museums, and other cultural spaces. Our series of free talks, tours, and activities encourage lasting engagement with the cultural spaces of Dublin.
As Culture Club grows, we are collaborating with our partners on longer-term experiences that are focused on creating connections between them and participants, providing more ways to explore culture.
This year we invited a group of Culture Club participants to take part in three workshops with our partners in Photo Museum Ireland. These workshops provided the opportunity to learn more about photography from the Museum’s Learning and Development Manager, Darragh Shanahan, and get hands-on experience.
After being introduced to new photographic work through tours of the Museum’s exhibitions, the group then had direct access to Photo Museum Ireland’s darkroom facilities where they created a series of their own photographic artworks. From drawing on acetate and seeing how the light changed in the chemical baths, to taking the streets of Dublin with pinhole cameras and setting up their unique shots, participants were given the opportunity to try out their own ideas.
"I felt really special being part of this group and being brought to the exhibition. I also learned something, it was brilliant."
Through exploring their own creativity in this workshop series, the participants created a meaningful connection with Photo Museum Ireland. The exhibition tours gave insight into the artistic and curatorial process, while the darkroom sessions provided a welcoming and fun environment for them to fully explore the artform and develop their own creative skills.
"It was an interesting experience seeing art made from my photography, it felt like a collaboration. I'm stunned by how he used the techniques."
Participants in this workshop series came from different neighbourhoods across Dublin, and before joining expressed what culture meant to them: “a shared human experience”, “tradition and community”, “learning and connection”, “food for the soul”. Coming together each month for the workshop gave them the opportunity to connect personally and genuinely with each other and this cultural space in their city, fostering a sense of belonging through a new experience.
"I've never experienced being in a cultural space when it's closed and having the place to ourselves, I felt like a VIP!"
Culture Club aims to have a long-term impact on the cultural confidence of people in Dublin. Through our partnerships we create opportunities for people to step into a space comfortably, and leave feeling encouraged to come back again. This workshop series gave participants the time and tools to engage with the Museum on a deeper level, giving them a greater sense of what is on offer there.
"I'd definitely be more inclined to come back to the Museum now after this, and I'd really like to do something like this again."
We’re looking forward to continuing our partnership with Photo Museum Ireland as we work together to provide more opportunities for people to explore culture in new ways.
If you would like to find out more about this programme you can sign up to our Culture Club newsletter or book a Culture Club.