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News, How we work | 30 September 2026
Culture Club Projects - making culture together
Culture Club Projects is a new programme that creates ways for people to make culture together, shaped by their ideas and interests.
We connect people and cultural places across Dublin City.
We connect people with artists, libraries, museums and cultural organisations across the city. Through workshops and activities within communities or at cultural venues, people can discover new interests, share different ideas, build connections and explore their own creativity.
How it works
Culture Club Projects further expands on our Culture Club programme to give individuals and community groups the opportunity to deepen their relationship with libraries, museums and cultural organisations through a period of longer-term engagement.
This could be through ‘hands-on’ workshops, tours that show different aspects of a collection, talks that explore a series of topics, or a combination of different activities. Through this, we open up new ways for people to access cultural activity more easily and confidently in order to develop their cultural habits.
We do this through activating the partnerships we have made through our Culture Club programme and the relationships we have built with community groups through our Tea & Chats workshops.
Through our Culture Club programme we have created, developed, and maintained partnerships with over 40 cultural institutions, spaces, and organisations. Culture Club Projects builds on these relationships to create stronger connections between communities and cultural organisations.
We start by listening to people. Through our Tea & Chats workshops and our other work with community groups, we learn about people's interests, what they would like to try out and any barriers they may face when accessing cultural activities.
We then work with a cultural partner to create a programme that responds to what we have heard. This might include ‘hands-on’ workshops, working with an artist, tours, talks or a combination of activities.
Our Engagement Coordinators support each project from start to finish. They coordinate the project, make sure activities are welcoming and accessible, support participants throughout the sessions and help build a stronger relationship between the community group and the cultural partner.
We also want these relationships to continue beyond the project. Through Culture Club Projects, communities and cultural organisations can discover new ways to work together and develop opportunities for people to continue taking part in cultural activities in the future.
What we have done so far
Last year, we connected four different community groups based in the Dublin 1 area, that we had previously met through Tea & Chats, with the Hugh Lane Gallery for a series of workshops. These workshops aimed to encourage local groups to build a deeper connection with a cultural place that is right on their doorstep. The groups that participated were HACE Men’s Group, Henrietta Street Senior Citizens Service, the New Communities Partnership’s Support Group for Ukrainian Mothers and families from Hill Street Family Resource Centre.
Here is what some of the participants and partners of Culture Club Projects had to say about these workshops:
I really like the atmosphere of the classes and its leader [...] She tells us the story of the artist, interesting facts from his life, and immerses us in the atmosphere of creativity. I like everything here in (the) Hugh Lane.
(the workshop was) a wonderful reminder of the power of art to connect and engage people.
Definitely the gallery will now be a go-to place for me to enjoy. There definitely is a place for the arts in wellness.
(I liked best) the opportunity to immerse yourself in the world of creativity, return to childhood. Warm calm atmosphere. It calms and distracts from reality.
This year, we further developed our partnership with the Hugh Lane Gallery to include groups based in Ballyfermot and Cherry Orchard. We collaborated to deliver responsive workshops to Smashing Barriers Disability Drama Group and St Matthews Family Resource Centre in the places they usually meet.
Alongside this, we’ve reconnected with the New Communities Partnership’s Support Group for Ukrainian Mothers after learning that they were looking to learn more about the process of making theatre. We took their ideas and ambitions to our partners in the Gate Theatre, where the community engagement team delivered a private tour and workshops that helped to start taking the play they had written from page to stage.
You really brought our characters to life. I have come out of that feeling so inspired.‐ Culture Club Projects participants
We also work with groups of individuals. We previously collaborated with Photo Museum Ireland to provide a series of workshops for people who had visited the museum through Culture Club, giving participants the opportunity to engage with the Museum on a deeper level while creating their own photographic artworks.
These examples show how specific, bespoke projects that are developed in response to what people tell us, can create new connections between people and cultural places. They give people the chance to explore their interests, meet others and build confidence in taking part in cultural activities.
We’re looking forward to connecting more groups with our cultural partners, and are currently developing upcoming projects with community groups and the Royal Hibernian Academy and the Chester Beatty.
How can my group or organisation be involved?
If you work for a cultural organisation and are interested in providing meaningful opportunities for communities to connect with your organisation and explore their creativity, get in touch with us here.