Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny is a cultural centre located in Letterkenny, County Donegal, Ireland. The centre is located behind

An Grianán Theatre An Grianán Theatre () is the largest theatre in County Donegal. Located in Letterkenny's Port Road district, its current director is Patricia McBride. With a seating capacity of 383, the theatre provides a range of programming including drama, c ...

on the Port Road in the town and is the leading cultural centre in north-west Ireland. It has been described as a cultural beacon by ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'' second only to Kilkenny City.

Opening

The centre opened on 9 July 2007. It was officially opened over one year later on 13 July 2008 by the

Tánaiste The Tánaiste ( , ) is the second-ranking member of the government of Ireland and the holder of its second-most senior office. It is the equivalent of the deputy prime minister in other parliamentary systems. The Tánaiste is appointed by the P ...

, Mary Coughlan and fellow Donegal native and Fíanna Fáil chief whip Claire Sharkey. She stressed how important the centre is for the region. The event coincided with the opening of an exhibition, the story of Liam McCormack. Former Northern Ireland politician

John Hume John Hume (18 January 19373 August 2020) was an Irish nationalist politician in Northern Ireland and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. A founder and leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, Hume served in the Parliament of Northern Irel ...

opened the exhibition.

Construction

The flagship facility cost 5 million Euro and was designed by the award-winning Letterkenny based Mac Gabhann Architects, who also designed the Letterkenny Town Council offices, and is situated on the site of the old council offices.

Facilities

The centre features a first-floor exhibition gallery and a ground-floor auditorium with a standing capacity of 250 and 150 retractable seats and cinema facilities. There are also three workshop spaces on ground level with dance and drama floors located on the first floor, two dedicated digital media suites and two foyer art galleries.

Past exhibitions

A Regional Cultural Centre curate and host many exhibitions each year including: * Painting In The Noughties - Featuring Sean Scully, Jason Martin, Ian Davenport, Howard Hodgkin, Cecily Brown and Peter Davis amongst others. * Wild Geese – The Irish In America - An exhibition that celebrated the creativity of immigrant sons and daughters. * Deirdre Brennan - A collection of photographs by New York Times photographer Deirdre Brennan. * Open EV+A Open Award Winners - Featuring Eric Glavin, Tony Gunning, Eithna Joyce, Orla Keeshan and Susannah Vaughan. * The Great Southern Art Collection – Irish Art 1947 – 1974 - Featuring George Campbell, Norah McGuinness, Cecil King, Patrick Collins, Nano Reid, Patrick Scott, * Gerard Dillon, Anne Madden, Camille Souter, Arthur Armstrong and

Donald Teskey Donald Teskey (born 1956) is an Irish painter. He is a member of Aosdána. Early life Teskey was born in County Limerick in 1956. He grew up in Rathkeale and graduated from Limerick School of Art and Design in 1978. Career In 1981 he receiv ...

. * Centrefold – Ana Heinreich & Leon Palmer. * Sweet Dreams – Redmoon Theatre Group. * The House and The Tree - Eamon O'Kane. * Unknown Bown - Jane Brown. * The Picture is Still - Ann Hamilton, Marie Jo-Lafontaine, Philippe Parreno, Gillian Wearing and Gerardo Suter. * Liam McCormack – North By Northwest. * Diane Arbus. * James Fitzgerald (1899 to 1971). * Victor Vasarely (1906 – 1997). * The Táin – Louis Le Brocquy. * James Dixon. * Chilean Arpilleras. * Temperance – Abigail O’Brien. * Modernism, Activism, Bauhaus – Constructive Tendencies in Hungary 1910–1930. * Paul Rooney – Reflections in 4 Lights. * László Moholy-Nagy – A Lightplay Black White Gray. * Lovely Weather - Major three year collaboration with Leonardo / OLATS: Arts & Science Foundation. * Rockwell Kent – A retrospective. * Dispatches – Tim Page. * Noughties but Nice: 21st Century Irish Art - Featuring Tom Molloy, Andrew Kearney, John Shinnors, Aideen Barry and Seamus Nolan. * ID – Imaging Donegal * Seminal Sixties – Richard Hamilton. * Mhairi Sutherland - Arc of Fire. * this then – Locky Morris. * The Coercion of Substance – Samuel Walsh. * Altered Images Art & Disability Exhibition - Thomas Brezing, David Creedon, Alice Maher, Caroline McCarthy and Abigail O’Brien. * John Soffe – RCC Live 2007–2012. * Dermot Seymour.

Notable music performances

Many acts have performed at the centre including: *

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* Martin Taylor *

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* Liam Ó Maonlaí & Rónán Ó Snodaigh *

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* The Wilders * The Fox Hunt * Brian Finnegan and Aidan O'Rourke *

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* The Altered Hours * ZZZ's *

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* Wild Rocket *

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* Langhorne Slim & the Law *

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* The Capitol * Petunia & the Vipers *

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* National Consensus

Funding

The building of the centre was funded by The Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, The International Fund for Ireland,

Donegal County Council Donegal County Council () is the authority responsible for Local government in the Republic of Ireland, local government in County Donegal, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The ...

References

External links

Official website

Discover Ireland - Regional Cultural Centre

MacGabhann Architects' cultural centre in County Donegal turns up the volume

Damian Blake on the Centre
{{coord missing, County Donegal Arts centres in the Republic of Ireland Buildings and structures in Letterkenny Culture in Letterkenny