Dublin Event Guide 486: Hard Working Class Heroes Festival, Busker Fleadh, Fusion Sundays World Culture Market, Open House

A weekly car boot sale, one of less than a handful that is still reliably taking place, has up to 200 cars/sellers. The stadium is just a few minutes walk from the Red LUAS line stop and numerous bus stops. For traders the Car Boot Sale opens at 06:30 for buyers from 08:00. If you are interested in selling, check the details and register on their website.

Books Are My Bag is a nationwide campaign to celebrate bookshops in a collaboration between publishers, bookshops and authors to remind people of the pleasures of books and bookshops. 56% of all book-buying decisions are made by consumers in a bookshop, but we must continue to celebrate and shop in city street bookshops, if we don’t want them to disappear.

In previous years, some bookshops ran special “Books Are My Bag” events, but I wasn’t able to find a list of events this year.

The weekly Honest2goodness food market in Glasnevin has fresh meat, vegetables, fish, baked goods, and wines. It is open from 09:30-16:00. It is behind Lidl in the Industrial Estate just after the Glasnevin Cemetary coming from the City Centre.

Parkrun Ireland is organising free weekly runs in parks. It is a timed run over 5km and participation is completely free, but registration before your first parkrun is required.

A whole range of Parkruns take place every week (and if you know some more, please tell me):
+ Malahide Park, Dublin Road, Malahide, Co. Dublin
+ Cabinteely Park, Old Bray Road, Cabinteely, Dublin 18
+ Shanganagh Park, Shankill, Co. Dublin
+ Marlay Park, Grange Road, Rathfarnham, Dublin, Co. Dublin
+ St. Anne’s Park, Raheny, Dublin 5
+ Father Collins Park, Donaghmeade/Clongriffin, Dublin 13
+ Tymon Park, Tallaght, Dublin 24

The SuperNatural Food Market is taking place every Saturday from 09:30-15:30 in St. Andrews Resource Centre in Pearse Street, Dublin 2.

The Green Door Market is a new indoor food/Farmer’s Market that takes place just a few doors down from the Dublin Food Co-op at Newmarket in Dublin 8. Admission is free.

Opening hours are Thu-Fri 12:00-19:00 and Sat 09:30-16:00.

How can you create a story out of paper straps, cut-out pictures, letters and words? At this workshop with the German children’s book author Julia Friese, you will use a mountain of newspapers and magazines, glue and scissors to make your our way into the World of Paper like the main character in Julia Friese’s book Schnipselgestrüpp.

Admission is free, but booking is required. Suitable for children aged 6+.

The Belgard Weekend Market is an indoor market with stalls with handcraft (incl. designer jewellery, aran jumpers and wool, christening robes and shawls, cards and cross stitch), household items, bric and brac, furniture, flowers, make-up, clothes, shoes, showers, upholstery, toys, kitchens, cafe, army memorabilia, collectors items, sweets, handbags books, blinds, party shop, tools and more.

It is open every Saturday and Sunday and is located in the Glen Abbey complex (opposite Jacobs) on Belgard Road.

Dublin City Hall has a museum/exhibition in the basement, called “The Story of the Capital”, it is an exhibition that you should definitely check out at some stage.

To celebrate the Easter Rising Anniversary, admission to that exhibititon is free for the whole year!!

Opening hours are Monday-Saturday 10:00-17:15.

Jamestown Flea Market + Car Boot Sale takes place every Sat+Sun from 10:00-17:00. You can reach it from Tyrconnell Road and from Kylemore Road and it is within 3 min from Black Horse stop on the red Luas line. There is free parking.

The County Council Market (CoCo) in Marlay Park is taking place every Saturday and Sunday. You will find a wide range of products. There will be food to eat there and food to cook at home but also crafts and arts and books and lots more.

Sculpture in Context is Ireland’s largest outdoor sculpture exhibition and it is a brilliant exhibition in the beautiful surroundings of the National Botanic Gardens. Some of Ireland’s best artists are showing new work and the sculptures are displayed throughout the gardens, ponds, Great Palm House and Curvilinear Range, with the smaller works exhibited in the in the gallery in the Visitors Centre.

The exhibition opened on 08 Sept and will run until 21 October.

The Temple Bar Markets (Food Market on Meeting House Square, Book Market on Temple Bar Square and the Designer Mart near Cow’s Lane) are taking place every Saturday from 10:00-16:30.

At the Blackrock Market in the centre of Blackrock, you’ll find 50 stalls selling collectibles, antiques, handmade goods, books, food & there’s free popcorn, ballons & facepainting for the kids.
Open on Saturdays and Bank Holidays: 11:00-17:30, and Sundays: 12:00-17:30.

A whole day of Roald Dahl-themed events will take place and the events are suitable for the whole family.

There will be a number of workshops, a Big Dahl Show and Stand-up Comedy for kids.

Admission is free and no booking is required (first come, first served). The full programme for the day can be reached via a link on the website below.

The Terenure Village Market has moved to Bushy Park and is from now on a weekly market.

The market has now grown to 40 stalls offering a whole variety of foods and crafts.

Admission is free.

The 2nd Saturday Market is providing a mix of handmade craft, photography and artisan produce.

Admission is free.

The Hard Working Class Heroes Festival 2016 is running from 06-08 October across the city. It is not a free festival, BUT there is a very interesting free component (even TWO) to it!

For the main festival tickets are EUR 45 for the whole weekend or EUR 20 per day and there are gigs in Workman’s Club, Wigwam, Chocolate Factory, Tengu, Mezz and City Hall from Thursday until Saturday.

The TWO free components are the “HWCH Convention” and “HWCH & The City”:

The HWCH Convention is a schedule of talks, discussions and workshops in the Chocolate Factory in Kings Inn Street from Thursday until Saturday from 10:30-17:00 and the full schedule is here: hwch.net/index.php/convention2016/ Very interesting topics for everyone in the music “business”, even if you are not making money from it (yet). Admission is free.

HWCH & The City is a free 3-day long music trail across Dublin. Gigs are 20 minutes long and run from 11:30-16:50. There will be 33 gigs over the three days and you definitely could start at 11:30 and then hear every single gig until the end in the evening. A 10 minute walking time is available between gigs.
Some of the locations are Winding Stair Bookshop, Powercourt Centre, Tower Records, Pitt Bros, Gutter Bookshop, Dublin Ink, Chocolate Factory and more. Find the full schedule here hwch.net/index.php/andthecity/ Admission is free.

The National Gallery has an extensive programme of free talks, public tours and Art Documentary screenings focusing on highlights of the European and Irish Collection every day of the week. Check their website for details.

The weekly Ha’penny Flea Market is an indoor market in the Grand Social Pub, which offers vintage Men and Women’s clothing, contemporary crafts, books, DVDs, vinyl records, vintage and handmade jewellery, vintage hair styles, art, photography and much more. Grand Social’s Bar and Gourmet Coffee options are available.

Austhor Michael Harding will sign copies of his book “Talking to Strangers”. It is a book about growing old, about the stories we share with others and the stories we leave behind us.

Admission is free.

The Smithfield & Stoneybatter Food “Festival” is happening this weekend, but it is not a festival on the streets and you might even miss the fact that there is anything different than usual because this festival is only taking place inside approximately 20 of the restaurants, bars and cafes in the area. Special dishes and menus will be offered.

A day by day plan was meant to go up on the website www.smithfieldstoneybatter.com/food-festival.html but due to technical difficulties that hasn’t happened yet at the time of writing this.

The festival gets a little more interesting due to the Busker Fleadh event on Smithfield Plaza on Sunday: If you are in the area already, you could try out the local restaurants and cafes.

Archive at Lunchtime screenings take place Saturdays (Double Bill), Mondays and Wednesdays. The programme is changing weekly now (instead of monthly as in the past). To find out what film(s) will be screened go to www.ifi.ie/whatson/now-showing-coming-soon/ and look for “Archive at Lunchtime” on the right. Admission is free.

The Bernard Shaw Flea Market is a weekly market (every Saturday) with approx 16 stalls, music, pizzas from the Big Blue Bus and the Bernard Shaw Garden Bar. Expect vintage clothes, shoes, jewellery, art, records, bric-a-brac and more and DJs will provide the entertainment.

Admission is free.

Explore the National Library’s rich architectural history and heritage at this guided tour. The tour begins in the main hall of the Library and will include an introduction to the Signatories exhibition – a selected display of key items relating to the seven signatories of the 1916 Proclamation. It will also include a visit to the Library’s iconic reading room.

Admission is free.

“These Are a Few of My Favourite Things” is the title of a Walking Tour that Emily Gallagher runs every Saturday. It is an alternative Arts and Culture Trail and she will bring you to “Dublin’s Best Cafes, Bars, Markets, Unusual Stores, Galleries, Theatres, Arts Spaces, and more! And hear some tales you’ve never heard before!”

The tours are free but donations are welcome and booking is required via myfavouritesdublincitywalktour@gmail.com or 085-2725095

Every Saturday a kid’s book will be read in 27 Eason’s stores all over Ireland. In O’Connell Street the reading takes place at 14:00. In the other Eason Stores, the times vary between 11:00 and 15:00 (see website below). Suitable for age 0-6 with their parents.

Admission is free.

A free guided tour will take place at the National War Memorial at Islandbridge every Saturday at 14:00 until the end of October.

The tour will focus on World War I, in which so many Irishmen died. You will also hear about the main features of the gardens at this tour.

Meeting point is the car park at 14:00. For further information contact 01-8155914.

Proclamation is a project by visual artist Andrew Duggan. I don’t understand what it entails, but this event is a film screening about this project.

This is the original (for me cryptic) description:

“Proclamation, is a multi-venue exhibition of new lens-based and moving-image works by leading figures in Irish visual art, dance, and performance, engaging with the centenary of the 1916 Rising, redefining definitions of ‘proclamation’ and what it is ‘to proclaim’. The commissioned works have interrogated existing artworks held at The National Gallery of Ireland.”

Followed by a Q&A Session with featured artists Anthony Haughey and Andrew Duggan

Admission is free, but booking is required via the website below.

The Irish Wildlife Trust Dublin is inviting to a 90 minute guided walk along the River Dodder with Kevin Flood.

Meet at the iron bridge on the Dodder, opposite Donnybrook Bus Garage.

Admission seems to be free.

“Planning your Organic Vegetable Garden” with Klaus Laitenberger is a talk that will help you prepare for the next growing season. There will be tips on how to bed down the garden for the winter, improve soil fertility and develop a crop rotation. Klaus will help you choose suitable crops and varieties and how to make a sowing plan for the following year.

Klaus Laitenberger has been growing organic vegetables in Ireland since 1999 and for the last few years he has been working as a self-employed trainer, mentor and consultant in organic horticulture.

Admission is free, but booking is required via 01 804 0319 or botanicgardens@opw.ie

The free Saturday Family Workshops “The Fishing Pond” with Valerie Moffat, encourage families to enjoy creating and learning together as they explore our collection and exhibitions through drawing, crafts, and storytelling.

All materials are provided. The workshops are most suitable for families with children aged 4-10.

During World and National Space Week (03-08 October), the Dublin Libraries will run a number of events for children. Please check the details on the website below. Here is the overview:

Sat 01 Oct: 15:00 – Space themed film in Walkinstown Library
Tue 04 Oct: 10:00 – Space themed Storytelling in Ballymun Library
Thu 06 Oct: 11:00 – Space themed Storytelling in Marino Library
Sat 08 Oct: 15:00 – Space themed film in Walkinstown Library

Admission is free to all events.

Every Saturday during the Sculpture in Context exhibition (10,17,24 Sept + 01,08,15 Oct) you will have the opportunity to meet one of the participating artists for a guided tour through the exhibition to gain an insight into Ireland’s largest outdoor and indoor sculpture exhibition.

Admission is free. Meet at the Education and Visitor Centre.

Cult Called Man are playing a gig in the Harbour Bar in Bray.

Admission is free.

The Dublin Sidewalk Astronomers meet in Clontarf on the seafront car park, on Clontarf Road, opposite the Clontarf Bus Depot for a public star-gazing. Members bring along their telescopes and share the wonders of the night-sky with you. Admission is free.

The event is weather dependent, so check www.irishastrosoc.org/events/events.htm after 18:00 on the night in the case of poor weather, to see if it is going ahead.

The Feminists Are Awake is a fundraising event for the Rape Crisis Network Ireland in Filmbase this Saturday. There will be a whole range of performances featuring everything from storytelling via poetry and comedy to burlesque. Raffles, music and cakes will be there and you can bring your own bottle (BYOB).

Admission is free, but because it is a fundraising events, you will find big buckets for your donations! :-)

Tickets can be booked on the Eventbrite site here and that is also where you find more details about the programme for the event.

The Stillorgan Orchard has live music every Friday and Saturday. Many of the performers are established and very good bands. The upcoming gigs are detailed on the website below. Admission is always free.

Dublin grunge duo “Pranks” will play a midnight gig in Whelan’s and they will be supported by the garage-rockers “Chinese Newspaper” from Meath.

Admission is free before 22:30 or when you comment “Long Knives” in the Event page at www.facebook.com/events/1798255880445986/

Blues Band “The Hardchargers” from Belfast are playing a gig in Whelan’s. Admission is free before 22:30.

Revolution Remains are playing a gig in the Mezz on Saturday.

Admission is free.

In addition to the Saturday Car Boot Sale in Tallaght, Irish Car Boot Sales run a weekly Sunday Car Boot Sales in Ballymun.

Admission for buyers is free.

The Belgard Weekend Market is an indoor market with stalls with handcraft (incl. designer jewellery, aran jumpers and wool, christening robes and shawls, cards and cross stitch), household items, bric and brac, furniture, flowers, make-up, clothes, shoes, showers, upholstery, toys, kitchens, cafe, army memorabilia, collectors items, sweets, handbags books, blinds, party shop, tools and more.

It is open every Saturday and Sunday and is located in the Glen Abbey complex (opposite Jacobs) on Belgard Road.

Jamestown Flea Market + Car Boot Sale takes place every Sat+Sun from 10:00-17:00. You can reach it from Tyrconnell Road and from Kylemore Road and it is within 3 min from Black Horse stop on the red Luas line. There is free parking.

The Magazine Fort in Phoenix Park is unusually neglected and at the same time unusually rich in history. Many have seen it as a barred off concrete fortress in a corner of Phoenix Park and even more don’t even know or have forgotten that it exists. The old Phoenix House, the home of the British Viceroy, was on the site where the fort was built from the early 17th century and then in 1734 the Fort was built and extended in 1801.

In 1916 the Fort was raided by the rebels who expected to find a lot of explosives there, but found the Fort nearly empty. In 1939 the IRA raided the Fort and stole more than a million rounds of ammunition, but most of it was recovered over the following weeks.

Since 1988, the Irish Army doesn’t use the Fort anymore and gave it back to the Office of Public Works (OPW), but not much good has happened to the Fort in the last 28 years (!!) and there were numerous speculations about the reasons for that.

Finally, this year, there will be guided tours at the Fort for three months from 31 July until the end of October. The tours take place on Sundays and Fridays at 10:00, 12:00, 14:00 and 15:30 and only 20 places are available on each tour.

Tickets are available at the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre on a first come, first served basis and can not be pre-booked. A shuttle bus will bring the ticket holders to the Fort.

I definitely want to visit the Magazine Fort, so you will find me in the queue at some stage.

The County Council Market (CoCo) in Marlay Park is taking place every Saturday and Sunday. You will find a wide range of products. There will be food to eat there and food to cook at home but also crafts and arts and books and lots more.

Every Sunday, the Merrion Square Open Air Art Gallery takes place. Up to 200 artists exhibit their paintings on the railings on three sides (West, North and East) of Merrion Square and you can just enjoy the exhibition or even buy.

Sculpture in Context is Ireland’s largest outdoor sculpture exhibition and it is a brilliant exhibition in the beautiful surroundings of the National Botanic Gardens. Some of Ireland’s best artists are showing new work and the sculptures are displayed throughout the gardens, ponds, Great Palm House and Curvilinear Range, with the smaller works exhibited in the in the gallery in the Visitors Centre.

The exhibition opened on 08 Sept and will run until 21 October.

The Drumcondra Village Market is an arts and crafts fair in the centre of Drumcondra. There will be Food Stalls, Flea Market, Vintage Clothing, Arts&Crafts and a Pop-Up Record Store.

Admission is free.

A weekly market with lots of food, but also many other products (art & crafts, books, etc) takes place every Sunday in the beautiful People’s Park in Dun Laoghaire. It is a very popular market and with around 50 vendors also one of the bigger markets.

The next Fusion Sundays Market will take place this Sunday in the Dublin Food Co-op.

It is a world culture market, an ethnic Bazaar, that focuses on the diverse ethnic culture present in Ireland today. The Market features a huge array of International stalls, ethnic food, live music and entertainment for kids. You can buy handmade goods, arts and crafts, recycled products, jewellery, clothes and food. The market is held every second Sunday of the month.

There is always a great atmosphere and I definitely recommend this monthly market.

Admission is free.

The Kilkenny Shop Cafe is inviting to a Jazz Brunch Sunday every Sunday.

Admission is free.

The well known Palestrina Choir sing every Sunday at the mass in St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral. They sing complete masterworks by Mozart, Haydn, Dvorak, Palestrina, de Victoria, usually accompanied by Prof. Gerard Gillen on the organ, who often also plays a solo piece.

The National Gallery has an extensive programme of free talks, public tours and Art Documentary screenings focusing on highlights of the European and Irish Collection every day of the week. Check their website for details.

At the Blackrock Market in the centre of Blackrock, you’ll find 50 stalls selling collectibles, antiques, handmade goods, books, food & there’s free popcorn, ballons & facepainting for the kids.
Open on Sundays: 12:00-17:30. Open on Saturdays and Bank Holidays: 11:00-17:30.

The first Busker Fleadh is happening on Sunday in Dublin. And in case you don’t know, a “Fleadh” is a music festival.

20 Buskers will each play for one hour (in 5x 1-hour long timeslots). In addition the High Hopes Choir will perform at 13:00 and there will be performances by the Dublin Circus Project between 13:00 and 15:00 and MaSamba Drumming Workshops every hour from 12:00-17:00.

Admission is free. The schedule for the day is here www.buskerfleadh.ie/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Entertainment-Schedule.pdf

Every Sunday, the National Botanic Gardens invite to two guided walks. The first one is at 12:00 and the second one at 14:30.

Admission is free.

The Smithfield & Stoneybatter Food “Festival” is happening this weekend, but it is not a festival on the streets and you might even miss the fact that there is anything different than usual because this festival is only taking place inside approximately 20 of the restaurants, bars and cafes in the area. Special dishes and menus will be offered.

A day by day plan was meant to go up on the website www.smithfieldstoneybatter.com/food-festival.html but due to technical difficulties that hasn’t happened yet at the time of writing this.

The festival gets a little more interesting due to the Busker Fleadh event on Smithfield Plaza on Sunday: If you are in the area already, you could try out the local restaurants and cafes.

The Sundays at Noon Concert Series continues in the Sculpture Gallery at the Hugh Lane Gallery. This series of free (mainly classical) concerts continues to present the best of Irish and International music and musicians. Concerts run from September to June.

The next concert will feature Eve Risser on Solo Piano and all details are here.

Learn drawing techniques, including line drawing, shading, perspective and decoration during this relaxed and informal session.

Admission is free and no booking required. Suitable for ages 13+. Materials are provided.

As part of the 1916-2016 Centenary Commemorations, a free tour will take at Arbour Hill Cemetery every Sunday at 14:00. (from March until end of October).

No booking necessary. The meeting point is at the 1916 Memorial Wall towards the back of the cemetery.

As part of the Social Inclusion Festival in Dun Laoghaire, a singing event for the whole family will take place, just for fun.

Admission is free.

The “Dublin Sketchers” is an informal group of (hobby) artists who go somewhere different in Dublin every Sunday (e.g. National Museum, Maritime Museum, Dublin Flea Market, Farmleigh, Botanic Gardens, Dublin Castle, Science Gallery, …), sketch for one to two hours and then meet up for coffee afterwards and discuss their sketches.

There are some hugely talented people among them and it is a great idea to meet up with others who have the same hobby. Find out on their website below or on their Facebook Page where they will meet and join them if you do some sketching/drawing yourself. I know that the Dublin Sketchers often use the Dublin Event Guide to find interesting free events and I am delighted to be able to help!

Every Sunday a free tour takes place in the Hugh Lane Gallery.

Admission is free and booking is not required, but places are limited, so early arrival is recommended.

Afternoon Jazz in Café en Seine. The Stella Bass Jazz Trio play every Sunday from 14:00-16:00 in Café en Seine in Dawson Street. Admission is free. A video is here www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8aKqtOB5S8

Dermot Bolger will talk to author Anne Haverty about her biography of Constance Markievicz, which was published in 1988.

Admission is free, but booking is required via the Eventbrite link below.

The Sunday lecture “Shared Authority: Art and Public History in Ireland” with Dr. Ciaran O’Neill, TCD is part of a free lecture series in October themed around the exhibition “Creating Histories: Stories of Ireland in Art”.

Unlike the three branches of the National Museum, the National Print Museum is normally not free, but every Sunday there is a free public tour for the next few weeks. Every visit begins with a short audio-visual presentation where the audience can observe active retired printers providing practical demonstrations of machines from the Museum’s collection.

Four storytellers are in LexIcon to celebrate Wisdom Stoires, stories and folktales that hold within them little nuiggest of truth or wisdom.

Admission is free, but booking is required via the Eventbrite link below.

Blues Got Soul, a four-piece blues band from Dublin is performing the music of the founding fathers of blues and blues masters in the International Bar every Sunday. Admission is free, but donations are welcome.

This is a weekly traditional dancing session in the Cobblestone pub at Smithfield Plaza.

Meet people and dances from all around the world and learn at workshops how to dance them.

Admission is free, donations are welcome.

“Not Quite Mass” is a weekly Comedy show in the Workman’s Club. There will be stand-up comedy and more (games, interviews, panel discussions and some madness). The event is organised and lead by Steve Bennett.

The line-up is usually listed on the Facebook Page below. Check it out. We can never have enough Comedy!

Admission is free (donations are welcome).

The New Breadwinners are a 3-piece Bluegrass band and they are playing every Sunday in the Leeson Longe.

Admission is free, donations are appreciated.

Every Sunday evening from 18:00-20:00, the Wiley Fox is hosting a trad session, where some of Ireland’s finest traditional musicians will play for you.

Admission is free.

The Dixeland Jazzmen play a weekly gig in Sin E. Admission is free.

At the Jawbone Gig night in Arthur’s Pub, Acoustic Folk & Blues will be performed every Sunday. Admission is free.

www.facebook.com/pages/Jawbone-Dublin-Acoustic-Folk-Blues-Commune/724102984268967

The Gardiner Street Gospel Choir sings every Sunday from September to June at their “Gig in God’s Gaff”, a Mass in St. Francis Xavier Church at the top of Gardiner Street near the junction with Dorset Street.

The Gardiner Street Gospel Choir, one of the best known gospel choirs in Ireland will give you a chance to experience a mass with a difference. It is uplifting and inspiring and everybody is welcome independent from your level of religiousness or your relationship with the Catholic Church in other contexts.

Disclaimer: I am involved with the Gardiner Street Gospel Choir, so the description above MIGHT not be totally unbiased. But just take it from me, they are brilliant! ;-)

Dermot Byrne & Danny Tobin are bringing their Delta Blues to the Harbour Bar. Admission is free.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral is inviting to a series of organ recitals, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the death of Max Reger. The “Chorale Fantasias” recitals will be played by David Leigh. The schedule is

11 September: Ein feste Burg
18 September: Freu dich sehr, meine Seele
25 September: Wie shön leucht uns die Morgenstern
2 October: Straf’ mich nicht in deinem Zorn
9 October: Alle Menschen müssen sterben
16 October: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme
23 October: Hallelujah! Gott zu loben

Admission is free, but tickets are required. Get them via the website below.

Every Sunday this singer-songwriter night takes place in the Bleeding Horse in Camden St. from 8.30pm. It is an Open mic night and performers can just turn up and put their name on the list for that night.

The Comedy Crunch is a free Stand Up comedy downstairs in Stag’s Head, Dame Lane from 21:00 every week on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Every week different comedians entertain and on top of that there is some free ice cream. The line-up can be found via the Comedy Crunch Facebook Page (see link below).

“Rhythm Rocker at The Globe” is a weekly event on Sunday night in The Globe with live music (Rockabilly) and DJs. Admission is free.

Billy Treacy & The Ha’Penny Heads are playing Ballads, Folk, Trad and Classic Country every Sunday. Featuring Guitar, Mandolin, Fiddle and Banjo.

Every Sunday (except at Bank Holiday weekends), the Ragtime, Roots and Country Blues Band “Cool Hand Dukes” play in the Porterhouse near Grafton Street.

The Rock ‘n’ Rock and Swing Band “The Jive Cats” will perform in the Mercantile every Sunday from 22:00.

Admission is free.

The Dublin Blues Cartel will be in Whelan’s again and will perform mostly a version of New Orleans R’n’B with a classic rock twist, sandwiched with swing, Rock’n’Roll, Soul, Funk, Blues and rap of all eras. Admission is free.

The Surefire Trio is back in the Mezz for a gig on Sunday.

Admission is free.

Dublin City Hall has a museum/exhibition in the basement, called “The Story of the Capital”, it is an exhibition that you should definitely check out at some stage.

To celebrate the Easter Rising Anniversary, admission to that exhibititon is free for the whole year!!

Opening hours are Monday-Saturday 10:00-17:15.

The National Gallery has an extensive programme of free talks, public tours and Art Documentary screenings focusing on highlights of the European and Irish Collection every day of the week. Check their website for details.

Archive at Lunchtime screenings take place Saturdays (Double Bill), Mondays and Wednesdays. The programme is changing weekly now (instead of monthly as in the past). To find out what film(s) will be screened go to www.ifi.ie/whatson/now-showing-coming-soon/ and look for “Archive at Lunchtime” on the right. Admission is free.

Mathieu Ferradou (Université Paris 1) talks about “Irish patriots in Paris under the early French Republic (1792-1794): the boundaries of citizenship” in this lecture of the Centre for Early Modern History Seminar Series.

Admission is free

The drama “Signorina Effe” from 2007 tells the story of workers in Fiat’s manufacturing plants around the time when Fiat fired 15,000 workers in the 80s.

Admission is free, but booking is required via the website below.

Frederick May (1911–85) played an important role in the first half of the twentieth century as a composer and an advocate for music in an Ireland completely lacking in the necessary infrastructure. However in recent years he has been overlooked due to a lack of availability of his music and a dearth of informed commentary on his work.

Dr Mark Fitzgerald (DIT Conservatory of Music) will retrieve the real Frederick May with this lecture.

Admission is free.

Professor Kai Kajitani (Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University, Japan) will talk about the current state of the East Asian economy and discuss the role of the Chinese economy in this context as well as in the world economy. This lecture will examine the issues surrounding the accumulation of capital in the Chinese economy and its potential impacts, exploring the objectives and prospects of Chinese economic policy.

Admission is free.

Germany@Home in October presents Mia Gallagher with her latest book. Musical support will come from Helen Casey.

Nine years after her debut novel “Hellfire” Irish author Mia Gallagher’s second book is “Beautiful Pictures of the Lost Homeland”, a story of mourning, memory, transse xuality and the loss of identy and home. One of the central figures is Lotte, an elderly German woman whose mother had to leave Czechoslovakia after the second World War. The so-called “Sudetendeutschen” were violently forced to leave their homeland in 1945/46.

Helen Casey will complement the reading with German songs.

Admission is free, but booking is required via the Eventbrite website below.

The event will take place in a private home in Dublin 7 and the location will be notified to everyone who has registered.

Jem Mitchell plays an acoustic set of folk ‘n’ roots music by the fire.

Admission is free.

Song Cycle is a weekly Singer/Songriter showcase. The line-up is not always easily findable on the Whelan’s website, but admission is always free.

The Circle Sessions is an “Open Mic” that provides an opportunity for up and coming musicians, spoken word artists, poets and comedians to perform.

Come to this weekly show to perform or to simply watch a great mix of music, poetry, spoken word and comedy.

Admission is free.

Every Monday the Woolshed Bar hosts “The Comedy Shed”, usually with 3 headline acts.

Admission is free.

The Comedy Crunch is a free Stand Up comedy event every Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Every week different comedians entertain and on top of good comedy you will get free ice cream. Admission is free. The line-up can be found via the Comedy Crunch Facebook Page (see link below).

Every Monday a Jazz Jam Session will take place in the Grand Social and you are invited to listen or even to participate. Admission is free for musicians and audience.

Instruments are supplied (drums (no cymbals), double bass, guitar amp, bass amp, PA system) and ideas and themes will be proposed prior to the session to the musicians who join the event on Facebook (see Facebook Page below).

An Open Trad Music Session is taking place every Monday in Mother Reilly’s. Admission is free.

Donal Kirk and Anto Drennan are playing music from Lowell George Little Feat, Bonnie Raitt, Free, Bad Company, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Beatles, Bobby Bland, Vince Gill, Ray Charles, Etta James, Elvis, Ry Cooder, Dobie Gray, Guy Clarke, early ZZ Top, Dave Edmunds, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Willie Nelson.

Admission is free.

The NDA Conference 2016 is themed “Ordinary Homes, Ordinary Places: Planning, designing and building supportive communities for people with disabilities” this year and there will be speakers from Ireland and the USA.

Admission is free. All details can be found here.

An Opera Aria Masterclass with Roy Loughlin (Head of Music at the National Opera Studio) will take place in the Royal Irish Academy of Music.

Admission is free, but booking is required via the website below.

The lecture “Examining the Roots: Sources in Irish History Painting” with Claire Crowley, NGI, is part of a free lecture series in October around the exhibition “Creating Histories: Stories of Ireland in Art”.

The National Gallery has an extensive programme of free talks, public tours and Art Documentary screenings focusing on highlights of the European and Irish Collection every day of the week. Check their website for details.

If you regularly or occasionally buy books online, you can help the Dublin Event Guide hugely even without having to pay cent directly. In fact you even save money this way:

Buy your books from The Book Depository and get better prices and free (!!) delivery for all orders independent from the volume and when you click on the picture here before you buy, then 5% of what normally The Book Depository would get, they give back to the Dublin Event Guide. Everybody wins!

www.bookdepository.com?a_aid=dubevg

If you prefer Amazon to buy your books (for free postage you need to order a minimum of GBP 25), then use this Amazon link to help the Dublin Event Guide. Thanks!

The popular series of lunch-time lectures in Dublin’s City Hall returns this October, with the theme “Traditional Music in Dublin”. It will focus on the history of traditional music in the City and will include talks about Dublin’s Piping Tradition, Luke Kelly, The Tradition Club and Fiddle Music. Each talk will conclude with an element of live performance.

The talks will take place each Tuesday in October and the titles are:
04 October – Fiddle Music in Dublin with Liam O’Connor
11 October – Na Píobairí Uilleann (The Piper’s Club) and Dublin’s Piping Tradition with Terry Moylan (NPU)
18 October – The Tradition Club, 1967-1989 with Seán Corcoran (Crann)
25 October – Dublin’s Voice: Luke Kelly with Francis Devine

Admission is free and on a ‘first come, first served’ basis.

“These Are a Few of My Favourite Things” is the title of a Walking Tour that Emily Gallagher runs on Tuesday and Saturday. It is an alternative Arts and Culture Trail and she will bring you to “Dublin’s Best Cafes, Bars, Markets, Unusual Stores, Galleries, Theatres, Arts Spaces, and more! And hear some tales you’ve never heard before!”

The tours are free but donations are welcome and booking is required via myfavouritesdublincitywalktour@gmail.com or 085-2725095

The space for engaging with performance is shrinking. Critical coverage is disappearing, star ratings just won’t cut it, and online sharing is simply a speedy and cost effective way of talking only to ourselves.

The makers of Blast, a new platform for conversations about Irish theatre, will host a critical discussion about the context for this year’s work, its impact and the talking points of the festival.

Bringing together Irish and international critics, this forum considers performance from several angles and welcomes audience feedback.

Admission is free, but booking is required via the website below.

This year is the fourth centenary of the death of Miguel de Cervantes (22 April 1616), Spain’s greatest writer, comparable only to Shakespeare in terms of the depth and range of his cultural impact.

You might know that he wrote Don Quixote. But what else did he write and who was he? Why does he deserve to be celebrated, and to be read?

Admission is free.

“Someone You Love” is an exhibition of pro-choice art in aid of the Abortion Support Network. The exhibition will showcase pro-choice and pro-Repeal art from 20 established and emerging artists to raise awareness of the situation faced by 12 Irish women travelling for abortions every day. Limited edition prints by each artist will be on sale with all proceeds going to Abortion Support Network.

Admission is free, but the event is ticketed. The first round of tickets was released on Friday and the second round will be released on Monday.

Ann Goldstein is an editor at The New Yorker and she has translated works by Elena Ferrante, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Giacomo Leopardi, and Alessandro Baricco and others. She is also the editor of the Complete Works of Primo Levi in English. In conversation with Eileen Battersby, she will talk about translating from Italian, with particular reference to Primo Levi.

Eileen Battersby is a writer, a critic, and the Irish Times literary correspondent.

Admission is free, but booking is required via the website below.

A new weekly Board Games night is taking place in the Black Sheep Pub. Lots of games are available and you can also bring your own.

Admission is free.

The launch of Caroline Busher’s children’s novel set in 1848, a novel with circuses, villains and ghosts aplenty. Admission is free and everyone is welcome.

“Burying the Past or Celebrating it: Commemorating the Irish Revolution” with Dr Roisín Higgins (Senior Lecturer in History at Teeside University) looks at the tangled history of commemorating the revolutionary period in Ireland. It considers the sometimes difficult relationship between personal memory and public remembrance and how this inform ideas of both nation and state. Roisín will ask what we have learned from the recent Easter Rising centenary and what this might tell us about the remaining years of the Decade of Centenaries.

Admission is free.

EveryTuesday at 19:00, The Dublin Language Exchange takes place in the Czech Inn. It is the biggest free meeting of people from all around Dublin that are interested in learning languages and communicate with speakers of other languages.

Admission is free and the meetup is completely informal. No booking required.

Rumours have it that the Bluegrass Collective will perform in Sin É on Tuesday and there might even be an open Bluegrass Jam! Admission is free.

The King Kong Club is a weekly music game-show in Whelan’s.

Each week 6-7 bands/solo artists play three songs each. At the end of all the performances a clap-off with the King Kong Club Clap-o-Meter takes place and the winner goes through to a semi-final and it all culminates after six months of competition with The Grand Final, held in front of a panel of celebrity judges.

Check the Facebook Page below for the line-up. Admission is free.

This is a weelly acoustic roots and blues session every Tuesday in Arthur’s Pub.

With Anthony Mannion(Guitar/vocals) and Luke Mercer(Guitar/vocals). Admision is free.

Every Tuesday an informal sing along with Ukulele and Toy Musical Instruments takes place in the Stag’s Head. Just bring your instrument and come along. Beginners are welcome. Admission is free and further details (and a big book of songs) are available on the Facebook Page below. The get-together meets in the “snug” in Stag’s Head.

The Comedy Crunch is a free Stand Up comedy event every Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Every week different comedians entertain and on top of good comedy you will get free ice cream. Admission is free. The line-up can be found via the Comedy Crunch Facebook Page (see link below).

The Lounge Quintet plays this gig every Tuesday: Jazz Standards, Latin and Bebop. Often guest musicians and singers join them. Admission is free, donations are welcome.

Every Tuesday and Thursday the International Bar invites to a Jazz night in the Lounge.

Groups led by Cote Calmet, Sean Maynard Smith, Dominic Mullan, Paddy Groenland, Georgia Cusack & Alex Mathias are performing regularly with occasional guest players, but there are also other bands from all over.

Admission is free, with a suggested donation of EUR 5. The website clearly says that there is no entry fee, but – and that makes a lot of sense – that your donations are very much appreciated (Musicians need to pay for rent and food too!) Be generous after the gig if you liked it, but if someone wants to charge an admission charge, please point out that the “rules” as described on their website are like I have explained.

Every Tuesday, a pub quiz is taking place in the Woolshed.

Admission is free. Max team size is 6 people.

The “Grangegorman Business Breakfast” is a free and informal event for the business community in Dublin’s North Inner City. It is an opportunity for local businesses (including SMEs, micro-businesses, social enterprises, etc.) and business support organisations to hear the latest about the Grangegorman Development, to network and to share views around building a supportive agenda for local business in the North Inner City.

The Grangegorman Business Breakfast is organised by the Grangegorman Labour and Learning Forum’s Business and Enterprise Group, a voluntary representative body of organisations working in the Grangegorman area. The main speaker will be Ger Casey, new CEO of the Grangegorman Development Agency.

To book a place please contact Kathleen McCann on 01-402 4262/087-739 1602, kathleen.mccann@ggda.ie

“Iveagh Gardens: Dublin’s Hidden Park” is the next Let’s Walk & Talk guided tour with historian Pat Liddy.

Admission is free. Meeting point is outside the University Church on St Stephen’s Green South.

The National Gallery has an extensive programme of free talks, public tours and Art Documentary screenings focusing on highlights of the European and Irish Collection every day of the week. Check their website for details.

Archive at Lunchtime screenings take place Saturdays (Double Bill), Mondays and Wednesdays. The programme is changing weekly now (instead of monthly as in the past). To find out what film(s) will be screened go to www.ifi.ie/whatson/now-showing-coming-soon/ and look for “Archive at Lunchtime” on the right. Admission is free.

If you regularly or occasionally buy books online, you can help the Dublin Event Guide hugely even without having to pay cent directly. In fact you even save money this way:

Buy your books from The Book Depository and get better prices and free (!!) delivery for all orders independent from the volume and when you click on the picture here before you buy, then 5% of what normally The Book Depository would get, they give back to the Dublin Event Guide. Everybody wins!

www.bookdepository.com?a_aid=dubevg

If you prefer Amazon to buy your books (for free postage you need to order a minimum of GBP 25), then use this Amazon link to help the Dublin Event Guide. Thanks!

The “Havana International Language Exchange” is taking place every Wed from 16:30-19:30 in Havana Tapas Bar in George’s Street. There are many Spanish speakers and English-speakers are explicitly invited, but everyone else is certainly very welcome too, to meet for a chat to improve your Spanish or English.

At the IT Tallaght a “Red Line Book Festival” event takes place: In conversation with Gearoid Lynch.

Admission is free, booking is required via the website below.

“On Drawing” is a series of talks about the role of drawing within an artist’s practice and the next artist that will talk about his work is John Beattie.

Admission is free.

A Haiku Poetry workshop, which is part of the Red Line Book Festival will happen in Tallaght Library.

Admission is free, but booking is required via the link below.

Gianrico Carofiglio is a novelist and he was previously a member of the Senate in Italy and before that, an anti-Mafia prosecutor in Bari in Puglia. He has been involved with trials concerning corruption, organized crime and human trafficing. He is a best-selling author of crime novels and literary fiction. Catherine Dunne will talk to him about his life and literary works.

Admission is free, but booking is required via the website below.

The Roots Band “Brand New Switcheroo” will perform in the Harbour Bar. Admission is free.

The Anseo Comedy Club takes place every Wednesday in Anseo (upstairs).

Admission is free, donations are welcome.

“The Song Room” is another open mic event. It takes place in The Globe in George’s Street at 20:30 every Wednesday.

“The Zodiac Sessions” is a regular open mic event from 20:30 in Bruxelles (between Grafton Street and Westbury Hotel) for unsigned musicians. Admission is free and there is a different line-up every week.

Bad Boy Jake are every Wednesday in the Gypsy Rose Rock & Blues Bar playing their rock, blues and American.

Los Paradiso are playing Rockabilly, Tex Mex, Western Swing, Surf in the Leeson Lounge. Admission is free, but donations are appreciated.

Traditional Irish Music Session in Hedigan’s (The Brian Boru) in Phibsborough from 21:30 every Wednesday. If you play an instrument you are especially welcome (all levels are welcome).

The workshop “Getting Published with Vanessa O’Loughlin will take place.

Admission is free, but booking is required via the link below.

The Red Line Book Festival with a whole range of free and non-free events takes place in libraries and other venues of South County Dublin. It will run from 12-16 October and the free events are workshops, talks, a Poetry Award, the Great Lucan Bake Off and a Traditional Music Workshop.

All events are listed on www.redlinebookfestival.ie/programme and the links to book the events are on the same page.

Every Thursday a free tour of Grangegorman Military Cemetery on Blackhorse Avenue takes place. Meet inside the Cemetery Gates. Admission is free and everybody is welcome. Ring 01-6770095 for more information and to check if the tour is going ahead.

The National Gallery has an extensive programme of free talks, public tours and Art Documentary screenings focusing on highlights of the European and Irish Collection every day of the week. Check their website for details.

The Green Door Market is a new indoor food/Farmer’s Market that takes place just a few doors down from the Dublin Food Co-op at Newmarket in Dublin 8. Admission is free.

Opening hours are Thu-Fri 12:00-19:00 and Sat 09:30-16:00.

The Lunchtime Lecture “A Good Samaritan Binding: Conserving a 14th-Century Pentateuch” with Julia Poirier (Book and Paper Conservator, Chester Beatty Library) will take place on Thursday.

Admission is free.

Spend an afternoon the German way, with “Kaffee und Kuchen” (coffee & cake) and conversation in German at the cafeteria of the Goethe-Institut. Kaffeklatsch will take place every second Thursday of each month. The topic this week is “Streik – Ein legitimes Mittel im Arbeitsdisput”.

Admission is free and you are welcome even if your German is a bit rusty.

Breathing Fundamentals Workshop with Kristian Steenstrup is a workshop at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. Two sessions are available, one from 14:00-17:00 and the second one from 18:00-21:00.

Admission is free, but booking is required via the page below.

This is a public tour of the exhibition “WWI Ireland: Exploring the Irish Experience”. The tour will showcase material from the library’s collections and will focus on the Irish experience of this total war.

The exhibition is located at No 2/3 Kildare Street.

Doñana National Park is a large nature reserve in the south of Spain with more than 100,000 hectares spread over the provinces of Huelva, Seville and Cádiz.

Over the course of a year “Doñana, cuatro estaciones” explores day-by-day life in this paradise, combining nature and tradition, beauty and sustainability, passion and science. It is four places combined into one.

In Spanish with English subtitles.

Admission is free.

Life Coach Heather Bourke hosts this Conversation Cafe in Cabra Library, where you can meet other curious and open-mined people and have some interesting and stimulating discussions.

Admission is free, but booking is required via 01-8691414

Every Thursday the Little Museum of Dublin waives their admission charges for two guided tours thanks to sponsorship from Guinness. The first tour is at 18:00 and the second tour is at 19:00. Make sure that you are there at least 10 minutes before the start of the tour to get one of the limited places.

The Little Museum of Dublin has a fascinating collection of artefacts from the last 100 years Dublin’s history.

On other days and other times, admission is EUR 7 for adults and admission is by guided tour only.

The Irish Chapter of the British & Irish Trading Alliance is hosting a networking evening in Kehoe’s pub. Members of the board will be there to talk about BITA and offer help in growing your business.

Admission is free.

The new Science Gallery exhibition “Design and Violence” will explore the wide range of manifestations of violence in society. From AK-47s and military drones to computer viruses and hostile furniture, the exhibition looks at both the extreme and the routine ways of how these two themes influence our everyday lives.

On Thursday, the launch party takes place and admission is free. Registration is required via the Eventbrite link here.

Twice every year, the Central Library together with the Local Enterprise Office in Dublin City are running a series of six free Business Lectures for everybody who wants to start or grow a business. The lectures will cover subjects such as the characteristics needed to run and fund your business. Digital marketing strategies and writing business plans will also be included.

The next series will take place on Thursdays from 18:30-20:00 between 15 September and 20 October.

Admission is free, but booking is required here. All topics and speakers are listed on that same website, but to make it easier for you, they are also here:

15 Sept: Becoming a Successful Entrepreneur – How You Can Create and Produce Ideas
22 Sept: Creating the best Business Plan for your Business
29 Sept: Market Research Skills – What You Need To Do To Be Successful
06 Oct: Managing your Online Presence – Having A Digital Plan To Help You Increase Sales
13 Oct: Essential Supports and Services for Entrepreneurs – Who’s Out There To Help You
20 Oct: Financial Support and Grants for Entrepreneurs

“These Are a Few of My Favourite Things” is the title of a Walking Tour that Emily Gallagher will run next Thursday. It will be an Alternative Arts and Culture Trail and she will bring you to “Dublin’s Best Cafes, Bars, Markets, Unusual Stores, Galleries, Theatres, Arts Spaces, and more! And hear some tales you’ve never heard before!”

Meeting point is at the Spire. The tours are free but donations are welcome and booking is required via myfavouritesdublincitywalktour@gmail.com or 085-2725095

An expatriate or expat is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country other than that of their citizenship.

And this is a weekly meeting for all Expats in Dublin (new and old!). If you are new to the city, this is an excellent way to meet people.

Admission is free (no booking required!), but you are asked to give the same kind of welcoming to new members as is given to you.

And this is the third (!) Board Gaming night in Dublin! They are taking over! ;-)

It is a weekly event and on Thursday the focus is on Introductory Board Games, so if you haven’t for a while (or ever) played Board Games, this is for you.

Admission is free.

The Dublin Jam Session is an open Jam with full back line. It is open to all levels of musicians and singers and all genres of music and the only rule is that you must jam with others (not all your own band).

It takes place every Thursday and admission is free.

The monthly Irish Writers’ Centre Open Mic event “Takin’ the Mic” will go on tour in association with the Red Line Book Festival.

Poets, prose writers, songwriters and musicians, comedians and anyone else who wants to have a go is invited to take part. Each performer will have five minutes and slots are on a first come, first served basis. The event will be hosted by comedian, writer and broadcaster Alison Spittle and there will also be performances by Stephen James Smith, Jessica Traynor and Kevin Curran.

Admission is free.

This is a special lecture by Arthritis Ireland’s principal researchers including Professor Gerry Wilson, Professor Ursula Fearon and Dr. Charlene Foley on their “Plans for life-changing research” to find a cure for arthritis.

Professor Gerry Wilson, Chair of Rheumatology, and his team in UCD have identified a new protein (C5orf30) which regulates the severity of tissue damage caused by rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Following the discovery, RA patients most likely to suffer the severest effects of the condition can now be identified early and fast-tracked to the more aggressive treatments available.

Professor Fearon, Chair of Molecular Rheumatology TCD, is concentrating her research on developing state-of-the-art basic research techniques and applying them to high quality bio-banked samples to examine the mechanisms of disease in arthritis with the aim of advancing our understanding of the causes of arthritis, predicting the response to therapy and ultimately predicting who can achieve remission while potentially identifying exciting new targets for novel therapies.

Find more details and register for this free events on the website below.

“Gavin Povey & the Oke She Moke She Pops” will play Boogie Woogie, Rock’n’Roll, R&B, Country, Jazz, Soul in the Harbour Bar on Thursday.

Admission is free.

A new weekly Table Quiz takes place in the Grand Social. Every Thursdayteams of 4 people (or at least 2 people) will compete against each other over questions from the areas of General Knowledge, Music, Film, Sports & Entertainment.

Admission is free.

Every Thursday a Singer Songwriter Night will take place in Mother Reilly’s in Rathmines. This is YOUR chance to show everyone what you can do, alternatively you can just listen to the talented Singer/Songwriters. Admission is free.

A Fun Pub Quiz takes place in Brady’s in Terenure on Thurs. The quiz will be on every Thursday night in the Lounge at Brady’s. Keith McLoughlin is the Quiz Master.

There will be six rounds of the quiz with picture questions, audio questions and general knowledge questions. Admission to the quiz is free and therr will be free drink vouchers for the winning and runner up teams. (No phones to get answers allowed.)

Every Tuesday and Thursday the International Bar invites to a Jazz night in the Lounge.

Groups led by Cote Calmet, Sean Maynard Smith, Dominic Mullan, Paddy Groenland, Georgia Cusack & Alex Mathias are performing regularly with occasional guest players, but there are also other bands from all over.

Admission is free, with a suggested donation of EUR 5. The website clearly says that there is no entry fee, but – and that makes a lot of sense – that your donations are very much appreciated (Musicians need to pay for rent and food too!) Be generous after the gig if you liked it, but if someone wants to charge an admission charge, please point out that the “rules” as described on their website are like I have explained.

A live music open mic session, called “Keep on Trucking” takes place every Thursday in Peadar Brown’s Pub, it is presented by Joey Magic.

Admission is free.

Every Thursday “Left Right & Centre” play a mix of blues & soul with a bit of rock&roll.

Admission is free.

A weekly Trad Music Night is taking place in McLoughlin’s in Dun Laoghaire. It is an acoustic night and all musicians are welcome. Admission is free.

Every Thursday a free Trad Session takes place in McNeills and often there are high profile Trad musicians performing.

The Woolshed Karaoke is happening every Thursday from 21:30. Anyone can participate! Admission is free.

Dublin City Hall has a museum/exhibition in the basement, called “The Story of the Capital”, it is an exhibition that you should definitely check out at some stage.

To celebrate the Easter Rising Anniversary, admission to that exhibititon is free for the whole year!!

Opening hours are Monday-Saturday 10:00-17:15.

The Magazine Fort in Phoenix Park is unusually neglected and at the same time unusually rich in history. Many have seen it as a barred off concrete fortress in a corner of Phoenix Park and even more don’t even know or have forgotten that it exists. The old Phoenix House, the home of the British Viceroy, was on the site where the fort was built from the early 17th century and then in 1734 the Fort was built and extended in 1801.

In 1916 the Fort was raided by the rebels who expected to find a lot of explosives there, but found the Fort nearly empty. In 1939 the IRA raided the Fort and stole more than a million rounds of ammunition, but most of it was recovered over the following weeks.

Since 1988, the Irish Army doesn’t use the Fort anymore and gave it back to the Office of Public Works (OPW), but not much good has happened to the Fort in the last 28 years (!!) and there were numerous speculations about the reasons for that.

Finally, this year, there will be guided tours at the Fort for three months from 31 July until the end of October. The tours take place on Sundays and Fridays at 10:00, 12:00, 14:00 and 15:30 and only 20 places are available on each tour.

Tickets are available at the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre on a first come, first served basis and can not be pre-booked. A shuttle bus will bring the ticket holders to the Fort.

I definitely want to visit the Magazine Fort, so you will find me in the queue at some stage.

The Red Line Book Festival with a whole range of free and non-free events takes place in libraries and other venues of South County Dublin. It will run from 12-16 October and the free events are workshops, talks, a Poetry Award, the Great Lucan Bake Off and a Traditional Music Workshop.

All events are listed on www.redlinebookfestival.ie/programme and the links to book the events are on the same page.

Sculpture in Context is Ireland’s largest outdoor sculpture exhibition and it is a brilliant exhibition in the beautiful surroundings of the National Botanic Gardens. Some of Ireland’s best artists are showing new work and the sculptures are displayed throughout the gardens, ponds, Great Palm House and Curvilinear Range, with the smaller works exhibited in the in the gallery in the Visitors Centre.

The exhibition opened on 08 Sept and will run until 21 October.

The yearly Open House Dublin event is organised by the Irish Architecture Foundation and it gives you an opportunity to visit buildings that you normally would never get access to on a guided tour that focuses on the architecture of the building and the reasons behind why it was build the way it is.

Open House Dublin starts already on Friday with a small number of tours/locations and the main days follow on Saturday and Sunday.

Admission is free to all buildings and a full list of participating venues can be found here: www.openhousedublin.com/index.php/listings

Some of the venues gave out tickets on a lottery basis only and the tickets are all given out now. Many other locations are running tours throughout the day and while you might have to queue for a little you will get in – unless you arrive too late in the day.

I strongly recommend this event, it is really great to get a chance to explore some of Dublin’s (iconic) buildings and to hear why the architects did what they did.

The National Gallery has an extensive programme of free talks, public tours and Art Documentary screenings focusing on highlights of the European and Irish Collection every day of the week. Check their website for details.

The Green Door Market is a new indoor food/Farmer’s Market that takes place just a few doors down from the Dublin Food Co-op at Newmarket in Dublin 8. Admission is free.

Opening hours are Thu-Fri 12:00-19:00 and Sat 09:30-16:00.

Join the curators behind the newest Science Gallery exhibition “Design and Violence” for a discussion of the themes, challenges and processes that led to this unique collaboration. Hear from Paola Antonelli, Ralph Borland, Jamer Hunt and Lynn Scarff about the genesis of DESIGN AND VIOLENCE, the conversations and debates it sparked, and its evolution from online curatorial experiment to Dublin manifestation.

Admission is free, but registration is required via the Eventbrite link here.

Get a cup of tea, gather the last bit of energy and then bring this work week over the line! And for next week, get some special teas via the ad below and help the Dublin Event Guide while you are doing that. ;-)

Click on the picture below or use this link and if you order any teas that way, you help the Dublin Event Guide because Twinings will pay a small reward if you order after clicking on the picture or link above.

Orders over GBP 35 are free in the UK and if you use Parcelmotel’s Belfast to Dublin service, you can get it delivered for just EUR 3.95 of postage.

The Conference “Paris: Capital of Irish Culture” will take place from Fri 14 until Sun 16 October in the Notre Dame Centre for Irish Studies in 58 Merrion Square.

It is a double conference (one in Paris and the other one in Dublin) and the focus is on the influence of Paris on Irish cultural and political thought in 1916.

The main day of the conference is Saturday with only a reception and opening lecture on Friday and a walking tour on Sunday. The full programme is on the website below.

Admission is free, but registration via scac@ambafrance-ie.org is required.

Pietro C. Marani is a Professor in Modern Art History and teaches Modern Art History and Museology in the Politecnico of Milan. He will explain Leonardo da Vinci’s extraordinary complexity as an artist, painter and sketcher and his work as a scientist and technologist.

Admission is free, but booking is required via the website below.

A representative from the Hebron International Resource Network (HIRN) will speak about education under occupation in the Palestinian West Bank.

On the evening you will also hear from returned human rights monitors on the reality of living under occupation and will be able to take part in a discussion with the hosts Comhlamh and EAPPI.

Admission is free.

Cornucopia Café & Restaurant host live music three evenings a week (Thurs, Fri and Sat). The restaurant is a Wholefood & Vegetarian Restaurant and is open until 22:15.
+ Every second Thursday N.C Lawlor, a songwriter, session player and troubadour plays a mix of country, bluegrass & blues from 19:30-21:30.
+ Every Friday (19:30-21:30) Junshi Murakami plays Irish Harp.
+ Every Saturday (19:30-21:30) Nollaig Mann plays a collection of popular and jazz classics.

RobotRock are a live band who remix & mash-up some of dance music’s greatest anthems.

Admission is free.

The Stillorgan Orchard has live music every Friday and Saturday. Many of the performers are established and very good bands. The upcoming gigs are detailed on the website below. Admission is always free.

“Ska ‘n’ Reggae” is the theme in the Dive Bar (downstairs in Turks Head) every Friday. The Bionic Rats play live. followed by DJs until late. Admission is free.

“Grace Wilde” is a duo from Dublin with singer/songwriter Audrey Fay and guitarist Enda Duffy. They perform fresh and inspiring original songs with Jazz, Blues, Soul, Folk and Rock influences.

Admission is free.

The double bill Rev JM’s Panic Worship & Poison Hearts will perform in the Patriot’s Inn. Original music and alt country are the styles.

Admission is free.