Free Admission – The Model, Sligo. https://www.themodel.ie Home of The Niland Collection Wed, 16 Sep 2026 08:39:31 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 Culture Night | Creative Family Workshops /?event=culture-night-2026 Wed, 16 Sep 2026 08:38:43 +0000 https://www.themodel.ie/?post_type=event&p=21053 Culture Night | Crash Ensemble https://www.themodel.ie/?event=culture-night-crash-ensemble Fri, 04 Sep 2026 13:26:22 +0000 https://www.themodel.ie/?post_type=event&p=21024

CRASH ENSEMBLE | Everything is Connected by Ed Bennett

Fri. 18 Sep. 2026, 8 – 9pm
Free Admission

A socially engaged project collaborating with singers from community choirs around Sligo.
Presented in association with The Model.

At the heart of The Model's Culture Night programme is a flagship performance by Crash Ensemble, developed in collaboration with Sligo Integration Chorus, and Sligo Ukrainian Choir alongside voices from Sligo’s new communities. Led by composer Ed Bennett, Everything is Connected brings professional musicians and community participants together through collaboration, intercultural exchange and shared creative authorship.

Crash Ensemble present Everything is Connected, a bold and inclusive new work by acclaimed Irish composer Ed Bennett, created with collaboration and community at its core.

Commissioned by Crash, the project brings together members of the ensemble with local musicians and performers from diverse musical backgrounds in a dynamic live performance showcasing the possibilities of collaborative performance. 

This special concert is a socially engaged project, collaborating with singers from community choirs around Sligo

Described by The Guardian as creating “unclassifiable, raw-nerve music of huge energy and imagination”, Bennett is one of Ireland’s most distinctive contemporary composers. His work spans orchestral music, opera, electronic music, installations and film, and has been commissioned and performed internationally by organisations including the BBC, RTÉ and Music Network. In 2024, he was elected to Aosdána in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the creative arts in Ireland.

Everything is Connected celebrates collaboration, connection, and the collective energy of live performance – an ambitious new work that showcases community musicians alongside one of Ireland’s leading contemporary ensembles.

Crash Ensemble

Cello – Kate Ellis
Violin – Larissa O’Grady
Clarinet – Leonie Bluett
Trombone – Roddy O’Keeffe
Electric Guitar – Barry O’Halpin

Composer/Director/Electronics – Ed Bennett

 

Read full Culture Night programme here

Sponsors & Partners

]]> Culture Night 2026 https://www.themodel.ie/?event=culture-night-2026 Fri, 04 Sep 2026 13:12:11 +0000 https://www.themodel.ie/?post_type=event&p=21016

This Culture Night The Model will transform into a vibrant hub with an evening of performance, workshops and exhibitions

Fri. 18 Sep. 2026
Free Admission

At the heart of the programme is a flagship performance by Crash Ensemble, developed in collaboration with Sligo Integration Chorus, and Sligo Ukrainian Choir alongside voices from Sligo’s new communities. Led by composer Ed Bennett, Everything is Connected brings professional musicians and community participants together through collaboration, intercultural exchange and shared creative authorship.

Visitors can also enjoy Cathy Wilkes’ solo exhibition along with an exhibition exploring the work of Jack B Yeats, aemi's newly opened experimental films touring exhibition, artist-led adult collage workshop with artist Jo Conway and drop in creative family workshops.

Vibrant, inclusive and accessible, the evening offers multiple ways to experience and participate in arts and culture.

All events at Culture Night at The Model are free of charge but some have limited availability and must be booked in advance.

For all booking details, go to themodel.ie/tickets

CRASH ENSEMBLE | Everything is Connected by Ed Bennett

8 – 9pm
Free Admission

A socially engaged project collaborating with singers from community choirs around Sligo.
Presented in association with The Model.

Crash Ensemble presents Everything is Connected, a bold and inclusive new work by acclaimed Irish composer Ed Bennett, created with collaboration and community at its core.

Commissioned by Crash, the project brings together members of the ensemble with local musicians and performers from diverse musical backgrounds in a dynamic live performance showcasing the possibilities of collaborative performance.  

Read more...

Art Workshops

Our early evening programme focuses on accessible, hands-on artistic workshops designed to introduce participants to traditional art forms and encourage cross-cultural learning. Materials will be provided for all workshops, ensuring a welcoming environment for beginners and experienced artists alike.

Collage Workshop with Jo Conway
6.00 – 7.00pm

Free Admission
Booking required, limited spaces

Join us for a playful and experimental collage workshop where you can explore ideas, images and materials in unexpected ways. Read more...

Book Now

Family Workshop
5.30 – 7.30pm

Free Admission
Drop-in, all ages

Join us for a mix of creative activities in The Model at Culture Night. Suitable for all ages, just drop in.

Exhibitions all day

Free Admission
Open until 6pm

Visit us on Culture Night to see our current exhibitions Cathy Wilkes, The Living Ginger with works from Jack B. Yeats, and newly opened Desire Lines; curated by aemi, showing experimental films. The Gallery will be open to visitors until 6pm. There is no need to book a place, admission is free.

Find more info to the exhibitions here...

Cathy Wilkes

Visit exhibition...

Desire Lines; curated by aemi

Visit exhibition...

Sponsors & Partners

]]> Culture Night | Collage Workshop https://www.themodel.ie/?event=culture-night-collage-workshop Fri, 04 Sep 2026 10:18:28 +0000 https://www.themodel.ie/?post_type=event&p=21006

Exploring Images & Ideas – Collage workshop with artist Jo Conway

Fri. 18 Sep. 2026, 6 – 7pm
Free Admission 

Workshop is free, booking is required as places are limited.

Join us on Culture Night for a playful and experimental collage workshop where you can explore ideas, images and materials in unexpected ways.

Using a mix of found and handmade images, materials, marks and textures, you’ll create collages that can become stories, characters, places or something entirely different. This workshop will explore how collage can be used as a way of thinking, making connections and expressing what’s going on beneath the surface.

Expect a little chaos, plenty of experimentation and a chance to follow your curiosity.

Artist Jo Conway has a background in theatre design and is also currently part of The Model Artists’ Studios.

No previous art experience is needed. Just come along, have a play and see what you discover.

 

Book Now

Gallery

Funders & Sponsors

 

]]> Cathy Wilkes https://www.themodel.ie/?exhibition=cathy-wilkes-2026 Wed, 02 Sep 2026 08:54:57 +0000 https://www.themodel.ie/?post_type=exhibition&p=20994

Cathy Wilkes
Sun. 13 Sep. 2026 – Sun. 17 Jan. 2027

Preview: Sat. 12 Sep. 4 – 6pm

 

Come and visit me in a million years
At the curfew an alarm will sound
Over the rough field there’s a clear sky in the darkness
I will recognise you when you come to the door

 

Cathy Wilkes grew up in a working-class area of East Belfast and moved to Glasgow aged 19, in 1985. After returning to Ireland for four years, she has lived in Scotland since 1994. Her art and writing are introspective, and sometimes at the edge of legibility. At the same time, out of Wilkes’ non-dualist world emerge figures and objects which are potently direct and seditious. The exhibition includes three Untitled installations from 2026, 2024 and 2019 together with paintings and sculpture from the same period. Cathy Wilkes represented Britain at the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019 and Scotland at the 51st Venice Biennial in 2005. She was the inaugural recipient of the Maria Lassnig Prize in 2017, marked by a solo exhibition at MoMA PS1, New York in 2018. In 2015, a touring exhibition bringing together more than a decade of Wilkes’ work was presented at Tate Liverpool, LENTOS Kunstmuseum, Linz and Museum Abteiberg, Möenchengladbach.

Her work is held in public collections at Tate Britain; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Art Institute of Chicago and Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis. Wilkes was a founding member of Castlemilk Womanhouse, Dalriada Gallery and Glendale Women’s Cafe Glasgow.

Sponsors & Partners

]]> Sligo Pride; Blindr https://www.themodel.ie/?event=sligo-pride-blindr Tue, 01 Sep 2026 09:50:11 +0000 https://www.themodel.ie/?post_type=event&p=20985

Sun. 13 Sep. 2026, 8 – 9.15pm
Free Admission

A heartfelt comedy-drama, about love, family and giving people second chances, featuring Brian Higgins, previous winner of Best Actor at the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival.

Presented by The Model in association with Sligo Pride.

 

Book Now

Synopsis

Reluctantly forced to return to his rural Sligo roots because of the need to care for his sick mother, Frank has given up on ever finding love. Prompted by his mother to get back on the dating scene, an unexpected connection on Grindr, gives him renewed hope. And with Yuri, their new Ukrainian home-help, easing his caring responsibilities, things are really starting to look up. But when an unexpected discovery completely derails his budding romance, help comes from an entirely unexpected source.

About the Artists

Sean Denyer
Writer/Director

Sean is an award winning playwright and Artistic Director of Wilde Stages, Dublin’s Queer Theatre Festival. His plays have won two National GALA Awards and three “Oscar Wildes” at the Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, as well as being nominated for Best Play at Brighton, Prague and Manchester Fringe Festivals. Now Dublin based, Sean lived in Sligo for many years and returns as often as he can!

Brian Higgins
Actor

Born and brought up in Sligo, Brian is an award winning actor who has starred in numerous plays in Ireland and the U.K For his performance in Tuesdays at Tesco, Brian was awarded, Best Actor at the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival. His next project will be starring in a sequel to Blindr, which will feature in the Wilde Stages festival in 2027. This event marks the first time Brian has been back on stage in Sligo since appearing in Blue Heart Theatre’s production of, The Baltimore Waltz by Paula Vogel at the Factory in 2015.

Gallery

Sponsors & Funders

This project is in support of the Night-Time Economy After Hours at the Museum scheme by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sports.

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