We want to open up ways for people to experiment with all kinds of culture.
Culture Connects is a year-round programme that invites people in Dublin to try out new things. We offer ways for people to make and create together, to share ideas and connect through culture and conversation.
A gardening workshop with Eco-Gardener in Residence, Polly Rowley-Sams
In 2025, we expanded our Culture Connects programme, adding new activities and adapting some of our workshops following feedback from participants.
Over 21,000 people took part in the Culture Connects @ Richmond Barracks programme. We offered over 900 creative workshops, talks, tours, and seasonal fairs and worked with over 120 artists, makers, historians and creative facilitators.
Here’s what one person has said about taking part in The Moving Choir, one of our Culture Connects workshops in 2025:
“It was a fantastic workshop in a beautiful space. The facilitators of the moving choir workshop made everyone feel comfortable to take part and by the end it felt like a community. Lots of moments of beauty, laughter, mindfulness, fun and physical exercise too. Great to have a chance to be so present in my body.”
Our approach is grounded in listening and responding. This enables us to offer experiences that have relevance and resonance in people’s lives, while recognising that everyone connects with culture differently.
We develop Culture Connects based on what we learn from listening: through chats with participants, feedback surveys, and engagement in the local community. We learn what you enjoy, what you want to try, and how we can continually improve.
Sing for Fun concert in Richmond Barracks
In 2025 we expanded the Culture Connects programme, delivering over 280 more creative workshops in 2025 than we did in 2024. We also increased activities at evenings and weekends to suit more people’s schedules.
We continued our weekly tours, Sing for Fun choir workshops, monthly historical Talks at the Mess, monthly Online Book Club, and regular dance, visual arts, textiles, crafts, creative writing, history, biodiversity and eco-gardening workshops. We also introduced new cultural activities, including making (electronics), creative drama and poetry yoga.
Last year we grew our programmes for children and young people, developing more opportunities for all age groups to try something new, with 189 dedicated workshops across the year (over 100 more than 2024).
Our Sketchbook Club for young people aged 15 to 23 began in March 2025 and has grown since then with workshops increasing from monthly to weekly.
Here’s what some participants of Sketchbook Club have said:
"Love the freedom of talking to other people and being able to draw what I want. Love our host, Kate. Love the songs and choosing songs and giving requests."
"I enjoyed being able to talk to new people and bond over common interests.”
Young people taking part in a Culture Connects workshop
Through listening, we learned that families wanted more flexibility with scheduling to accommodate last minute changes of plans, so we introduced ‘Make and Create’, a weekly drop-in workshop for families. This takes place every Saturday afternoon from 2 pm to 3.30 pm.
Our Friday workshops for younger children continued.
“The class was great for toddlers. Shane is great with the children. I have one day off work a week with my daughter and I had been looking for a class close to me on Fridays for a while, this venue and class is perfect for us! The staff are helpful and the building is great for the community.”
Participant feedback, September 2025
Working closely with our partners, we open up new ways for people to access cultural activity more easily and confidently in order to develop and expand their cultural habits.
Culture Connects participants visited the National Concert Hall, National Gallery of Ireland, IMMA, Dublin Dance Festival, CoisCéim, and the National Museum of Ireland for exhibitions, performances and workshops.
We also worked with community partners to offer tailored workshops for their groups, including Bluebell Youth Project, Hill Street Family Resource Centre, Scoil Muire Gan Smál, and CDETB (City of Dublin Education and Training Board) Foundations project, which supports families and young people experiencing homelessness.
Many Culture Connects participants made and shared their own work and worked together on creative projects.
Sing for Fun participants held a summer concert which was open to members of the public and to which they invited family and friends. They also performed at the three seasonal fairs throughout the year.
The Richmond Barracks Writers group held a Poetry Day event in the garden in May where they read their own poetry.
‘Writing for Wellness’ workshop participants worked together with poet Trudie Gorman to create 'The Healing Well' publication, a collection of prose and poetry that touch on themes such as grief and healing, displacement and finding home, individual journeys, shared community and calls to action. The book is available in Dublin City Libraries.
“Being part of The Healing Well was a rare gift - a space where creativity, illness and resilience intertwined. I feel a part of me transformed through this experience, held by support, validation, and creativity.”
Mim Greene, participant of Writing for Wellness, and contributor to The Healing Well.
Pictured from left to right: Poet and workshop facilitator Trudie Gorman, Culture Connects Programme Manager, Laura Howe, and 'The Healing Well' contributors, Mim Greene and Jacinta Fortune.
We would like to thank everyone who took part in Culture Connects in 2025. We hope to see you again soon.
You can view our full programme on our What's On Page.
Posted 23 Eanáir 2026
Tagged with: News