Galway City Council’s Museum Lates is part of Galway’s Night-Time Economy Programme. The initiative extends Museum opening hours on the last Thursday of every month from June to December 2026, with a free programme of immersive performances, talks, workshops and events taking place between 5pm and 9pm.

Funded through the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport’s After Hours at the Museum scheme, with support from Galway City Council, Museum Lates contributes to a thriving, diverse and accessible evening cultural offering in the heart of the city. The initiative also strengthens Galway’s tourism appeal by extending cultural activity into the evening, encouraging visitors to spend more time in the city centre and experience Galway’s heritage and creativity after dark.

Museum Lates offers a unique opportunity to explore the Museum’s collections and exhibitions outside regular opening hours while enjoying live music, engaging talks, creative workshops and community events in an exciting evening setting.

SCREENING and DISCUSSION: Dear Daughter: 30th Anniversary Screening, 6pm, Education Room

Galway City Museum will host a special screening of Dear Daughter on Thursday 24 September 2026 at 6pm, marking 30 years since the landmark documentary was first broadcast.

Dear Daughter was one of several television documentaries (including Lentin’s Stolen Lives (1999) among others, which led to the official Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (2000-2009). The film was awarded the Creative Excellence Award at the US International Film and TV Festival 1996, also was nominated for Best Social and Political Documentary, Banff Television Festival, 1996. It was also included in the final short-list for recognition in UNESCO Memory of the World (2025).

Directed by Louis Lentin, Dear Daughter centres on survivor and campaigner Christine Buckley, who recounts her childhood in Goldenbridge Industrial School and her determined search for her parents. First broadcast in 1996, it was the first televised documentary to expose the abuse of children in Ireland’s industrial schools and played a significant role in bringing survivors’ experiences into public consciousness.

The screening will be followed by a discussion featuring Christine’s daughter, Clíona Buckley, chaired by Dr Sarah-Anne Buckley. Other survivors will also be in attendance on the evening.

TALK: ’14 Flags of Belonging’, Talk as part of Architecture at the Edge Festival 2026, 6pm, Ground Floor Galleries

Meet the Artists behind a brand new public art flag display on Druid lane for the Architecture at the Edge Festival 2026. The artists vibrant designs entitled ‘14 Flags of Belonging’ will adorn the Galway skies from 17th to 27^th September 2026.

These flags are a nod to the 14 Tribes of Galway,  created in response to the festivals theme for 2026 ‘Le Chéile – the Architectures of Belonging’ . The 14 commissioned designers have worked to create a series of symbolic flags which represent various identities and communities in the city and speak to a place, a feeling, a tribe or community, a memory, and/or ideas and concepts around collective ideas of belonging, wellbeing, identity, imagination and purpose.

’14 Flags of Belonging’, is part of the Culture Night Late programme, funded by the Arts Council and the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport under the Night-Time Economy programme with support from Galway City Council Arts Office.

Shane O’Driscoll is a Cork-based visual artist and art director. He is a full time artist that practices mainly in printmaking. Shane has artwork in the permanent collection of The National Gallery of Ireland, Crawford Gallery Cork, Trinity College Dublin, Glucksman Museum UCC, and UCD.

He is also Co director of Ardú Street Art Project, an initiative that has brought a number of large scale contemporary murals to Cork City.

In 2024, he was an artist in residence for Team Ireland at the Paris Olympics, where he was commissioned to create an artwork to commemorate 100 years of Team Ireland. His art was an integral part of the Team Ireland campaign

ArchitectureAtTheEdge.com

CEOL: Olan Monk, 7.30pm, Ground Floor Galleries

Olan Monk is a musician, performer and writer from Cois Fharraige, Conamara.

Their practice involves experimental and popular songwriting, performing as a solo act and in collaboration with other musicians, including recordings and performances with Actress, Ashley Paul, Elvin Brandhi, James K, Maria Somerville, Michael Speers, Moin, Princ€ss and Shampain. They co-founded C.A.N.V.A.S. with Lugh O’Neill as an events series and record label, established in 2018 to give collective agency to an increasingly dispersed community of artists.

In 2025, they released Songs for Nothing, their second LP and AD 93 label debut. The album is a collection of songs and instrumentals that veers between collaged pop, machinic rock and slow airs; featuring contributions from Maria Somerville, Risteárd Ó’hAodha (of Princ€ss), Peadar Tom Mercier (of Trá Pháidín), Aindriú de Buitléir, Róisín Berkeley, Michael Speers and Dylan Kerr. They are currently touring as a solo performer and with collaborating performers in ever-evolving arrangements.
olanmonk.com