The 20th Culture Night will take place across Ireland later today.
The annual celebration of the arts and creativity takes place in hundreds of venues and public spaces.
Over 1,700 events are on offer in this year's programme and admission to all Culture Night activities is free of charge.
It began first in 2006 in Dublin, with an invitation to local organisers to open up cultural spaces late on a Friday in September, to encourage people to explore theatres, museums, galleries, libraries, and studios they might not usually visit and to make culture accessible to everyone.
From its Dublin beginnings, Culture Night quickly spread nationwide and by 2008, major cities and counties outside the capital were on board.
Events are free of charge and include concerts, workshops, tours, exhibitions and, pop-up performances with events taking place in many Irish cultural centres abroad too.
Hundreds of venues will open their doors to showcase diversity and a range of cultural activities from music and dance to film, theatre and heritage tours amongst many others.
In more recent years, there has been a growth in the scale of events on offer later at night too to support the night-time economy and present culture as something vibrant and alive in the evenings.
Commenting on the return of Culture Night, Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport Patrick O'Donovan said: "Tonight, villages, towns and cities across Ireland will light up for Culture Night and I encourage everyone to make the most of the incredible array of events, celebrating arts and culture in all its forms."
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