Galway Arts Centre is excited to announce its participation in “Thursday Lates,” a six-month pilot programme developed in partnership with Galway City Council to extend their opening hours to provide greater access to arts and culture in Galway City outside of traditional working hours. Starting 3rd of April, the Centre will remain open every Thursday evening from 5pm to 9pm, for a six-month period.

A series of free, family-friendly events will also run on Thursday evenings as part of “Thursday Lates” to supplement their regular exhibition schedule, with a range of workshops, tours and talks aiming to heighten your experience of the exhibition and give more people a chance to engage with the art.

On Thursday May 29th, join them for an immersive, hands-on experience in the creation of the Le Chéile Rope, a 60m+ sculptural rope that evolves through collective collaboration. This workshop invites participants to engage in the process of weaving a tactile, haptic object using locally sourced materials such as fionnán, reeds, and grasses from Galway’s bogs, along with second-hand fabrics. The rope, a symbol of connection and community, is being woven with the help of various groups based in Galway, including the craft group of Cuan na Gaillimhe Steiner School, Teach Solais, and local friends and family.

Facilitated by Treasa, this workshop will guide participants through the traditional art of rope making, offering an opportunity to learn and contribute to the ongoing evolution of this sculptural piece. Alongside the workshop, you can explore a book featuring reflections from the contributors, available for you to leaf through in the Room for Encounters.

Treasa O’Brien (she/her) is a mother, visual artist, filmmaker and writer. She is inspired by grassroots movements, social politics, psychology and philosophy as well as art, literature and cinema. Thematically, her work explores cultural and personal memory, ecology, decolonialism, class struggle, migration, identity, and place. She often employs humour, reflexivity and surreality in her work, and blurs the lines between social relational artist, auteur artist and activist. Her film works explore fiction, documentary, and artist’s moving image, and she is most interested when those distinctions collapse.

Her work employs various media including sculpture, drawing, photography, participative work, sound, video and film. She has made several short films and three feature-length films including Town of Strangers, funded by The Arts Council, and executive produced by Oscar-nominee Joshua Oppenheimer.

Her films and art projects have been shown internationally in festivals, galleries, and social centres, and bought for broadcast. She has worked on productions for Channel 4, BBC4, and the United Nations. She has a degree in Fine Art from Limerick School of Art & Design, a Masters in Fiction Directing and a Ph.D. in Filmmaking by Practice. She has taught film and art at UCL, Goldsmiths, University of Westminster, NUIG, LSAD, UG and ATU Galway.

This Thursday, visit Galway Arts Centre for an interactive workshop and accompanying exhibition tour with Roisin Doherty from 6-8pm, where speakers will discuss the making process and the collaborative nature of this project.

For more information on these events, see www.galwayartscentre.ie.