Draiocht Blanchardstown

Located in the heart of Dublin 15, Draíocht is an arts centre steadfastly committed to serving its local community and influencing arts practice far beyond. Its development was instigated by a passionate cohort of people from within this unique community, with its rich tradition of drama and musical theatre and fast-growing young and culturally diverse population. Their vision and determination was rewarded when Draíocht opened in 2001, a purpose-built space with two theatres, two galleries, an artist’s studio, a workshop space and a café.

With an eclectic but high-quality programme that includes performance, visual arts and music from both up-and-coming and established artists, we now welcome over 50,000 people of all ages, stages, interests and abilities a year.

We are delighted that some of those who visit us may be coming to an arts event for the very first time. Our belief in the transformative power of the arts means that we place a lot of emphasis on encouraging and enabling the participation of those who may not have had prior opportunity to see or experience the arts. Another key area of focus is children and young people, as we seek to respond to and engage our community’s distinctively young demographic. Our unique Children’s Charter sets out our promise to the children and young people we serve.

We work closely and collaboratively with local, national and international artists and organisations who share our commitment to and ambition for these areas of work and ways of working. We nurture and support their practice and in doing so enrich our own. With a growing track record of success, we regularly share our experience of working at the heart of an urban community with others and take time to learn how others do it too.