Upcoming events.
Wellbeing & Mental Health Events at Riverbank Arts Centre
💙 Wellbeing & Mental Health Events at Riverbank Arts Centre
📍 Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge, Co. Kildare
📅 6th – 19th January
Start the new year gently with a series of wellbeing-focused events at Riverbank Arts Centre, designed to support mental health, connection and creativity during the quieter weeks of January.
The programme includes talks, workshops and creative sessions that encourage reflection, conversation and positive wellbeing through the arts. Open to the community, these events offer a welcoming space to pause, reconnect and take care during the winter season.
🔗 Full programme & booking: riverbank.ie
FIRST FORTNIGHT 2026: Online Creative Writing Workshop for Long Haulers with Nell Regan
✍️ FIRST FORTNIGHT 2026: Online Creative Writing Workshop for Long Haulers with Nell Regan
📍 Online (via Zoom)
📅 Thursday 15th January 2026 | 11:00am
🎟️ Pay What You Can | Recurring event
⏱️ Duration: relaxed, paced session
This gentle online creative writing workshop is designed to support people living with Long Covid, as well as others experiencing isolating health conditions such as ME/CFS. Led by poet Nell Regan, who is herself in recovery from Long Covid, the session offers a calm and welcoming space to explore writing at an accessible pace.
No writing experience is needed — just a pen, paper and a willingness to take part. The January session invites participants to bring a photo on their phone of something in nature that they love, using it as a creative starting point. The workshop is designed to support concentration, spark joy and create connection, with participants welcome to join from bed or simply listen if energy is low.
Session two (in February) builds on the first, but it is not necessary to attend both.
Please note: this is an online workshop and participants will need a device and stable internet connection to access Zoom.
This event is part of Riverbank Arts Centre’s First Fortnight 2026 programme.
🔗 More info & booking: riverbank.ie
FIRST FORTNIGHT 2026: Print Workshop with Sandra McAllister (Children)
🎨 FIRST FORTNIGHT 2026: Print Workshop with Sandra McAllister (Children)
📍 Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge, Co. Kildare
📅 Saturday 10th January 2026
🕙 10:00am (ages 5–8) | 🕛 12:00pm (ages 9–12)
🎟️ €12 | Duration: 90 minutes
Designed especially for children, this colourful and creative print workshop invites young participants to explore what makes them happy and what they hope for in the year ahead. Guided by artist Sandra McAllister, children will begin by drawing ideas inspired by joy, creativity and positive goals for 2026.
These drawings will then be transferred to foam and carefully carved using pencils before being printed in vibrant colours. Each child will take home their own handmade poster — a cheerful reminder of their hopes and creativity to display at home or in their bedroom.
This workshop is part of Riverbank Arts Centre’s First Fortnight 2026 programme.
🔗 More info & booking: riverbank.ie
FIRST FORTNIGHT 2026: Comic Making for Wellbeing with Kate Escolin
🖊️ FIRST FORTNIGHT 2026: Comic Making for Wellbeing with Kate Escolin
📍 Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge, Co. Kildare
📅 Wednesday 7th January 2026 | 7:00pm
🎟️ €20 | Duration: 90 minutes
As part of Riverbank Arts Centre’s First Fortnight 2026 programme, this creative workshop with artist Kate Escolin explores comic-making as a gentle and expressive tool for wellbeing.
Participants will be guided through diary-style comic techniques that combine drawing, journaling and personal reflection. Using creativity as a form of self-care, the workshop offers a supportive space to explore emotions, express thoughts and nurture creative practice in a relaxed and welcoming environment. No previous comic or drawing experience is required.
🔗 More info & booking: riverbank.ie
🖼️ Pattern Recognition: Architectures of Seeing
🖼️ Pattern Recognition: Architectures of Seeing
📍 McKenna Gallery, Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge, Co. Kildare
📅 Saturday 1st November – Tuesday 23rd December 2025
🕒 Mon–Fri: 9:30am–5pm | Sat: 10am–3pm | Official Opening: Sat 1st Nov at 6pm
💸 Admission Free
Celebrate 15 years of Emerging Visual Art in County Kildare with this landmark exhibition, Pattern Recognition: Architectures of Seeing.
Presented by Kildare County Council Arts Service and Riverbank Arts Centre, this special anniversary showcase brings together fifteen talented artists who have each contributed to Kildare’s rich visual arts landscape through their first major solo exhibitions.
Curated by Paula Barrett, the exhibition explores how we perceive and interpret images — weaving together memory, rhythm, and technology in an unfolding conversation between human and machine perception. Expect a fascinating mix of media and ideas that challenge us to see not just more, but more deeply.
✨ Featuring works by: Martina McDonald, Noel Hensey, Brian Cregan, Mary-Jo Gilligan, Isobel Egan, Denis Kelly, Marta Golubowska, Brenda Kearney, Michelle McBride, Caoimhe McGuckin, Shane Hynan, Katie Whyte, Gavin Casey, Kym Tracey, and Fiyin Oluokun.
🎨 Special events:
Kildare Artists Lightning Talks
Under the Banner Of workshop with Mary-Jo Gilligan
📷 Image credit: Michelle McBride
🔗 More info: riverbank.ie