Experience the best events in Galway—completely free! Explore This is Galway's Ultimate Budget-Friendly Events Guide and never miss out on top happenings without spending a cent.
Please note: This article will be updated as events take place meaning that this article can be your go-to no matter the day of week or time of year.
Life Skills: Self-Protection & Self-Defence Classes
When: September 12th at 7.30pm // Full course - Sep 19th, 26th, Oct 3rd, 9th, 17th & 23rd at 7.30pm
Where: The Bungalow, Suaimhneas, Walter Macken Road, Mervue
More information here
Women in Galway are invited to participate in free self-protection and defence classes, starting in September 2025. Presented by Black Dragon Kickboxing Certified Personal Trainer and Instructor, Pete Foley, participants will learn practical techniques to boost confidence, situational awareness, and self-protection skills. ‘Come and Try’ sessions will take place on Monday 8 and Friday 12 September, with the full course running every Friday from 19 September to 24 October, in The Bungalow, Walter Macken Road. For more information, or to register, contact CandC@GalwayCity.ie or (091) 536 400. This course is funded by Healthy Galway City and Galway Sports Partnership.
Workshop: Hand Sewn Repairs
When: September 13th, at 10.30am
Where: Galway City Museum
More information here
This workshop, which focuses on hand sewn repairs, is run by Eimear Greaney (UPSEW). Eimear will show you how to do simple repairs, from threading a needle to darning denim. Participants will sew buttons, fix seams, mend rips and sew zips. All materials provided and the workshop is free of charge – but numbers are limited (12 attendees max.). To book your place please phone Galway City Museum at 091 532460 or email Museum@GalwayCity.ie.
Workshop: Repair Café
When: September 13th, slots at 1pm, 2pm, & 3pm
Where: Galway City Museum
More information here
A repair café is a part of a grassroots movement that aims to reduce waste, overconsumption, and planned obsolescence. This café focuses on garments and is asking people to come along with their item and a trained volunteer will be there to show and do the repair alongside them. The repairer will have some mending tools and materials with them but if it’s replacement zips or large patches the person will have to bring a coordinating zip or fabric with them. Space is limited (6 attendees max). To book your one-hour slot please contact Galway City Museum at 091 532460 or email Museum@GalwayCity.ie . Please note the one-hour slots are 1pm-2pm; 2pm-3pm & 3pm-4pm.
Festival: Culture Night
When: September 19th, from 6pm
Where: Countywide
More information here
The twentieth Culture Night takes place on September 19th, celebrating Galway city and county’s rich artistic and cultural life. Supported by the Arts Council and managed by Galway City Council Arts Office, the programme features late night events across all artforms, with a focus on inclusion, creativity, and community. Expect music, theatre, visual art, workshops, and immersive performances citywide. With so much to experience, Culture Night 2025 promises to be a thrilling celebration of creativity, diversity, and the power of shared public space. For a snapshot of the lineup for this year’s Culture Night please see the above link, to see the programme as it updates click here.
Culture Night: Live Performance - Stay Forever More
When: September 19th, from 6pm
Where: Outset Gallery
More information here
Experience Stay Forever More at a special late-night viewing at Outset Gallery, featuring ambient lighting, refreshments, and live music designed to reframe the exhibition through sound. This one-night event offers a new way to engage with Patryk Gizicki’s powerful photographic series on migration, identity, and belonging. Developed through Outset’s Graduate Open Call, the exhibition marks the artist’s first major solo show. For Culture Night, the gallery will transform into an immersive environment, with live performances from musicians who have collaborated with the artist to create a soundscape responding to the work. Expect a reflective, atmospheric evening where light, image, and sound combine to offer an alternative lens through which to experience Stay Forever More.
Literature: Readings - Inspired by Objects
When: September 20th, at 12pm
Where: Galway City Museum
More information here
As part of the Bealtaine Festival in May 2025, Galway poet and writing facilitator Gerry Hanberry guided a group of enthusiastic writers – some complete beginners, others already published – as they explored Museum objects and the stories behind them. Each week, a new object or collection sparked creative responses. Participants focused directly on the objects or allowed the objects to take them on imaginative journeys in poetry and prose. The resulting works explore a rich mix of themes in a variety of styles. On Saturday 20th September some of the participants will share their work in a special one-off public reading at the Museum.
Music: The Dark Well
When: September 25th, from 8pm
Where: Róisín Dubh
More information here
The Dark Well – A Ground Breaking Collaboration of Banjo & Harmonica at Róisín Dubh. Two masters of their craft, Enda Scahill and Joel Andersson, come together to create something never before heard—a full album of Irish music on banjo and harmonica, a world-first recording that reimagines the tradition with breathtaking virtuosity and innovation.
Fun: Be Active Night 3k Colour Run
When: September 26th, from 7pm
Where: Starting from Ladies Beach
More information here
Come join Galway Sports Partnership for an exciting night filled with vibrant colors and fun at Ladies Beach! Get ready to splash into a sea of colour and celebration as they mark the European Week of Sport 2025 with one of Galway’s most joyful events! Organised by Active Cities Galway, this inclusive, fun-filled 3km run welcomes everyone - all ages, all abilities, all smiles! Get ready to run, walk, or dance your way through a glow-in-the-dark course while being splashed with colorful powders. This event is perfect for all ages and fitness levels, so bring your friends and family along for a memorable evening. Don’t miss out on this unique experience – sign up now and let’s light up the night together!
Festival: Lasta presents the exhibition 'Tension' by Zara Hering
When: October 1st-5th, from 10am
Where: Town Hall Theatre
More information here
Zara’s practice explores the delicate interplay between control and surrender. In her current body of work. large-scale, abstract patterns rendered in pen on paper. She embraces an intuitive process where the act of making becomes the art itself. What unfolds is not a predetermined image, but a dialogue: between hand and line, thought and instinct, artist and material. A graduate of IADT with a background in sculpture, Zara previously worked with steel and fabric to express themes of tension, physical, emotional, and psychological. Fabric strained against welded frames spoke to internal pressures, resistance, and release. That same energy persists in her drawings, where repeated patterns echo a meditative rhythm, but never strive for perfection. Instead, the work emerges through a kind of listening. This surrender is both an artistic approach and a personal ritual, one rooted in healing. Letting go of control, embracing flow, and allowing uncertainty are central to her evolving practice. Her drawings become more than visual works; they are the trace of an internal process, a tangible record of trust and tension held in balance. Zara’s work invites the viewer into this space, one where softness and structure co-exist, and where silence speaks. It doesn’t seek to explain itself, but to be felt. Each line, each repetition, is an echo of presence, a gesture of letting go.
Music: Nature TV
When: October 2nd, from 11.59pm
Where: Róisín Dubh
More information here
Door-to-door heartbreak salesmen Nature TV peddle an elixir of escapism and adventure. Sorrow and despondency. Contemplative nostalgia and tender melancholy. Hailing from Brighton it’s a canvasing technique they employ around the British Isles. Geographically out of phase with the main character energy of London, Guy Bangham (guitar, vocals), Josh Eriskin (bass) and James Hunt (lead guitar, backing vocals) write sadboi yacht rock, layered with all the buried trauma of a Wes Anderson plot. Playing in the Róisín Dubh, Galway on October 2nd, support on the night will be The Works.
Festival: Lasta presents FUSE Music Collective Children’s Workshop – Let’s Sing!
When: October 4th, at 12pm
Where: Town Hall Bar
More information here
This is a group singing workshop for young voices, open to children from Junior Infants – 2nd class. During the Let’s Sing workshop, young people will get that chance to: Sing in a group / Play singing games / Learn helpful techniques / Build performance confidence / Arts and crafts session / Make new friends. FUSE will be performing songs by lots of artists including Taylor Swift, George Ezra, Ed Sheeran and many more. The second half of the workshop will be a relaxing arts and crafts session while listening to some of your favourite music. All materials will be provided.
Music: International Uilleann Piping Day
When: November 1st, at 1pm
Where: Galway City Museum
More information here
The uilleann (‘elbow’ in Irish) pipes or ‘Irish pipes’ are a sophisticated form of bagpipe with a history that can be traced back to the 1700s. In recognition of its cultural importance, uilleann piping was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2017. To celebrate International Uilleann Piping Day (IUPD) 2025, join the pipers at Galway City Museum. This musical event is free of charge and no booking is required.
Music: the drive.
When: November 6th, from 11.59pm
Where: Róisín Dubh
More information here
Dynamic and autonomous, Cork-based outfit the drive. have crafted a sound that fuses the dark, visceral energy of grunge with the reverb-drenched textures of shoegaze. A string of standalone singles first garnered international attention – earning the group US airtime, extensive press across Ireland and the UK, and features on Spotify’s ‘melomania.’ and the cover of ‘Alternative Ireland’. A band acclaimed for their captivating live performances of melancholic works, the drive. have built an impressive live résumé; with their stage successes including sold-out headline shows across Ireland – such as Whelan’s Upstairs and The Grand Social (Dublin), and Cyprus Avenue (Cork) – alongside festival circuits throughout the UK and Ireland. With a growing reputation and a unique sonic identity, the drive. have rightfully earned their place as one of Ireland’s most exciting emerging bands.
Illustrated Talk: The Story of the GAA in Objects
When: November 8th, at 2pm
Where: Galway City Museum
More information here
Founded in 1884, the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) is a huge part of the Irish consciousness and plays an influential role in Irish society that extends far beyond the sports. In popular imagination and experience, the GAA is often evoked in terms of its objects from medals passed down from generation to generation and jerseys worn in All-Ireland finals, to more unique items, such as Michael Cusack’s blackthorn stick. Join cultural historian Siobhán Doyle, author of A History of the GAA in 100 Objects (2022), as she shares the stories behind some of the GAA’s most iconic objects, with a special focus on Connacht and Galway. Among the Galway objects featured in her fascinating book are a ‘Citie of the Tribes’ banner – carried in defiance of British authorities on Gaelic Sunday in August 1918 – and ‘Colie K’s Hole in the Ceiling,’ a dent left in the roof of Taaffe’s Bar in Galway when Pádraic Joyce scored during the 1998 All-Ireland Football Final, which prompted an exuberant celebration.
Music: Kling Klang
When: December 4th, from 11.59pm
Where: Róisín Dubh
More information here
Kling Klang are an artrock synthesizer band influenced by krautrock / noise / experimental / stoner music such as Neu!, Black Sabbath, Suicide, Trans Am and TwinKranes. The band are currently touring in support of their upcoming release on Wrong Speed Records, and the repress of their critically acclaimed debut LP “The Esthetik Of Destruction”. The current lineup features Joe McLaughlin, George McFall and Ricky White alongside Jon Hamilton from Part Chimp.
Feature photo by Chaosheng Zhang
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