Celebrating across the city and county, Galway International Arts Festival 2026 has announced one of its most ambitious programmes to date, featuring theatre, music, circus, dance, visual arts, comedy, street spectacle and talks over 14 exciting days and nights. Find out more here...
Carnation, a breath-taking circus spectacular from NoFit State, unleashes dazzling skill and heart-stopping moments, with live music and incredible imagery [from the team behind the sold-out Festival sensation Sabotage at GIAF 25]; a new opera, Testament from Tarik O’Regan, Colm Tóibín and Irish National Opera; one of Australia’s most electrifying choreographers Stephanie Lake with Colossus; monumental and intimate sculpture, including newly commissioned work, from Sean Henry; Druid’s new take on Dion Boucicault’s The Shaughraun, directed by the Tony Award-winning Garry Hynes; a giant whale and ship wandering the streets of Galway City; a stellar music line-up including the Patti Smith Quartet, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, James, The Flaming Lips, Emeli Sandé and James Morrison Live at the Heineken® Big Top; artists Dolores Lyne, Jackie Nickerson and Ireland at Venice; musicians Lloyd Cole, Badly Drawn Boy, Sprints, Puerto Candelaria, Sexy Tadhg, The Metropolitan Flute Orchestra and Tolü Makay; and First Thought Talks featuring Bel Trew, Fintan O’Toole, Ben Brantley, Lara Marlowe and a host of speakers, are amongst just some of the highlights of this year’s programme.
Galway International Arts Festival Chief Executive John Crumlish said; "This year’s Festival is a celebration of great ideas, creativity and talent. It’s about the very best of who we are, and we hope people will join us in celebrating that in what promises to be a great two weeks in July."
Artistic Director Paul Fahy said; "Galway International Arts Festival 2026 brings together an extraordinary range of theatre, dance, circus, music, visual art and ideas across the city and county. In a programme shaped by ambition, curiosity and collaboration, artists from Ireland and around the world present work that is bold, imaginative and alive to the moment. We invite audiences to experience Galway as a place of discovery, encounter and shared imagination over two unforgettable weeks in July."
THEATRE, OPERA, CIRCUS & DANCE
NoFit State return to Galway with the electrifying Carnation, a thrilling new circus spectacular of daring aerial work, live music and cinematic imagery, in their fully-seated NoFit State Big Top at Nimmo’s Pier, following their sold-out GIAF 2025 smash-hit Sabotage. Other international highlights include the Irish premiere of Stephanie Lake’s Colossus, where 50 dancers move as one in this monumental, hypnotic and visually stunning production; and direct from a five-month New York run following sold-out seasons across the globe, Pony Cam’s Burnout Paradise is a high-octane theatrical phenomenon combining endurance, comedy and performance in a breathless race against time.
Druid presents a landmark new production of Dion Boucicault’s The Shaughraun, directed by Garry Hynes, bringing together a stellar ensemble cast in a sweeping tale of identity, land and resistance.
New Irish work features prominently with several exciting world premiere productions including; Fishamble with Eva O’Connor’s For Dolores, which bursts onto the stage with energy, risk and a darkly comic heart, in a GIAF co-production; Testament, a major new chamber opera from Irish National Opera with music by Tarik O’Regan and a libretto by Colm Tóibín based on his acclaimed novella The Testament of Mary; while Brú Theatre’s Pádraicín sees Galway become a moving stage in an immersive promenade performance inspired by Pádraic Ó Conaire.
The Festival continues its commitment to bold and immersive forms with Enda Walsh and Paul Fahy’s Dressing Room, a new installation in the acclaimed Rooms series; Unqualified Design Studio’s Without Sin, a contemporary confessional for the modern sinner, is an installation for an audience of just two; while Darkfield’s Flight invites audiences to step inside a 40ft shipping container transformed into a realistic Airbus A320 economy cabin.
Dance and interdisciplinary work span intimate and large-scale encounters - from New Zealand come Trick of the Light’s The Bookbinder offering a spellbinding theatrical experience blending puppetry, storytelling and live action, and Chloe Loftus Dance’s striking and beautiful outdoor aerial duet The Air Between Us; to Ireland’s John Scott with Human Geography, a powerful community-led project with Galway’s migrant communities. Elsewhere, Decadent presents Jim Cartwright’s Two in the intimate setting of O’Connor’s Pub in Salthill; while a new Irish-language musical SAOIRSE at An Taibhdhearc by Shauna Carrick brings fresh energy and voice to the stage.
MUSIC
The Heineken® Big Top returns to Fisheries Field with a standout programme of international and Irish artists including the Patti Smith Quartet, Sophie Ellis-Bextor with special guest Kate Nash, James, The Saw Doctors, and The Flaming Lips with special guests Mercury Rev who will all bring unforgettable live performances to the Festival. In a special double bill Emeli Sandé and James Morrison share the stage, while Irish acts Bell X1, Block Rockin Beats and Cian Ducrot complete a vibrant Heineken® Big Top line-up.
Across the city GIAF’s live music programme features performances from The Wellermen, Gwenno, David Kitt, Lloyd Cole and Sprints, alongside a diverse range of Irish and international artists at the Róisín Dubh. At Monroe’s Live, highlights include Badly Drawn Boy, Lucy Rose, Tolü Makay and Sexy Tadhg in addition to many others, alongside the ever-popular Traditional Music Showcases. St. Nicholas’ Church plays host to Paige Dashner and The Metropolitan Flute Orchestra, and Galway’s ConTempo Quartet with Séosamh and Caoimhe Uí Fhlatharta.
VISUAL ARTS
Highlights of the Galway International Arts Festival 2026 visual arts programme include Presence, a major exhibition by sculptor Sean Henry, internationally renowned for his quietly monumental figures that transform the everyday into something uncanny and deeply human. The exhibition is installed at the Festival Gallery and outdoors at Eyre Square and Middle Arch, Claddagh. Assembly, Ireland at Venice – Ireland’s hugely acclaimed Pavilion from the 2025 Venice Biennale of Architecture, is presented at the O’Donoghue Theatre, University of Galway.
Other major exhibitions include Jackie Nickerson’s Stateside a layered photographic portrait of contemporary America; Lorraine Tuck’s Limbo, exploring histories of loss and remembrance through stark landscapes; and Dolores Lyne’s Rebel Kin: To the Letter, which draws on Civil War correspondence to create an intimate reflection on personal and political memory, all at the Printworks Gallery.
At Interface, Lough Inagh in Connemara is Aleana Egan’s A Maritime Child, which responds to the site’s past as a former salmon hatchery, while Gertrude Degenhardt’s Ómós at the Kenny Gallery celebrates the late artist’s distinctive graphic work. Elsewhere, exhibitions include James Wellwood at Engage Art Studios and a 40th anniversary show from Artspace Studios.
New work by Luke Reidy at the Outset Gallery, Sioban Piercy at Thoor Ballylee, and Tadhg Ó Cuirrín at 126 Artist-Run Gallery further reflect the Festival’s commitment to contemporary practice rooted in place, experimentation and lived experience.
FIRST THOUGHT TALKS
The First Thought Talks series, presented with the University of Galway, brings leading voices together to explore creativity and the defining issues of our time. Guests will include journalists and broadcasters Bel Trew, Fintan O’Toole, Dearbhail McDonald, Lara Marlowe, Marion McKeone, Adrian Weckler, Sally Hayden and Catriona Crowe, the First Thought curator; artists, writers and directors Garry Hynes, Sean Henry, Martina Evans, Theo Dorgan, Andrew O’Hagan and Paula Meehan, academics Sadhbh O’Neill, Roger Derham and Catriona Clear, author and critic Ben Brantley, amongst a host of others. Topics will include recent wars in the Ukraine, Gaza and the Middle East; Irish neutrality; Trump’s presidency and America in 2026; where we are with AI; Ireland in the 1920s and 1970s; creative theatrical partnerships; a love of song; climate change and retrofitting our homes.
STREET SPECTACLE
Galway International Arts Festival’s free Street Art Programme brings the city alive each year and this summer sees the incredible Compagnie PPP roam the city’s medieval streets with a fantastic spectacle based on Moby Dick featuring a giant whale and ship in The Whale Street; while Guru Dudu bring their ever-popular Silent Disco Walking Tours to town.
FESTIVAL GARDEN
The Festival Garden returns to Eyre Square, bringing the heart of the Festival to the centre of the city. A favourite gathering spot for artists and audiences alike, it’s the perfect place to meet, pause and soak up the atmosphere between events. This year the Garden is also host to two Festival shows, Flight and Without Sin, and is the starting point for Brú’s Pádraicín and Guru Dudu’s Silent Disco Walking Tours.
COMEDY
Comedy returns with The Laughter Loft at The King’s Head, featuring a line-up of leading Irish comedians, including Emma Doran, Foil Arms and Hog, Chris Kent and Enya Martin.
The Festival also continues to move forward on its journey to be ever more sustainable and accessible, to continue to be a platform for debate, an opportunity for voices from across communities to tell their stories and share their experiences and to encourage everyone to be part of the artistic celebrations.
Fáilte Ireland Head of Festivals and Events, Ciara Sugrue said: “Fáilte Ireland is pleased to support the Galway International Arts Festival. Festivals and events like this create memorable cultural experiences that encourage visitors from Ireland and overseas to discover all that we have to offer across the country. Our investment in the Galway International Arts Festival strengthens Galway’s appeal as a must-visit destination within the region, while generating meaningful economic opportunities for local businesses and contributing to the sustainable growth of tourism in the Galway region.”
Galway International Arts Festival would like to acknowledge the support of its principal funding agencies the Arts Council and Fáilte Ireland; its Drinks Partner Heineken®; and Education Partner University of Galway.
BOOKING
Booking opens 10am Friday 8 May at www.giaf.ie
Or in person from Wednesday 24th of June at the Festival Box Office, Woodquay Court, Woodquay, Galway
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