Galway International Arts Festival and University of Galway are this year marking 16-years of their long-running partnership.

More than 60,000 visitors are expected to attend shows, performances, talks, exhibitions and events at 10 venues on the University’s city centre campus, from the Bailey Allen Hall, to lecture theatres, to the O’Donoghue Theatre and the Bank of Ireland Theatre.

Fourteen students are taking part in this year’s SELECTED programme - a whirlwind summer academy for emerging artists, theatre makers, curators and producers, and a key part of the University’s long-running Education Partnership with Galway International Arts Festival. The students of drama, English and theatre studies will get unrivalled behind the scenes experience and access to festival-making, including exclusive meetings with artists and producers.

Galway International Arts Festival Chief Executive, John Crumlish, said: “The partnership with the University of Galway has been very important to the Festival. It has been a key contributor to our development over the last number of years, facilitating the expansion of the Festival's presence and providing support for the development of new Irish work.”

University of Galway President, Professor David Burn, said: “The sheer breadth and variety of the opportunities presented by Galway International Arts Festival is something that we treasure. We are thrilled to see the festival and our partnership grow year on year. Our academics, students and staff help to make it what it is, and also get huge benefit for this long and growing relationship. We are delighted to see this year, yet again, tens of thousands of people enjoying events across the city and coming to our campus to enjoy performances and experiences with creativity at their core.”

Rena Bryson, SELECTED manager and a graduate of the programme, said: “The SELECTED programme offers a unique opportunity for students to make that transition from study to the industry while learning from and networking with industry leaders. And seeing so much work, whether as an ambassador or an audience member, over the two weeks is sure to inspire and offer new perspectives. It’s a group of exceptional young people who often after leaving Selected go on to create work together and that’s what the programme is really about offering the support, knowledge and inspiration for the next generation of artists in Galway.”

University of Galway and Galway International Arts Festival launched the Education Partnership in 2010. The collaboration is built around a shared commitment to creativity, the arts and showcasing bold, contemporary, new work, with public engagement and research and learning central to the mission.

With 2026 the International Year of the Volunteer, University of Galway is proud to sponsor the Galway International Arts Festival Volunteer Programme as well as hosting the Volunteer Hub on campus. More than 500 volunteers, including students, are taking part and playing a key role in events across the city and county - welcoming audiences and the 40 nationalities taking part in this year’s programme, stewarding at the Heineken Big Top, ushering at performances, invigilating at galleries, assisting at street spectacle events, and acting as Festival Ambassadors and Green Ambassadors.

University of Galway also hosts the Festival’s acclaimed First Thought Talks series, bringing together leading journalists, writers and university experts to explore a range of contemporary issues, from falling fertility rates and its societal implications to Irish neutrality to the affordability of home retrofitting. Speakers include renowned journalists and authors Bel Trew, Fintan O’Toole, Marion McKeon, Andrew O’Hagan, Lara Marlowe, Ben Brantley, Sally Hayden and Nick Maynard, alongside a number of distinguished University of Galway academics and researchers. 

University of Galway will once again host a series of post-show talks to explore the inspirations behind each of the theatre productions. 

University of Galway is also home to GIAF’s largest venue - the Heineken® Big Top in Fisheries Field which this year features 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, in an Irish exclusive this year 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.

University of Galway’s O’Donoghue Centre will also play host to ‘Assembly’, Ireland’s Pavilion from the Venice Biennale of Architecture. The installation is an interdisciplinary collaboration between architects, a composer, a poet and a woodworker and it is described as a prototype for a structure that facilitates non-hierarchical communication between strangers.

Vinyl Hours will again be hosted by university academic, Tiernan Henry who will take us on musical journeys, exploring the inspirations that shaped the music choices of guests, Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips and Katie Bel of Just Mustard.

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