Galway Arts Festival

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Galway Arts Festival is an annual arts festival that takes place each July in Galway, Ireland. It is Ireland’s leading arts festival^{[citation needed]} and one of the most successful and influential arts enterprises in the country.^{[citation needed]} The Festival is one of the key European arts festivals.^{[citation needed]} It enjoys an international reputation for innovation and excellence.^{[citation needed]}

Galway Arts Festival is an international celebration of the performing and visual arts and an important showcase for Irish arts and international arts. Over 150,000 people attend Festival annually^{[citation needed]} with hundreds of writers, artists, performers and musicians creating theatre, spectacle, street art, music, comedy, literature and music producing a wonderful^{[peacock term]} fortnight of cultural activity and celebration.

The Festival creates a huge impact on Galway^{[citation needed]} and remains at the heart of many aspects of life in the city, steering it to its current standing as one of the leading centres for the arts in Ireland.^{[citation needed]} Galway has now been long considered a centre of cultural excellence^{[citation needed]} and the Festival continues to grow as a major attraction for national and international visitors. The Festival’s contribution to the economic, social and cultural life of the west of Ireland is hugely significant.^{[citation needed]}

Founded in 1978 the success of the Festival over the past three decades has placed Galway Arts Festival as a leader in arts provision on a national and international stage.^{[citation needed]} This platform allows artists to enjoy maximum exposure for their work and allows audiences to experience and enjoy a wealth of unique^{[citation needed]} events adding to the magic and diversity of Galway in July each year.

Theatre and dance companies including Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Chicago, the Royal National Theatre, London, The Royal Court, James Thierree, Stephen Petronio Dance Company, Hubbard Street Dance, The Abbey Theatre and Galway’s world famous Druid Theatre have all performed at the Festival. Artists and musicians including Bill Viola, Joni Mitchell, Hughie O’Donoghue, Walker Evans, David Byrne, Blondie, David Gray, Brodsky String Quartet, Stephen Isserlis and Philip Glass have all recently participated at the Festival

The Festival’s current Artistic Director is Paul Fahy.

“But the peculiar joy of Galway is that it covers the artistic waterfront without, like its famous Scottish sister, (Edinburgh), offering us a deluge. I've rarely encountered a better curated festival or one that more exhilaratingly mixed the local and the international.” The Guardian, London July 2008