July in Galway: Top Picks for Arts, Theatre, Film and More

We’ve trawled through the brochures and programmes to bring you the best of what’s on, and crucially, what has tickets remaining. Here’s our selection across theatre, performance, exhibition, and film. 

Pounce

Black ‘Sold Out’ buttons may be a common sight across the GIAF website, but there’s still plenty left to see and do at the Galway International Arts Festival, running 14th to 27th July. 

Among the highlights, which still have availability at the time of writing, is Beckett sa Chreig: Guth na mBan (€18–€20), a new Irish-language performance that explores the voices of women in Beckett’s work, set against a dramatic coastal backdrop. 

Why the Moon Travels (€22–€25) brings Oein DeBhairduin’s collection of Traveller folklore to life through a blend of storytelling, movement, and live music. 

While The Baby’s Room (€10) is a darkly-comic play about parenthood and uncertainty, and The Man Who Saved an Irish Rainforest (€10) tells the true story of Eoghan Daltun’s efforts to preserve a unique Irish ecosystem. 

For those seeking free events, there’s no shortage of options. John Conneely and Conor Maloney’s Funeral for Ashes is an immersive installation at Festival Printworks Gallery honouring our Irish ash woodlands that are now facing extinction, while Eman Mohammed is an award-winning Palestinian photojournalist from Gaza, whose work is on display at O'Donoghue Centre.

Art lovers can flit to and from exhibitions, such as Erin Lawlor in Festival Printworks Gallery, and the collaborative show by Laura O’Connor & Leann Herlihy in Galway Arts Centre that draws on personal histories of competitive sport and performance. Turner-prize-nominated artist David Mach also returns with a new site-specific installation Burning Down the House. 

And of course, the Festival Garden remains the social heart of GIAF, with live music, food stalls, and a relaxed atmosphere.

Book

Tickets for hotly-anticipated Irish productions Horseshoe, Christy, Sunphlowers, Re-Creation, and Trad are already long gone, but there’s still a bounty of homegrown features, documentaries, and shorts still left to discover on the schedule for the 37th Galway Film Fleadh. 

At the time of writing, tickets for In Time: Donal Lunny, an intimate documentary celebrating the life of the legendary musician, on July 11th, were still available, as were tickets for Ag Lorg Hy-Brasil, which dives into the myth and mystery of Ireland’s phantom island, showing July 9th. 

Elsewhere, Love Lane United tells the tale of a bunch of sessioners who start a Sunday league football team in a bid to move forward in their stagnated lives, also on July 9th. 

Stolen Lives is the story of the recently-deceased Sunny Jacobs, who spent 14 years on death row, and her late-husband Peter Pringle, who had also been sentenced to death, but later set up centres to help exonerated prisoners on release from prison. Their fascinating story is on screen July 10th.

Also not to be missed is Ready or Not, written by Lynn Ruane, a coming-of-age story set in Dublin in 1998. And for those drawn to the poetic and the surreal, check out Elisa in Wonderland by acclaimed artist and filmmaker Cléa van der Grijn, which pitches itself as blurring “fantasy, delusion, beauty, and dread”. Both are showing on July 12th.

Experience

A new addition to Galway’s cultural calendar, WTAF!? Westend Theatre & Arts Festival will take place from July 21st to 30th. Organised by Hysteria Theatre Company in partnership with Galway’s westend, the festival offers a ten-day programme of theatre, music, art, drag, circus, comedy, and more.

At the time of writing, tickets remain available for a range of events, including ​​It is Advisable to Look from the Tide Pool to the Stars and then Back to the Tide Pool Again, a multimedia light installation inspired by coastal landscape by Lilymay Healy, a Scéalarious Situationship, which is a love letter to modern romance, and Dyke on Dyke Road, a solo performance by Grace Hurley that follows one young woman’s journey to Galway for college, thinking she was “straight”, until a summer awakening when interrailing. 

Another highlight looks to be Doing Things Is Good For Me, an audio installation in The Blue Note Bar, which is three short monologues meditating on where joy comes from, and what gets in the way. All you need is your phone, and some earphones.

Venture

Áras Éanna Arts Centre marks a major milestone this summer, celebrating a quarter-century of visual art on Inis Oírr with a special anniversary exhibition, Áras Éanna Celebrates 25 Years: An Exhibition of Art, Memory, and Island Inspiration. 

Opening on July 12th, this show brings together a vibrant collection of painting, printmaking, textiles, sculpture, and photography from artists who have passed through the centre’s doors since 2000. 

Running until the end of September, this exhibition offers a unique opportunity to experience the past, present, and future of art on Inis Oírr. All are welcome. 

Catch

The Kenny Gallery’s Summer Show ends July 8th, so you’ve still a little more time to see this varied showcase that brings together artists from Ireland, Poland, the United States, and the UK. 

Expect established names like John Morris, Pauline Dunleavy, Mario Sughi (aka nerosunero), Lola Donoghue, Leah Beggs, Jane Seymour, and Katarzyna Gajewska, alongside first-time Kenny exhibitors Olive Cuskelly, Mary Harrison, and Birgit Lochmann. 

In particular, Joe Hogan’s willow and mixed media pieces, and Joan Finnegan’s minimalist paintings (as seen above) are not to be missed.