History

For nearly five decades, GIAF has connected artists and audiences from across the world, transforming Galway each July into a vibrant meeting place of creativity, imagination, and exchange. In 2025, the Festival attracted more than 450,000 attendances across 200 performances, talks, and exhibitions in 30 venues over 14 days.

From intimate venues to large scale venues like the Heineken Big Top and from the wild landscape of Connemara to the streets of Galway where tens of thousands have experienced spectacular performances, the Festival’s settings are as diverse and dynamic as the art itself. Each space offers a different kind of encounter, from quiet contemplation to communal celebration, all rooted in the unique spirit and atmosphere of Galway, a city whose character and creativity are central to the Festival’s identity.

GIAF was founded by a group of local artists who shared a bold vision: to bring world-class art to the West of Ireland while platforming the creativity of Irish artists. Over the decades, the Festival has played a crucial role in establishing Galway as both a cultural capital for the arts and a major destination for cultural tourism.

Throughout its history, GIAF has served as an incubator for new ideas and artistic innovation. It helped to establish several of Galway’s most important arts organisations, including Macnas, Baboró, and the Galway Film Fleadh, and its programme has expanded to encompass theatre, music, visual arts, opera, dance, street spectacle, comedy, and discussion. A defining feature of its work has been its ongoing commitment to commissioning and producing original work, much of which has toured nationally and internationally.

GIAF has produced or co-produced numerous acclaimed theatre productions and exhibitions that have toured the world. Its work has appeared on major international stages and at festivals in London, New York, Dublin, Edinburgh, Chicago, Washington, Perth, Adelaide, and Sydney, earning multiple awards including Best Production at The Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards and Edinburgh Fringe First and Adelaide Fringe honours. A long-standing partnership with Landmark Productions has yielded internationally celebrated works by playwright Enda Walsh, among them Misterman, Ballyturk, Arlington, and Medicine, featuring acclaimed actors such as Cillian Murphy, Stephen Rea, Domhnall Gleeson, Charlie Murphy, and Olwen Fouéré.

A hallmark of GIAF’s creative vision was the commissioning of John Gerrard’s Mirror Pavilion during Galway’s year as European Capital of Culture 2020. Following its premiere in Galway, the work was exhibited at the Gwangju Biennale in South Korea and the Sydney Biennale of Art, reflecting the Festival’s expanding international reach. Elsewhere in the visual arts, the Festival has commissioned new works by Hughie O’Donoghue, Patricia Piccinini, Sam Jinks, Ana Maria Pacheco, and David Mach, and presented exhibitions by artists including Joni Mitchell, Sophie Calle, Louise Bourgeois, David Hockney, Henri Matisse, and Marina Abramović amongst many others.

Over the years, GIAF has hosted many of the world’s most renowned performance companies, including Els Comediants, Royal de Luxe, the National Theatre of Great Britain, Steppenwolf Theatre, The Abbey - Ireland’s National Theatre, Druid, The Royal Court, Donmar Warehouse, Bristol Old Vic, Hofesh Shechter Company, and Irish National Opera, as well as visionary directors and writers such as Ivo van Hove, Garry Hynes, Cormac McCarthy, Yaël Farber, Michael Keegan-Dolan, and Emma Rice.

GIAF’s music programme has been equally distinguished, featuring an extraordinary range of artists from global icons to boundary-pushing innovators including Radiohead, Elvis Costello, The National, St. Vincent, Primal Scream, Philip Glass, Robert Plant, Brian Wilson, David Byrne, Blondie, Bon Iver, Nile Rodgers, Omara Portuondo, Cesária Évora, Burt Bacharach, Pixies, The Flaming Lips, Sinéad O’Connor, Yungchen Lhamo, Brad Mehldau, Kronos Quartet, Mavis Staples, Mari Samuelsen, Brodsky Quartet, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and Kneecap.

In 2012, GIAF introduced First Thought Talks, a curated series of interviews and conversations exploring creativity, innovation, and the challenges shaping our world. The series has since become a major part of the Festival, featuring presidents, activists, authors, journalists, entrepreneurs, artists, architects, politicians, and academics - a forum where ideas and imagination meet.

Today, Galway International Arts Festival continues to embody the collaboration, creativity, and excellence that defined its beginnings. It is both a producer and presenter of world-class art, a champion of new Irish work, and a forum for ideas that shape how we see the world. As it nears its fifth decade, the Festival stands as a beacon of creativity on the edge of Europe - a celebration of imagination that continues to inspire artists and audiences alike.