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The 38th Galway International Arts Festival drew to a close last Sunday evening with record-breaking attendances of 200,000 during the action packed fortnight making this year’s Festival the most successful ever.
Over 200,000 people attended the Festival’s 365 performances, talks and exhibitions across 26 venues, in addition to the thousands of people who enjoyed the spectacular Skywhale take to the skies of Galway, one of the undisputed hits of the Festival. The Festival Gallery on Market Street enjoyed in excess of 25,000 visitors alone for Australian artist Patricia Piccinini’s captivating exhibition Relativity.
Festival Chief Executive, John Crumlish added, “It has been a very good Festival and we are delighted with the general reaction to it and also the record breaking attendance. I would like to thank all those who took part, supported and attended the Festival and made it such a great two weeks.”
“We are delighted by the extraordinary reaction from both artists and audiences this year,” commented Artistic Director Paul Fahy, “Something really special seemed to ignite peoples’ imaginations this year, and despite the weather not being the best, the atmosphere around the city was just electric.”
The final action-packed Festival Weekend of performances and exhibitions ran alongside the First Thought Talks Programme creating an incredible atmosphere and energy throughout the city.
Playwright Enda Walsh paid a flying visit from London, taking a short break from rehearsals of his new opera which premiers at the Edinburgh Festival next month, to visit his theatre installation A Girl’s Bedroom on Sunday evening, while his wife Jo Ellison Fashion Editor of the Financial Times, spoke about her work at the newspaper, her stunning book Vogue The Gown and her former role as Features Editor at Vogue UK to enthusiastic audiences at the Aula Maxima at NUI Galway as part of First Thought Talks.
Theatre at the Festival drew to a close with the final performance by Galway’s Cathy Belton in the gripping Frank McGuinness play The Match Box directed by Joan Sheehy one the most talked about events of this year’s Festival. A beautiful night of readings and song took place at St. Nicholas’ Church, the sublime Long Night of the Short Story, curated by Anne Enright, Laureate for Irish Fiction, featuring singer Camille O’ Sullivan and authors Kevin Barry, Mary Costello and many more, while the Festival Big Top drew to a close last Saturday night with a spectacular roof-lifting performance by The Coronas.
In addition to the many thousands of international visitors who travelled from around the world, several international Festival directors and producers, journalists and TV crews from Australia, New Zealand, the UK, USA and Europe travelled to Galway to experience the Festival.
