A Creative Collision from the Beginning - The Galway (International) Arts Festival Archive

At the half-way point in this year's Galway International Arts Festival, it is a good time to catch a breath after what has been such a packed week of the festival. This year being the first 'International' Galway Arts Festival (though of course it always was International!) it is a good opportunity to open up the archive of the Galway Arts Festival and look back at some of the hits and big events from over the years.

We are proud to hold the archive of the Galway Arts Festival here at the James Hardiman Library. It is a rich resource of history, great memories, major names and acts from all spectrum of the Arts and a record of just how the Arts Festival has grown and developed over the years, where today it stands as one of the great international arts festivals.

Here we open up some of the archives to see just how strong the programming was from its early years in the 1980s. Theatre names such as Druid of course stand out, along with Footsbarn Theatre Company and also a version of Waiting for Godot by Jim Sheridan . Literary names are full of heavy-hitters like John McGahern, Seamus Heaney, Thomas Kilroy and Paul Durcan to name a few. Art exhibitions from Robert Ballagh, Brian Boske, Patricia Burke-Brogan and others filled the visual art programme. Music from Padraig O'Carra, De Dannan, Doloros Keane, again to just but a few, were among the musical acts.

We hope you enjoy just a few highlights from the Galway Arts Festival Archive. The Archive catalogue can be viewed in full here and any queries please be in touch! Email - library@nuigalway.ie