Galway International Arts Festival 2021 rescheduled for end of August

Galway International Arts Festival is to change its dates this year, moving from its usual late-July fortnight to late August and early September after the Government updated its Covid-19 guidelines on Thursday night.

It will now run a mix of live and online events from August 28th to September 18th. Large concerts announced for the Big Top have been rescheduled for next year’s festival.

The centrepiece of this year’s festival, whose full programme is to be announced in June, will be the second part of John Gerrard’s stunning Mirror Pavilion: Leaf Work, at Derrigimlagh Bog for the full run of the festival. This follows last year’s first part of the project, a centrepiece of the 2020 festival and part of Galway 2020, in the city at Claddagh Quay. The second pavilion at Derrigimlagh Bog, in Connemara, was originally planned for last autumn.

Galway International Arts Festival has also announced a new commissioning and bursary strand, Elevate, to support artists in creating and presenting "original, contemporary and captivating ideas to engage both live and digital audiences".

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This year’s festival had been due to run in Galway from July 12th until July 25th. Last year’s festival became a smaller programme of events in September, including a work-in-progress of Medicine, a new play by Enda Walsh, earmarked for the 2021 festival.

The festival says it is “hugely grateful for the support and loyalty it received from audiences last year... with attendances at live art experiences across the four-week period totalling 126,327, while an additional 28,459 people engaged with the programme from home”.

The Government’s new Covid-19 guidelines allow for the phased reopening of the cultural sector, with pilots of big music and sport events, both indoor and outdoor, to test their safety, which Minister for Culture and Arts Catherine Martin hopes will happen in the summer.

Galleries, museums, other cultural attractions and libraries will be allowed to reopen on May 10th. Small organised cultural events outdoors, for up to 15 people, will also be possible from then. Cinemas and theatres are due to reopen in June, although precise dates and maximum audience sizes have yet to be announced. Such uncertainties will make it hard for festival organisers to commit to a range of events at this stage, as they have to plan so far in advance.

Concerts already announced for the Heineken Big Top in Galway – including by Pixies, Jon Hopkins, The Stunning, The Academic, The Flaming Lips, Kaiser Chiefs and Sinéad O'Connor – have been rescheduled for dates in 2022. Tickets will be valid for the new dates. (Anybody with queries should email boxoffice@giaf.ie.)

In the run-up to this year’s event, Galway International Arts Festival is releasing a new Vinyl Hours Podcast series, based on a popular live element of the festival. The series of conversations will feature Stephen Murtagh of The Academic, Steve Wall of The Stunning, and the Abbey Theatre’s new artistic director, Caitríona McLaughlin, among others, talking about the soundtracks of their lives with host Tiernan Henry.