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theatre · Wednesday 16 September 2026 · Various 
Clifden Arts Festival
At Multiple venues in Clifden · Clifden, Co. Galway
At Multiple venues in Clifden · Clifden, Co. Galway
The Clifden Arts Festival is Ireland’s longest-running community arts event - now heading into its 49th year - and for eleven days each September it turns a small Connemara market town into one of the country’s most concentrated cultural gatherings. It started in 1977 as a school-based initiative and has never lost that community character: locals host visiting artists in their homes, schools open their doors for workshops, and the festival feels genuinely woven into the town rather than dropped onto it. If you want an arts festival that trades spectacle for substance, this is the one.
The programme spans theatre, live music, literary readings, visual art, film, dance and an extensive schools strand running through primary and secondary classes in the area. Main performances take place across several town venues - the Clifden Station House Theatre (a converted 19th-century goods store with 200 tiered seats attached to the Station House Hotel), Clifden Library, and the Festival Dome. The mix runs from internationally recognised acts to local and emerging talent, and the festival typically includes both ticketed evening shows and free daytime events and street performances. Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro once called it “Ireland’s best-kept secret,” which gives a fair sense of the calibre that has come through over the decades. The full 2026 programme had not been published at time of writing - check clifdenartsfestival.ie for details as September approaches.
Clifden sits at the end of the N59, roughly 80 km west of Galway city - about an hour’s drive on a clear run, longer in summer traffic. Bus Éireann runs a service from Galway to Clifden (route 923); the journey takes around two hours and stops in several Connemara villages along the way. There is no rail connection to Clifden. Street parking is available in the town, and there is a public car park off Market Street. During the festival weekend the town fills up, so arriving early in the day is sensible if you are driving.
The town sits at the edge of Connemara with the Twelve Bens mountains behind it and the Atlantic in front - good walking and cycling country, with the Sky Road loop well worth a few hours before or after a show. There is more to see in Clifden and across Co. Galway.
Heading to Multiple venues in Clifden in Clifden? Galway has plenty more to see. Read the Clifden area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.