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nightlife · Tuesday 21 July 2026 · 8:00pm 
Sligo Jazz Project International Summer School - Festival Club Nights
At Multiple Sligo venues (festival club tbc) · Sligo town, Co. Sligo
At Multiple Sligo venues (festival club tbc) · Sligo town, Co. Sligo
The Sligo Jazz Project is one of Europe’s most respected jazz education festivals, and its nightly festival club is where the week really loosens up. From 21 to 26 July 2026, the town fills with players from across the globe - tutors, summer school participants and local musicians - and every evening the formal teaching day gives way to live music that runs late into the night. If you have no interest in workshops but love jazz, the festival club nights are the reason to come to Sligo this week.
The festival club runs nightly at the Hawk’s Well Theatre lobby from around 10:30pm and entry is free. The format is part curated set, part spontaneous jam: summer school tutors sit in alongside participants, and the level of playing is consistently high because the faculty are working professionals from the international circuit. Past years have drawn musicians of the calibre of Rufus Reid and Melissa Aldana; the 2026 artist in residence is Aaron Parks, the American pianist and composer known for an introspective, harmonically rich style - and he is not just giving masterclasses, he is playing.
Beyond the club night itself, the festival scatters free sessions through the pubs, hotels and cafés of Sligo town from morning until late. The programming spans modern jazz, classic standards and more experimental territory, so there is no single sound defining the week. The main ticketed concert - Aaron Parks performing two sets with two different lineups at the Hawk’s Well Theatre on Friday 25 July - is priced at €25 (€12.50 under-18s) and worth booking ahead.
The summer school itself is open to all ages from 10 upwards, with no auditions and no grade requirements - an unusually democratic setup for a festival at this level.
Sligo town is straightforward to reach by road on the N4 from Dublin (roughly two and a half hours) or the N15/N16 from the north and west. Bus Eireann operates direct services from Dublin Busaras, and Irish Rail runs daily trains on the Dublin Heuston to Sligo line - the journey is around three hours and the station is a short walk from the town centre. Most festival club nights are at the Hawk’s Well Theatre on Temple Street, which is central and within easy reach of the town’s car parks. Street parking in Sligo is metered during the day; evenings are generally easier.
Sligo has real pull beyond the festival week - the Yeats connection draws visitors all year, and the surrounding coastline at Strandhill and Rosses Point is among the finest in Connacht. There is more to see in Sligo and across Co. Sligo.
Heading to Multiple Sligo venues (festival club tbc) in Sligo? Sligo has plenty more to see. Read the Sligo area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.