Clifden Arts Festival 2025 is inviting audiences to embark on The Journey—a celebration of how art, story, and experience shape who we are. Running from September 17-28, this year’s theme explores paths of memory, heritage, migration, transformation, and the imagination. The festival continues to honour Clifden’s identity as a place where past and future meet through creativity.
Festival highlights include performances by Cork’s White Horse Guitar Club, whose blend of Americana and Irish folk delivers harmony and heart. Hot House Flowers return with their legendary energy, while All Folk’d Up offer a lively take on traditional Irish sounds.
Masterful storytelling takes centre stage with Seamus O’Rourke’s Indigestion, an evening of myth and magic with Tommy Tiernan and Martin Shaw, and insights into modern Ireland from David McWilliams and historian Diarmaid Ferriter. Donal Ryan, one of Ireland’s most celebrated novelists, joins the literary lineup alongside a reading with playwright Marina Carr and poet Mary O’Malley.
The Irish Chamber Orchestra performs Water Music under the baton of Richard Egarr, featuring Deirdre McKay’s poignant Meltwater and Handel’s timeless suites.
This year’s visual arts programme is a journey in itself: from Eoin O’Malley’s stormy seascapes painted by mouth, to Kari Cahill’s fire-imbued pigment works, to Synaptic Space’s powerful outdoor performance on ageing. Japanese land artist Mayumi Nakabayashi will transform St. Mary’s Chapel and Graveyard into a sanctuary of natural mandalas, inviting visitors to witness and take part in the creative process.
The schools programme also returns, fostering creativity in younger generations across Connemara.
Festival Director Desmond Lally says:“This year, we reflect on what it means to move—through time, across place, and within ourselves. The Journey is personal, collective, and deeply human. We’re honoured to welcome artists whose work speaks to that shared experience.”
