About Kinsale Arts Festival

Kinsale Arts Festival is an annual celebration of international and local arts and culture, taking place in the unique setting of a seaside town in Co. Cork.

Now in its ninth year, the festival has become an integral part of Ireland’s cultural calendar, welcoming a selection of the most exciting established and emerging artists, writers and performers to takeover the town for nine days each July.

The festival works outside of traditional cultural spaces, and during the summer, all possible places and spaces throughout the historic town – churches, boats, halls and harbours – are transformed into temporary homes for theatre, music, literature, food, film, dance and visual art. Presenting local artists alongside established artists of international standing is integral to the festival’s mission, and we seek to provide a platform for supporting emerging talent throughout the programme.

For nearly a decade, Kinsale Arts Festival has been commissioning and hosting work from outstanding artists, writers, performers and companies of international repute, just a some of whom are listed below.

Brian O’Doherty,  Anya Gallaccio, Janet Mullarney, Alice Maher, Alan Phelan, Michael Morpurgo, Lord Puttnam, Edna O’Brien, Neil Jordan, Nevan Lahart, Katherine Beug, Nick Miller, Donald Teskey, Maud Cotter, Diana Copperwhite, Michael D Higgins, Derek Mahon, The Frames, Imelda May, Kevin McAleer, John Banville, Tim Smit, Maeve Higgins, Joseph O’Connor, Dorothy Cross, Jackie Nickerson, Eilis O’Connell, Gary Coyle, Nouvelle Vague, The Brodsky Quartet, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Matthew Hollis, Curious, Playgroup and the Traverse Theatre Company.

The festival has been opened by many well known names and faces including Jeremy Irons, Jimmy Deenihan, Jonathan Rhys Myers, Michael Morpurgo and Jean Kennedy Smith.