The Clifden Arts Festival is delighted to announce our 2026 open call for all artists to apply for an exhibition or a presentation of their work at the festival in September this year. The festival runs from the 17th to the 27th of September, and this year is the 49th year of the festival. The arts festival is one of the oldest festivals in the country, with a large and varied annual audience. The whole of Clifden gets involved in the festival, and it is a really nice festival to be a part of.
FAQs
CLOSING DATE: Please fill out all sections carefully before the closing date of May 4th 2026, at 5 pm. Late submissions cannot be accepted.
AVAILABILITY: You will need to be available during the festival dates, or at least at the beginning and end, to install and uninstall your work. If you are applying for a one-off performance opportunity, you may specify dates that suit within that time. There is a question at the end of the form for other info. You can add a performance date request there if you need to.
IMPORTANT DATES: In most cases, the exhibition install must be completed by Monday, 14th September. Uninstalling must occur on the evening of Saturday 26th or any time on Sunday 27th September. You must be available for these dates
FEE: The Clifden Arts Festival is programming several indoor and outdoor spaces this year. The artists chosen to exhibit in these spaces will be paid a fee of €350 in line with the Arts Council’s paying the artist policy
COMMISSION: A commission of 20% on sales made will apply to all work sold during the festival.
ACCOMMODATION: Subject to availability and costs, artists will be offered accommodation if they live outside Galway
GROUP APPLICATIONS: We accept group applications. Please nominate a specific artist for contact purposes
ARTS TRAIL: There is a separate form for the Arts Trail. You may apply for both an exhibition and the arts trail, but you will only be chosen for one or the other.
INDEPENDENT SELF-ORGANISED EXHIBITIONS: There are also several spaces available in Clifden and surrounds, which we will not be officially supporting with a fee or production assistance, but which will be available for you to self-organise your own exhibition. The artists in these venues will not be charged commission on their sales. In the interest of fairness and clarity, we ask you to check the box “Are you interested in organising your own exhibition outside our programmed exhibitions?” if you would like to be matched with a venue in this manner. This is subject to availability. This strategy is simply an effort to make some venues more accessible to the artist or groups of artists that may feel they would not suit a larger venue, but at the same time have the capability or help to hang/produce and organise their own exhibition. The festival will be happy to also feature your exhibition in the printed and online programme.
SOME QUESTIONS ON THE FORM THAT MIGHT NEED CLARIFYING:
What artform are you hoping to exhibit/present?– You may check more than one box, but please only check the boxes that most describe your application. We have a range of specific opportunities divided between land art, performance, video, sculpture, painting, etc and will need to know specifically what you are applying for. We are also interested in whether you are local and if you are interested in exhibiting in a space that is not officially supported by the festival, but will be featured in the programme.
Would you like to facilitate a workshop?- We are interested in whether you have experience facilitating a workshop and if you would like to hold one during the festival. We may offer you a workshop but not an exhibition or vice versa.
A short description of your exhibition/presentation of work that you are applying with, including the following: – This question is for programme details. Please answer it as if it were a standalone question. Please bear in mind that ‘see above’ will not suffice here. This will hugely save our administrative time, and we are very grateful to you for repeating yourself here.
BUDGET: The budget can be very simple. We ask for just a few lines, including any significant costs and estimations of travel/fuel/transport that an exhibition at the festival will incur.
Please complete this form to apply https://forms.gle/wNijQCQC5hbukWbB7
Please email visualarts@clifdenartsfestival.ie with any questions in good time before the closing date.
