Westend Theatre & Arts Festival

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Westend Theatre & Arts Festival

A new arts festival in the West of Ireland for emerging artists.

Theatre, music, drag, visual art, mayhem; we want it all! 🙌
Open call open now APPLY via link below
🗓️ 21 - 30 July, 2025

16/05/2026

An bhfuil obair Ghaeilge agat? 👀

Tá spásanna fós ar fáil. Táimid ag lorg ealaíontóirí atá ag cruthú as Gaeilge 🌟

We have some spots available at WTAF!? 2026 specifically for Irish language and bilingual work.

This July we’re programming in Irish language and bilingual venues here in the west and we want to fill them with artists who are making work as Gaeilge.

Performers, theatre makers, musicians, spoken word artists… if you’re creating in Irish, we want to hear from you! 🙌

📅 Dátaí an Fhéile: 20 - 29 Lúil, 2026.
📅 Spriocdháta: Bealtaine 27, 5pm.

Link in bio to apply. Read the Submission Guidelines + FAQs first.

24/03/2026

One week left.

Submissions are rolling in from all over the world, the response has been nuts. People globally are clocking what’s happening here and moving on it fast 🌍

Galway artists, this isn’t something to watch from the outside. This is yours. Your scene, your spaces, your chance to leave a mark on your city. WTAF!? is opening the doors you deserve to walk through.

No excuses, no “next year.”

Show up or watch it happen without you.

Last week to apply. Link in bio 🤘

01/03/2026

WTAF!? is BACK, baby. And we’re doing it all over again 😈🔥

After an electric first year, WTAF!? returns to Galway this July for round two and our Open Call is officially OPEN.

We’re looking for bold new and emerging artists across every discipline:

🎭 theatre
🎶 music
🖼 visual art
💋 drag
🎪 circus
🎤 spoken word
🎥 film & multimedia
⚡ multidisciplinary mayhem
… and anything else that refuses to behave 😉

WTAF!? isn’t your typical festival.
We live in the in-between spaces - the back rooms, basements, rooftops, and side streets of Galway’s Westend. The places where underground art thrives.
For our second year, we’re calling for works that:

BITE BACK 💥

📅 Festival dates: 20-29 July 2026
📅 Deadline to apply: 1 April, 5pm

⚠️ Read the Submission Guidelines + FAQs before applying.
Hit the link in bio to submit.

Let’s have another year of pure, mad, unfiltered craic ✨(maybe?) can take or leave that

04/08/2025

What a festival!!?? Like… what the actual fk lads?!🫨😍

We’ve had an unbelievable 10 days, jam-packed with the weird and the wonderful. Stunning art. Phenomenal music. Show-stopping performances. And most importantly… unreal people!!!!

To everyone who came, danced, shouted, sang, helped out, tried something new or simply wandered into the Westend and asked “what the actual f**k is going on?”.. Go raibh míle 🫶

And to the community of the Westend that gave us a chance. To kind individuals in the sector doing their best to support emerging artists within a system that often doesn’t. And to sponsors who backed our vision and helped create space for new work to be seen during one of Galway’s most buzzing time of the year.

Thank you to Malachy Duggan, Lisa Regan, Karen Healy, Ado Lyons and everyone else at Galway’s Westend for helping us make WTAF!? happen. To our drinks sponsor The White Hag; thank you for providing the best beer in town and supporting us from day one. And huge thanks to the Westend Art Collective, the Roisín Dubh, BóTown, Taylor’s Bar, Massimo, and of course the Blue Note.

Lastly, to our amazing festival photographer .lenses45 - who worked tirelessly to capture WTAF!? in the most beautiful way 📸

This was our first ever festival and we couldn’t be prouder of what we created.

We’re signing off for now to rest our little heads… but we’ll be back next year for round two 😉🙌

See you in 2026 👋

29/07/2025

It’s the FINAL NIGHT of WTAF!? and we’re throwing one last hurrah to celebrate the last unforgettable 10 days 🥳

We’re taking over The Blue and Silke’s Yard from 9pm with music and dance – come have a bop and a boogie!

🔸 Galway Jam Circle from 9:00 – 9:30PM
Acoustic jams with guitars, banjos, sax and more. Folk, rock, blues and Americana!
🔸 Janaína – Tribal Fusion Belly Dance at 9:30 – 9:45PM
A modern Western form of belly dance from the 'Egyptian' or 'Cabaret' belly dance, that incorporates elements from Popping, Hip Hop and other varying styles
🔸 10PM ‘til late, Anthony Collins on the decks with some hella good tunes

📆 JULY 30, 9PM

29/07/2025

Meet the rest of the WTAF!? Dream Team 🌟

🔹 Malachy Duggan – General Manager
Mal fell into theatre by accident. Luckily for him he surrounds himself with incredibly professional people who make up for his shortcomings. He's always connecting the dots, concocting bonkers ideas and rhyming a couplet or two.

🔹 Eoin Mullins – Production Manager
Eoin’s a Galway native keeping the tech tight and the vibes right in the Blue, Massimo and now WTAF!? too. A man of many talents... actor, singer and much more but with WTAF!? you’ll find him behind the desk making everything just like work? 💅

🔹 Ashley Behrend - Line Producer
Playwright, actor, costume designer and all-round powerhouse with WTAF!? Ashley is helping us get all the bits n bobs organised behind the scenes 🙌

🔹 Oisín O’Reilly – Volunteer Coordinator
Actor and volunteer extraordinaire, Oisín is now behind the scenes working with our unreal team of volunteers like a pro.

We are so incredibly lucky to have these absolute legends helping us to make WTAF!? happen 💘 couldn't be done without yas!

29/07/2025

These past 8 days have been full of fabulous shows, unreal talent, weird and wonderful moments, late-night chats and unexpected joy 💘

Swipe through to have a peak at some of the highlights captured by the talented .lenses45

📆 Festival ends JULY 30
🎟 Link in bio for programme details

29/07/2025

It’s Day 9 of WTAF!? 🤩🙌

We can hardly believe it... If you're still up for a boogie, inspiring and wacky events, or some theatre in a pub – then we've got ya covered with another day jam-packed with class acts!

⭐ Galway Kayaking Choir are bringing music to the canal tonight with Voices on the Water at 8PM. Find them at the crossroads on Eglinton Canal (map in previous post or on our story)
⭐ Night in Nighthawks returns for night three at main bar at 5PM
⭐ LilyMay Healy’s dreamy exhibition continues at B-SIDE, 1PM - 8PM
⭐ ICONS at Westend Art Collective, 11AM - 6PM
⭐ Erin Dolan’s exhibition at BóTown, 12PM - 4PM
⭐ DOING THINGS IS GOOD FOR ME from 2PM at The Blue Note
⭐ Flashbox is floating about again so check our stories to track it down 👀
⭐ Campervan Wrinkle at Silke’s Yard, 1:30PM–5:30PM (SOLD OUT!)
⭐ D**e on D**e Road is BACK for a bonus show in the Róisín Dubh at 6PM

🎟️ Click the link for all the programme deetz: https://wtafgalway.com/festival

Final days are upon us… soak it up whilst ye can lads x

28/07/2025

Back by q***r demand! 💋

D**e on D**e Road is getting an extra date at the Róisín – because two night's just simply wasn’t enough for you guys!!

Now is your chance to come along and see one young woman’s journey to Galway for college. After a summer of interrailing and meeting beautiful European women, she finally accepts that she was and is, in fact… a raging le***an 😚

Get your tickets STAT cause they'll surely sell out again and fast!

📍 Roisin Dubh
📆 JULY 29, 6PM
🎟 Limited tickets available now at www.tickettailor.com/events/wtafgalway/1796359

Address

3 William Street West, Galway's West End

H91V184

Telephone

+353830955676

Website

https://wtafestival.com/wtafestival

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