The 2026 Bealtaine Festival, Ireland’s national celebration of creativity in older age (run by Age & Opportunity), takes place throughout May with events nationwide. It features a diverse mix of arts, film, performance, and community engagement, promoting the artistic contributions of older people. Proudly funded by the Arts Council and the HSE, with the support of communities nationwide and a vast network of accomplished local and national bodies.

SO Fine Art Editions are pleased to present Cut Flowers by Oisín Byrne, an Irish artist, writer and filmmaker based in London. This new series of screenprints continues his exploration of scale, bold colour, floral form, gesture and the passing of time, and will also open at Connolly, London, on 1 May 2026. Moving fluidly between painting, film, performance, sound and text, Byrne describes his studio practice as a dialogue between focused, reflective work and instinctive mark-making, often exploring the shifting boundaries between conscious thought and intuitive gesture. His studio itself

Irish Times arts journalist Nadine O’Regan hosts this much anticipated event with singer Mary Coughlan, Barry Devlin (bass/Horslips), and Keith Donald (sax/Moving Hearts). Expect an entertaining, honest, and revealing conversation with three of the most iconic figures in contemporary Irish music about their professional successes, personal lives ‘on the road,’ and varied tales of addiction. Open captioning will be available at this event.

An ode to the unique, this experimental play embraces the irreplaceable in a world of homogeny and disposability. Someone Else challenges the unfettered drive towards progress and the erosion of human value by asking what’s lost, and what cannot be replaced. An experimental play performed by Liam Bixby, Lise-Ann McLaughlin, Venus Patel and Lórcan Strain, Someone Else is a show that attests to the importance of mischief and play To the backdrop of overconsumption, disposability and impermanence, Someone Else offers audiences a moment of mooring. It can feel that human value is diminish

One of Ireland's most successful singer/songwriters, Paul's legendary band, The Blades, was powered by a rich and memorable songbook including all-time classics Ghost of a Chance, Downmarket, and Revelations of Heartbreak. Fueled by Paul's Ringsend roots, an iconic voice, and heartfelt musical poetry, the band remain as dynamic and relevant today as they continue to attract new fans and pack out venues nationwide. Paul is in conversation with broadcaster/musician Tom Dunne (Something Happens)

After a sold-out run in The Boys’ School, Awkward Prods are bringing Diana BACK to Smock Alley Theatre due to exceptional demand, and this time the multi-award-winning, Edinburgh Fringe sell-out show takes the main stage. Do you know the story of Diana? Probably. But do you know this story of Diana? We very much doubt it. Join Diana in heaven as she shares the untold and untrue tale of her extraordinary life.  Combining drag, multimedia, audience interaction, puppetry, and a lot of queer joy, this unique celebration of the People’s Princess has won multiple awards and sold out venues

Adapted and directed by Liam Hourican​ With live period music from two acclaimed musicians! Leopold Bloom finds himself in the proverbial lion’s den of Barney Kiernan’s, subjected to the simmering antisemitism of the blinkered Citizen and a jeering entourage. A toxic mix of heavy drinking, Dublin pub banter and political discourse culminates in an explosion of xenophobic violence and an assault with a biscuit tin. In CYCLOPS, Volta draws on its roots in cabaret and sketch comedy to conjure Joyce at his comedic best. After three sold-out runs of its critically-acclaimed Counte

The table is set for Denis, arriving home from Dublin where he’s studying Medicine at Trinity College – a source of enormous pride for his besotted mother and of great resentment to his five other siblings. But when word comes that he may have failed his exams again, the final straw breaks. Threats of deportation, lawsuits, bribes and counter-bribes escalate, as the family twist the fate of their whiteheaded boy to suit themselves. Never mind about the girls. A smash hit when it premiered at the Abbey Theatre 110 years ago, Lennox Robinson’s The Whiteheaded Boy is a raucous, high-s

Join Pallas Projects/Studios for an in-conversation event with artist Ciara Rodgers and curator Aideen Quirke, discussing Paper Façades make Tender Follies. Bringing her experience as a curator, facilitator, and collaborator working across contemporary art, collective care, and activist methodologies, Quirke will join Rodgers in a discussion expanding on the themes of the exhibition. These include architecture, gendered experiences of urban space, precarity, and the contradictions embedded within the contemporary built environment. Through installation, material experimentation, and spatial i