Bealtaine Festival, Ireland’s national celebration of the arts and creativity as we age, takes place throughout May and this milestone edition will feature an array of performances, discussions, workshops, exhibitions, and online activities, honouring the past while looking toward the future.
The 30th-anniversary programme reflects Bealtaine Festival’s ethos of embracing creativity, resilience, and a ‘Lust for Life,’ inspired by the iconic Iggy Pop song.
Highlights include Songs & Stories from Silver Stars, a special 30th-anniversary recital by Seán Millar and guests revisiting the powerful Silver Stars project. Through stories and songs, this event explores themes of freedom, identity, and love, sharing the lived experiences of older Irish gay men. This performance will take place at Photo Museum Ireland in Dublin on May 17th.
A New Form of Beauty will showcase a photographic exhibition chronicling Dublin’s youth culture through its changing street styles and subcultures from the 1960s to the 1990s. The images, drawn from Garry O’Neill’s extensive archive, provide a striking visual history of Dublin’s evolving identity, a history we will feature in a deeper dive for our next edition.
