Welcome to Kinsale Arts Weekend 2023, the seventh consecutive year of the revived summer festival in Kinsale.

The support we receive from our local community continues to inspire us!

The development of this year’s programme is well underway and we can already share the exciting news that 2023 will feature some wonderful artists including Singer and Song writer Lisa Hannigan, Author and Poet, Francesca Bell, Actor and Comedian, Maureen Lipman, world renowned designer Joseph Walsh, writer Manchán Magan and dance, comedy and circus group, Swarm.

For a taste of what Kinsale Arts Weekend has to offer download the 2022 programme here.

We are delighted to introduce the proposed theme for our 2023 arts weekend festival.

The selkie in Irish folklore is often regarded as a mermaid or a seal woman. A selkie is a marine legend that tells of people who are half fish, and half-human. In the water, they are seals, but on land, they shed their skin and take on human form.

We will take this idea of shape shifting and skin shedding and explore themes from a female experience, from the perspective of women’s ever-changing roles in society and how it relates to creativity and the arts.

A secondary but related theme concerns fruits from the sea and reflects Kinsale’s long standing place as an historic port and fishing town and culinary capital of Ireland.

The decision to adopt a themed approach, will we believe, give the festival a cohesion and unique voice.

We seek now to invite artists to consider these rich themes encompassing Selkie, ocean and sea fruits across as many of the following disciplines as possible;

Theatre, Poetry, Visual Arts, Literature, Discussions, Music, Dance

Proposals should be forwarded to Kinsaleartsweekend@gmail.com

This year with direction from the Arts Council of Ireland, we have enlisted the support of panels to assist with the curation of exhibitors and artists.