Galway City Council's award-winning Climate Inspirations Festival has been hailed a major success following five days of talks, music, workshops, exhibitions, and community events across Galway City.
Thousands of people engaged with the festival programme, which brought together community groups, artists, musicians, climate experts, educators, and citizens to explore positive and practical responses to climate change.
Highlights included a special conversation with former President Michael D. Higgins and Ruairí McKiernan, inspiring talks from Harrison Gardner, John Gibbons, and Róisín Murphy, lively performances from Jiggy, interactive community events such as Giob Geab Storytelling Night and the Climate Cocktail Club, as well as the popular NZEB Retrofit Rig, which gave visitors a hands-on look at home energy upgrades and retrofitting solutions.
Mayor of the City of Galway, Cllr. Helen Ogbu, who launched this year's festival, praised its success:
"The Climate Inspirations Festival demonstrates the very best of Galway – bringing together creativity, community and innovation to inspire action. It was wonderful to see such strong public engagement across the programme and to witness people of all ages coming together to learn, share ideas and explore solutions for a more sustainable future."
The festival continues to grow in scale and impact, building on its recent recognition as Festival of the Year at the Chambers Ireland Excellence in Local Government Awards. Through culture, storytelling, music and community participation, the festival aims to make climate action accessible, engaging and hopeful.
New for 2026, the festival is delighted to partner with Galway City Night-Time Economy, funded by Galway City Council and the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport, supporting an expanded programme of evening and late-night events across locations.
Thank you to Galway City Council’s Environment Section, with funding through its ‘Circular City Galway’ initiative, and Galway City Council's Community Section, with funding under LCDC. Also, thanks to Galway County Council, the City Bin Company and Galway Volunteer Centre.
Galway City Council would like to sincerely thank all festival partners, organisers, speakers, performers, volunteers, community groups, venues, sponsors and attendees whose support and enthusiasm made this year's festival such a memorable success.
The Council also wishes to acknowledge the work of its Climate Action Team and the many organisations and individuals who contributed their time, expertise and creativity throughout the week.
As another successful festival comes to a close, Galway City Council looks forward to continuing to work with communities across the city to build a more sustainable, resilient and climate-friendly future.