Celebrate Culture Night 2026 at Galway City Museum with a packed programme of free events, including live music, storytelling and a guided walking tour of the town. The Museum will remain open until 8pm.

The theme of this year’s Culture Night walkabout is Life in Galway’s Institutions. Speakers from the University of Galway and elsewhere will introduce some institutions and discuss life within their walls.

This free event will start promptly at 5 pm, at the entrance to the Galway City Museum. Participants should turn up in good time, prepared for any weather eventuality. The walkabout will proceed from the Museum to a number of other sites around the city, with different speakers presenting for 7-8 minutes at each.

The event, which is coordinated by John Cunningham and Brendan McGowan, as part of Galway City Museums Culture Night programme, is supported by the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society.

Speakers and Topics

5.00 Introduction : John Cunningham

5.05 Salthill Industrial School : Sarah-Anne Buckley

5.13 St Anne’s Industrial School, Lenaboy : Conall Ó Fatharta

5.26 Institutions in the writings of Pádraic Ó Conaire : Brendan McGowan

5.40 Orphans’ Breakfast Institutes : Mary Cunningham

5.49 Magdalen Asylum : Lorraine Grimes

6.04 Galway Mendicity Institute : John Cunningham

6.18 Children in Galway Gaol : Geraldine Curtin

6.32 The Galway Workhouse : Sorcha Clarke

Participants are also encouraged to visit the exhibition in the Museum, ‘Survivor Stories: Tuam and Ireland’s Institutional Past’, which runs until 19 Meán Fómhair 2026.

Culture Night is supported by The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon and the Galway City Arts Office

Photo: Aerial view over the site of St Joseph’s Industrial School, Galway. GCM Collection.