FOUR days of creativity and culture will be showcase at the Bere Island Arts Festival from September 17th to 20th.

This year’s festival features its most ambitious line-up to date, combining high-profile performances with grassroots island traditions in a truly unique setting.

Now in its fourth year, the festival’s motto 'Discover, Connect, Belong' offers visitors an experience unlike any other.

From the moment people arrive on the island, they become part of an intimate and welcoming community, sharing stories and ideas against Bere Island's beautiful backdrop.

A highlight of the 2026 festival will be the globally revered artist Imelda May, who brings her ‘Raised on Songs & Stories’ show to the island on the Saturday evening.

It promises to be a rare, stripped-back performance that will feature acoustic versions of her songs intertwined with poetry and storytelling in an incredibly intimate setting.

The festival will also host the Cork debut of The Devil’s in the Dancehall on Thursday night. Directed by Edwina Guckian and featuring The Gralton Big Band, this immersive and joyous live performance explores the suppression of Ireland’s rural dance halls in the 1930s.

Audiences will be invited onto the floor to dance the night away, experiencing the fierce, rebellious joy of expressing freedom, or the desire for freedom, through dance.

Theatre takes centre stage with Holding Bones, a moving and imaginative new work from award-winning Púca Puppets. Written and performed by veteran theatre-maker Niamh Lawlor, the piece blends storytelling, puppetry, visual art and live drawing as she playfully brings generations of family characters back to life. Funny, tender and deeply affecting, Holding Bones explores family, memory, love, loss and the rituals that help us navigate the cycle of life.

The spoken word will continue to be a cornerstone of the festival. On Saturday, island native and poet Seamus Harrington will celebrate a remarkable milestone, launching his debut poetry collection, Time and Tide.

Audiences can also look forward to an evocative Haiku workshop and walking tour with acclaimed author Liam Carson, as well as a reading from award-winning short story writer John O’Donnell. There is also an opportunity to participate in a poetry film workshop with Colm Scully.

Visual arts are woven into the very fabric and history of the island and the Belfast-based Japanese artist Shiro Masuyama will bring his compelling Borderline Project to the GAA grounds.

Housed in a converted caravan split into Irish and British cultural halves, the installation holds profound resonance for Bere Island, which served as a British naval base until 1938.

Additionally, Bere Island artist Mary Sullivan will present selected works that feature in From the Inside Out and the Outside In, exploring place, connection and experience through an engaging trail that draws on the island’s landscape and infrastructure.

As always, the festival relies on the dedication of local volunteers and makers. The famed Long-Table Supper to celebrate Culture Night is hosted by Cape Clear historian and storyteller Diarmuid Ó Drisceoil.  This evening will bring locals and visitors together for food, song and shared heritage.

Throughout the weekend, the Pop-Up Craft Shop at Lawrence Cove Marina will feature demonstrations from local artisans. Attendees can also participate in foraging and printmaking with Samuel Arnold Keane, vocal workshops with Dr Eva McMullan Glossop and a welcoming Pop-Up Gaeltacht for all ages.

Pauline Hurley of Bere Island Arts Festival said: 'Beyond the incredible line-up, the soul of our festival has always been its extraordinary sense of togetherness. This is a celebration powered by our local volunteers, bringing world-class artists and audiences together in a landscape like no other.'