Despite the snow yesterday morning, summer and the summer festivals are on their way. Two festivals currently open for applications are the Galway Fringe and 10 Days in Dublin.

Galway Fringe takes place July 12th – 30th, alongside the Galway Arts Festival. This means that for those two weeks, Galway is full of people eager to see theatre. It’s only it’s second year but I knew a lot of people with shows in last year’s inaugural festival who had a great experience and even made some money! They are interested in all artforms and it is an open-access festival which means everyone is welcome to participate and perform. Registration is open until 28th April but I imagine venues may be allocation on a first come, first served basis so it’s good to start the conversations as soon as possible.

On the other side of the country, 10 Days in Dublin will also happening this July 4th – 13th. It’s also open-access and has been running for a few years now. They are looking to expand their programme this year to include more visual art and film but they are interested in all types of art. Registration closes April 5th.

Both festivals offer box-office and all shows will be included in the festival programme. And both will be looking for volunteers if you want to get involved but stay off-stage!!

And if you can’t wait until July, you still have a few hours to apply for the third instalment of TEXT|messages. This is happening in Project Arts Centre, April 25th – 27th. Applications close at 5pm today and there is more information here.