2 Best Performing Arts Venues in The Northwest, Ireland

If you're visiting in the fall, don't miss the Sligo Live Music and Arts Festival, held at various venues around town with an impressive lineup of performers. Established in 2005, the festival runs during the last week of October, including both weekends, and has links with North America, particularly with WGBH in Boston. It's elbow-room only, as hotels, pubs, and cafés are crammed with scores of Irish and international acts, involving roots, folk, traditional, and country music, as well as comedy. For dates and details of gigs, visit the website, where you can buy tickets.

There's no getting away from events linked to the illustrious Yeats family. The Yeats International Summer School, which marked its 60th anniversary in 2019, is a permanent fixture involving readings, lectures, and writing workshops. It runs for 10 days from the end of July. The Yeats Winter School is held over a weekend in January and includes lectures and tours. W. B.'s brother, Jack B., the painter, is now in the limelight, with his work fetching high prices in auction houses. Tread Softly, a mix of theater, music, film, art, and readings, takes place at the same time as the summer school and explores the link between the brothers. June 13 has been designated Yeats Day, when costumed actors take to the streets for poetry readings and a host of other events.