Bealtaine, the Irish national festival celebrating creativity in older age, is co-ordinated by Age & Opportunity and includes events organised by hundreds of partner organisations.

The Arts Council

Age & Opportunity

Bealtaine is coordinated  by Age & Opportunity, the Irish national organisation working to promote greater participation by older people in society. Check out the Age & Opportunity web site.

Joanna's Story

Joanna Banks talks about the contribution that life experience can make to the physically-demanding art of dance in older age - according to Banks, "the current generation of older people are not disappearing, but are making our presence felt."

Click on the arrow to start the video. You must have Flash installed on your computer for the video to work. You can download Flash for free from the Adobe web site.

What's new?

Bealtaine 2010 is coming

The closing date has passed for getting your events into our printed Programme for 2010 but you can still send in your registration forms for Bealtaine 2010 and we will put your event up on our website.

Read our invitation to participate

Bealtaine Evaluated

An independent evaluation of Bealtaine has been carried out by the Irish Centre for Social Gerontology, National University of Ireland, Galway and was published during Bealtaine 2009. The report demonstrates the importance and effectiveness of engaging older people with creativity and the arts and shows how Bealtaine has contributed in a unique way to broadening the cultural landscape.

Read the evaluation of Bealtaine