What is Bealtaine?

Bealtaine is the national festival celebrating creativity in older age. Over 55,000 people took part in Bealtaine in 2008, making it one of Ireland’s biggest arts festivals.

From dance to cinema, painting to theatre, Bealtaine showcases the talents and skills of both established and first-time older artists and performers. It is a chance to make new and challenging work, a chance to communicate traditions between the generations, a chance to delve a little deeper into a new area of understanding. Bealtaine creates the space to discover talents until now unseen.

Working with our partners

The main Bealtaine investors are Age & Opportunity, The Arts Council, Dublin City Council and RTÉ. There are also over 300 partner organisations around the country from Arts Centres, Cultural Institutions and Libraries to Community Groups, Local Authority Arts Offices, Active Retirement Associations and Care Centres. Bealtaine is also supported by the Bealtaine Ambassadors, established older Irish artists, recognised and admired in their field, who lend their support to the festival each year.

All eyes on Bealtaine

Bealtaine is also attracting international attention: the IBK (Institut für Bildung und Kultur) plans to place a student with Bealtaine during the course of the festival. This has come about through our affiliation to Age-culture.net, the pan-European network, which aims to recognise, support and enrich the cultural lives and learning of older people.

Also this year, Elly McCrea will be representing Age & Opportunity on an international stage when she speaks at the ‘Caring for the Arts’ symposium in Cologne, speaking about how ‘Creative Exchanges’ (Age & Opportunity’s Arts in Care programme) promotes the arts as intrinsic to life in residential settings.

We are also welcoming a delegation in 2009 from Angus Gold, an organisation working with people over 50 in the Angus region of Scotland.

And we applaud the continued success of the Welsh festival, Gwanwyn (meaning ‘Spring’), now in its third year. Gwanwyn is building on the Bealtaine model and is coordinated by Age Concern Cymru with support from organisations such as the Welsh Assembly Government, Arts Council of Wales, Film Agency of Wales, BBC, Rubicon Dance, Cadw and NIACE Dysgu Cymru.