Kenmare Arts Festival
2 to 16 August 2026. The exhibitions open first and run the full fortnight; the ticketed events programme is the second week, 11 to 16 August.
Runs every year
The Kenmare Arts Festival takes over the town for the first fortnight of August, and it is bigger than its quiet billing suggests: four exhibitions, a literary strand, and more than twenty-five workshops.
It runs in two phases, which is worth knowing before you plan a day around it. The exhibitions open first and stay up the full fortnight, so you can wander them any afternoon. The ticketed events programme lands in the second week, 11 to 16 August, and that is where the film screenings, talks and launches sit.
Most of the evening programme is at the Carnegie Arts Centre, with the Mill Cove Gallery at 21 Main Street carrying exhibition work. Screenings and talks are usually around €8, the bigger evening events nearer €20, and some launches are free. Workshops book separately and fill up, so they are the part to sort before you travel rather than on the day.
One change for 2026: the Windows Exhibition, in which shopfronts around the town become display cases, is not running. The festival received no Kerry County Council funding this year and withdrew it rather than deliver it badly. The rest of the programme is unaffected.
Kenmare is the best eating town on the Ring and an easy base for the southern half of the loop, so the festival fortnight is a good one to build a couple of nights around.
