Young Curators/Lasta Festival

LASTA 2026 Young Curators Festival Programme launched at Siamsa Tíre

Siamsa Tíre is delighted to be one of the arts venues across Ireland to take part in the Lasta festival, the first national arts programme curated entirely by Young Curators which takes place every October.

Now in its sixth year, the national LASTA young curators festival is a testament to collaboration, engagement and community. Started in 2020 by Backstage Theatre, the programme has blossomed to include eight venues nationwide and an expanding programme of exciting, multidisciplinary work. The spark that fuels the project is faith in the next generation of audience members, artists and programmers. It is this trust and desire to connect from the network that encourages a belief in performance and participatory practice, and cultivates the elevation of contemporary sentiments as they emerge.

In this wide-ranging programme of work, you are called to spectate, participate, and listen to a broad and exciting range of voices. Boasting theatre, music, film, visual art (and more!), the programme is a showcase of what we want to hear in our venues, and want to share with our communities.

Under the guidance of theatre artist Maisie Lee, we are thrilled to share an auditorium, a moment, and a festival with you. Ambitious and expansive, it speaks to the value we place on holding space, creating forum, and opening up to the possibilities of what new voices can add to the conversation.

The eight Lasta venues are; An Grianán Theatre (Letterkenny), Backstage Theatre (Longford), Dunamaise Arts Centre (Portlaoise), glór (Ennis), Lime Tree Theatre (Limerick), Pavilion Theatre (Dún Laoghaire),  Siamsa Tíre (Tralee) and Town Hall Theatre (Galway)

To follow what's going on nationwide link to the LASTA facebook page.

The Young Curators Programme is targeted at young people between the ages of 18 and 25 who want to gain experience in working in the arts, especially those interested in venue and festival management and programming. The curators are selected on the basis that they are from, live in or have a strong connection to Tralee and its communities; have a passion for the arts and for attending performance; enjoy working with a small team; like organising events and making things happen; and being able to make the commitment to the programme if selected.

The project is about programming and producing creative work in the performing arts - selecting shows that they may have seen for Siamsa Tíre’s programme of events or making a show in collaboration with the Young Curators in other venues.

Curating includes managing the event from the first conversation with the artists to the day of the performance, making sure everything runs smoothly on the day. In this, the young programmers will be supported by the team at Siamsa Tíre, the Young Curators at the other participating venues, and the professionals hired to support the programme including project co-ordinator Maisie Lee.

Each year, the selected Young Curators will work collaboratively to deliver an ambitious line up of work. Featuring multiple disciplines and reflecting the diversity of modern Ireland, this festival offers a unique opportunity to develop our future arts programmers and producers. The line-up features theatre, music, comedy, dance, film, photography and experiential moments promising a fresh, fun, and exciting festival.

Head shots of two young women. Text Young Curators of Lasta Festival 2026

A Note from our Young Curators 2024-2025 Antonia Gergely and Neil Moore Ryan.

We’re proud to present this year’s Lasta festival to you all! Our time curating the Lasta programme has flown and we are so excited to share it all with you.

The events for this year’s festival came together through both of us leaning into our interests, what we find is important to the audiences of today, and foregrounding the talent that stands out to us.

We prioritised cultural interests we’ve noticed in our own generation, like the re-emergence of the Irish language (Anonn: The Other Side, a bilingual play by Scaoilte Theatre), the return of analogue and rejection of excessive technological focus (backspace, a visual art exhibition), and the prioritisation of self-reflection and self-care (Tangent Idea Generation, Art Therapy, and Jigsaw Kerry workshops). We also included a vintage pop-up and an anime film screening to bring people together in a more laid back way, which allows people to fully take part while saving their social battery.

Our goal is to bring people together at Siamsa Tíre, and to highlight the venue as a welcoming space to celebrate culture and community at every age. We’d like to give a huge thanks to the team at Siamsa Tíre and the Young Curators Programme led by Maisie Lee for supporting us in making this event possible.

Thank you for supporting Lasta Festival 2026, we can’t wait to see you there!

Young Curators Latest News: