Galway Voices: Stories from the Edge

Galway City Council Press Release

– For Immediate Release – Images Attached

Galway Voices: Stories from the Edge – Young Creatives Reimagine Galway’s Westend Through an EU Digital Storytelling Project.

Watch the first film now and follow the weekly releases at 8pm on YouTube and the Galway Voices Video Portrait Trail across the Westend.

(24.02.2026)Galway Voices: Stories from the Edge is a new EU‑supported, youth‑led digital storytelling project showcasing the creative energy, community spirit and night‑time vibrancy of Galway’s Westend. Led entirely by young creatives aged 18–35, the project offers a contemporary portrait of life on the cultural fringe—where emerging artists, makers and storytellers shape the character of the city after dark. Written and produced by Hysteria Productions, and directed and edited by Bit Dramatic Films, the project brings together a multidisciplinary team of young Galway creatives.

The project is funded through the Interreg Northern Periphery and Arctic N‑LITE project, led by the Western Development Commission. With support from Galway’s Westend Traders and the Galway City Council Night‑Time Economy programme. The funding supports the creation of digital experiences that enhance cultural tourism in the Western Region.

A Youth‑Led Portrait of Galway’s Westend

Often sitting just beyond traditional tourist routes, Galway’s Westend is a vital cultural ecosystem—home to artists, musicians, performers, independent venues, informal creative networks and a thriving night‑time social culture. Galway Voices centres the lived experiences of the young people who live, work and create in this neighbourhood, amplifying voices rarely reflected in official city narratives.

Through workshops, interviews and creative development sessions, young participants shaped the stories, themes and aesthetics behind the project’s outputs.

Five Videos — One Westend

The project has resulted in five short fictionalised video portraits, inspired by real experiences shared by young creatives:

Zero Plays
Eat. Work. Scroll. Sleep. Repeat.
Last Orders
Flat White Dreams
Something’s Brewing

Taken together, the films follow five young artists navigating creative ambition, precarious work, belonging and resilience in the city they call home.

Digital Experiences Across the Westend Neighbourhood

To encourage audiences to explore the Westend, each film can be viewed on YouTube and via a Video Portrait Trail accessed through QR codes placed at key venues in Galway’s Westend such as Plámás, The Blue Note, Massimo Galway, Westend Canal, Dela, Just Art it, Espresso 44, Gourmet Tart, Bierhaus and Emerald + Wax; inviting passers‑by to encounter stories in the spaces and places that inspired them and to experience the neighbourhood as a living cultural landscape.

The films will be released weekly at 8pm on the following dates:

Monday 23 February
Monday 2 March
Monday 9 March
Monday 16 March
Monday 23 March

Videos can be viewed at www.thisisgalway.ie/galway-voices-stories-from-the-edge/ and www.hysteriateatar.com/galway-voices

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Editors Notes

More about the N-Lite Project – N-LITE – Western Development Commission

Creative Team

Written and produced by Hysteria Productions, and directed and edited by Bit Dramatic Films, the project brings together a multidisciplinary team of young creatives.

Hysteria Theatre Collective was selected through an open call process and awarded the tender by the Western Development Commission as part of the N-Lite EU project. Local creatives were identified through open workshops facilitated by Hysteria Productions.

Creatives
• Emily Aherne & Jess Harkin – Writers & Producers
• Mairead Dewar – Director & Editor
• Georgia Lee – Director
• Eleni Kalantzi – Director of Photography
• Ross Flaherty – First AC
• Patrick McHugh – Gaffer
• Kevin May – Sound Recordist
• Conor Lee – Set Dresser

CAST