The Galway Cartoon Festival is an international celebration of funny drawings, hosted in Ireland’s most sociable city.
Galway is a place obsessed with art and culture, with festivals throughout the year for everything from literature to furniture. But noticeable by its absence was the ‘ninth art’, as they call it in France – comics, caricature, and cartoons. In 2017, we decided to change that.

Our Aims And Plans
Ours is not the only event for cartoon in Ireland, but we have particular goals:
- To be international in outlook, forging links between our little cartoon culture and the far greater one beyond these shores, especially in continental Europe.
- To nurture, promote, and develop the art of the cartoon in Ireland, particularly as a means of social criticism and protest.
We also plan to have a lot of fun.

We regularly hold an exhibition open to submissions from anyone, anywhere in the world. Please get in touch if you’d like to be part of it. We’re especially eager to show female cartoonists; women are seriously underrepresented in the cartoon arts in Ireland.
But as well as exhibitions, we want to do things to get people involved with cartooning. We organise workshops, talks, discussions, even games – for children and for adults! Do you think you could lead a workshop or discussion? Please let us know if you’d like to participate in this way too.
Who We Are
The committee, in order of appearance
Richard Chapman | Cartoonist & Artistic Director |
Allan Cavanagh | Caricaturist & Co-Founder |
Margaret Nolan | Artist & Curator |
Tom Mathews | Cartoonist & Guru |
Willy Brennan | Festival Manager |
Catherine Gagneux | Liaison Wizard |
Paul Callanan | Print Designer |
What We’ve Done
In 2017 we established the festival by exhibiting over 100 cartoon works from all around the world. In 2018 it was much bigger and even better. Commemorating the end of the First World War and celebrating 100 years of Polish independence, we hosted guest exhibitors from France, Belgium and Poland. We held a commemorative show featuring artists from around the world, and simultaneously another on contemporary issues. We also had a major solo show by one of Ireland’s most famous cartoonists, we held a seminar on the influence of cartoons in WWI, put on workshops for schools, a public cartoon trail, and more.
Press Resources
Press Coverage
2019
- Preview in the Galway Advertiser
- Preview in the City Tribune
2018
- Feature in the Irish Times
- Preview in the Irish Independent
- Interview in the Galway Advertiser
2017
- Coverage in the Times of London
- Story in the Galway City Tribune
- Preview in the Galway Advertiser
- Follow-up in the Galway Advertiser
- Go here to see our 2017 site

Want To Get Involved?
- Call/text (0)87 9608234
- Email info@galwaycartoons.eu
- See “Contact!” for more ways