Galway: Making A Capital of Culture (Patrick Collins, Orpen Press, 2023)

Patrick Collins’ recent book details the development of the cultural industries and placemaking in the Galway region over the past century or so. Focusing on the “peripheral” position of the region, its long relationship to film making, and informed by Galway’s successful application for the European Capital of Culture in 2020, Collins argues for the unique nature of the region as a site of cultural production and consumption. While the book offers moments of insight, particularly in its discussion of ‘festivalisation’, it ultimately lacks the analytical depth and coherence needed to fully capture Galway’s complex cultural identity. No sustained critical framework, cultural ordinance and geographical map of the region is provided. As such, the book demonstrates that Galway is significant within broader debates on cultural policy, decentralisation, and the creative city model, but fails to tease out how the ‘festivalisation’ of Galway relates to national and international trends.