Drogheda Songwriting Festival 2026

What to Expect

The Drogheda Songwriting Festival runs across Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 September 2026, expanded this year from one day to two so that participants have longer to meet, co-write and finish something. It is a working festival rather than a spectator one: you register, you are put in rooms with other writers, and you leave with a song. The whole thing is based in The Barbican Centre, which has several rooms in use at once so teams can split off and work.

Saturday opens with registration and two workshops included in the ticket, and closes with the mentors performing songwriters-in-the-round before an informal evening meet-up at Peggy Moores. Sunday is given over to co-writing sessions, with SJ McArdle and Keith Burke running a Song Surgery where writers can bring a work in progress and have it pulled apart and put back together. Ian Shipley conducts interviews across the day. The mentor list for 2026 also includes Maria McCormack, Aine Tyrrell, Colm Gavin and David Hope. The weekend finishes with a Gala Concert at which participants perform what they have written, and one song is chosen for a professional recording day at Jejune studios with Daniel De Burca.

Good to Know

• Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 September 2026 at The Barbican Centre, Drogheda
• Saturday sessions wrap up around 6pm; Sunday runs through the afternoon to the evening Gala Concert
• Two workshops are included with the ticket
• Mentors: Maria McCormack, Aine Tyrrell, Colm Gavin, David Hope, SJ McArdle and Keith Burke
• Booking is through Eventbrite; the festival email is droghedasongwritingfestival@gmail.com
• Prize for the chosen song is a recording day at Jejune studios with Daniel De Burca

Getting There

The Barbican Centre is on William Street in central Drogheda, walkable from West Street and the main shopping streets. Drogheda is signposted from junctions 9 and 10 of the M1 between Dublin and Belfast, and the Scotch Hall and town centre car parks are both a few minutes away on foot. Drogheda MacBride railway station is on the Dublin to Belfast commuter line, about fifteen minutes’ walk across the Boyne, and Bus Eireann and Matthews coaches serve the town centre from Dublin and Dundalk.