Introducing ‘Galway Voices: Stories from the Edge’, a youth-led digital storytelling project amplifying the voices of young people living and creating in Galway’s Westend, offering a contemporary lens on place, community and the city’s evolving night-time culture.
Hysteria Productions presents Galway Voices: Stories from the Edge, a digital storytelling project co-created with and by young people aged 18-35. Rooted in Galway’s Westend and supported by the Westend Traders Association and Galway City Council’s Night-Time Economy, Galway Voices: Stories from the Edge explores themes of belonging, creativity, resilience and most importantly, community and place. Through the eyes of young people living on the urban periphery, the project has created five short films – amplifying voices from the edge and sharing them across digital platforms.
This project is part of the Interreg Northern Periphery and Arctic N-LITE project, led by the Western Development Commission in collaboration with Galway’s Westend and Galway City Council Night-Time Economy. Developed under the N-LITE project | Funded by Interreg Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme. This partnership supports the creation of digital experiences that enhance cultural tourism in the Western Region- reaching new audiences and celebrating our rich literary heritage. Learn more about N-LITE by tapping here: https://westerndevelopment.ie/key-projects/european-projects/n-lite/
Galway’s Westend sits just beyond the tourist trail and operates as a vital cultural ecosystem for the city. It is where artists, writers, musicians and young creatives gather, where food, music, storytelling and live art intersect, and where community is built through shared cultural experience through the support of the Westend Trader’s Association. The project positions the Westend as a living literary landscape shaped not only by history, but by present-day voices, night-time culture and everyday creativity.
The project has resulted in 5 video portraits focused on fictional depictions of real life stories of young people living in the Westend. Through a workshop-led and artist-led process, these stories were created based on real experiences discovered through conversations and perspectives of over 12 creatives living and working in Galway’s Westend.
The content follows the stories of five young creatives, trying to find their path in their creative careers. Galway Voices: Stories from the Edge contributes to literary tourism by offering a contemporary, people-centred lens on Galway.
The first video will be published and shared online on Monday February 23rd, with new episodes going live each Monday thereafter. Below is a summary of the story behind each video in the series.
Zero Plays
Zero Plays follows Robyn, a DJ in her late-20s, navigating everyday life in Galway’s Westend while trying to carve out a place for herself in the city’s night-time scene. Robyn experiences the world through rhythm: the beep of a till, traffic signals, a lighter flicking, all blending into her mixes. By day, she works at a market stall, quietly uploading that initially receive no attention. By night, she hovers on the edge of the scene she longs to belong to. As her SoundCloud plays slowly rise and a message of genuine interest arrives, Robyn gets what she’s been asking for, for so long: a chance. Just a bit of recognition. Zero Plays is a portrait of creative persistence and the power of connection, capturing what it means to seek belonging in a city whose cultural rhythm you hold and nurture inside you.
Eat. Work. Scroll. Sleep. Repeat.
Eat. Work. Scroll. Sleep. Repeat. follows Mia, a theatre maker in her mid-20s caught in the exhausting cycle of precarious creative labour. Juggling funding applications, deadlines and her day job/evening job as Front of House in a theatre, Mia’s days blur into a loop of procrastination; scrolling, caffeine, frustration and self-doubt as she struggles to find time and space to create. Moving between her bedroom and the theatre where she works, the piece captures the tension of being close to art without being able to fully participate in it. Mia longs not just to work around creativity, but to claim a place from within it. However, as pressure mounts and deadlines loom, a moment of connection with friends offers reassurance and a new perspective. The story culminates in a small but significant moment of agency as Mia is motivated and feels her spark ignite once more from being around other creative’s. She submits her work, choosing to break the loop and affirm her identity as an artist. This piece is a portrait of burnout, ambition and resilience, reflecting the realities faced by many emerging creatives today.
Last Orders
Last Orders follows Senan, a musician in her early 30s working behind the bar, balancing creative ambition with the practical demands of rent, bills and survival. Her nights are spent pulling pints, shaking cocktail tins and making small talk with the regulars, while her music lives in quieter moments, busking on the street, strumming alone after closing time. The story reveals the tension between artistic calling and economic reality. Though her talent is noticed in passing, it is often framed as potential deferred rather than opportunity realised. Yet connection arrives unexpectedly, not through a stage or spotlight, but through a small gathering of creatives willing to listen. Last Orders is a portrait of persistence, community and the in-between spaces where art continues to exist. It suggests that creative progress does not always come through grand breakthroughs, but through moments of recognition, community and the simple decision to just sit down and play.
Flat White Dreams
Flat White Dreams follows Rian, a visual artist in his late 20s working behind the counter of a Galway coffee shop, quietly sketching between orders while questioning whether he should have left the city for somewhere “bigger”.. Somewhere “better” as everyone seems to say. As he pours coffees and draws on napkins, Rian wrestles with the tension between creative ambition and staying in a place that feels like home. After a casual compliment from a customer and an invitation to a local arts gathering, Rian’s perspective begins to shift.. suggesting that recognition and artistic community might be closer than he thinks. The piece is a contemplation on staying versus leaving, creative visibility, and on the possibility that fulfillment does not always require escape, but rather connection. Flat White Dreams celebrates the subtle moments that can keep artists grounded and the decision to believe that making work where you are matters just as much as making it in the likes of London, Dublin, America etc.
Something’s Brewing
Something’s Brewing follows Naoise, an aspiring producer in his early-mid 30s balancing a corporate day job with a quiet commitment to Galway’s arts community. By day, he deals with spreadsheets, budgets and forums. By night, he channels that same organisational instinct into creating space for artists, piecing together an open call for emerging youth voices in the Westend. Naoise becomes a catalyst, connecting people who might never otherwise meet and offering a space where ideas can collide through collaboration and support. Through small actions like sending an invite, putting up posters, asking questions and making connections, Naoise conveys organising as an act of creativity in its own right. The piece suggests that cultural movements often begin off stage, by someone willing to advocate and open doors for those around them. And more often than not, that’s all people need to feel inspired/get started.
Allan Mulrooney, CEO of the Western Development Commission and lead partner on the N-LITE project, commented:
“People do not come to places like Galway for something manufactured. They come to experience the character of the place, to hear local voices and to understand how communities live, create and connect.
Galway Voices: Stories from the Edge reflects that appetite for authenticity. By sharing contemporary stories rooted in real experience, the project presents heritage as something living and evolving, shaped by the people who call Galway home today.”
Jess Harkin & Emily Aherne of Hysteria Productions, commented:
“Galway is full of creativity, bursting from the seams, especially in the Westend. Galway Voices: Stories from the Edge, is a project that reflects the real experiences of young people living in the West today who are working together to create special and uplifting cultural experiences for us all. In a world full of uncertainty, this project shines a light on what exists in those in between spaces. Between the “day job” and the passion to work in the arts, visibility and invisibility, staying and leaving – and recognising that those spaces are where true innovation and inspiration live”
