The Lasta Young Curators Festival 2025 opened on Tuesday, October 7, at glór in Ennis, with the unveiling of ‘Where Nature Reclaims’, a new exhibition by local artist Sarah Reynolds.
The official launch event will take place on Friday, October 10, at 5.30pm, kicking off a programme of youth-led arts events that will continue throughout October. Admission to the launch is free, and all are welcome to attend.
This year’s festival, curated by Caelainn Reynolds and Ciara Miesle, is presented under the theme SUSTAIN as part of the Lasta National Arts Festival.
The festival is a nationwide initiative celebrating creativity ‘for young people, by young people’.
The festival at glór will feature a mix of art, music, film, and literary events from Friday October 24 to Saturday October 26, with the ‘Where Nature Reclaims’ exhibition running in the glór gallery until Sunday October 26.
Now in its fourth year, the Lasta Festival links seven regional venues across Ireland giving young curators a platform to share their artistic vision and engage their peers.
The SUSTAIN theme explores how art and creativity can help sustain both individuals and communities, reflecting on the relationship between people, the natural world, and artistic expression.
At the heart of the Ennis programme is Sarah Reynolds’ captivating new exhibition Where Nature Reclaims. Her practice delves into the delicate balance between humanity and nature, blending painting, photography, and digital manipulation to create lush, dreamlike works that invite viewers to consider how we shape, and are shaped by, our environment. Her large-scale botanical paintings convey energy and motion, while smaller, more intimate pieces highlight intricate detail and subtle emotion.
Accompanying the exhibition will be a collection works by emerging artists aged 13 to 25, selected through an open call to respond to Reynolds’ themes of transformation, sustainability, and regeneration. Their pieces engage in dialogue with Reynolds’ work, exploring how nature reclaims, heals, and inspires.
Beyond the exhibition, the festival weekend promises an exciting series of creative workshops. On Friday, October 24, glór will host the Lasta Literary Open Mic, a welcoming space for young writers and spoken-word artists to share their voices. On Saturday, October 25, illustrator Anthea West will lead Comics, Comics, Comics!, a hands-on workshop inviting teenagers to explore storytelling through drawing. Later that evening, the Sustain Music Sessions will feature performances by Aisling Flouch, Abdul and Hannah Saidi, Seán Lyons, and Fiona O’Connell.
The festival concludes on Sunday, October 26, with two Japanese anime screenings Kiyotaka Oshiyama’s ‘Look Back’ and Makoto Shinkai’s ‘Weathering With You’.
For curators Caelainn Reynolds and Ciara Miesle, this year’s SUSTAIN theme captures the festival’s spirit: “It’s about nurturing creativity, celebrating the environment, and recognising how art can help us sustain both ourselves and each other.”
The Where Nature Reclaims exhibition runs at glór gallery from 7–30 October, open 10am to 3pm, Monday to Saturday, with the official launch taking place on Friday, October 10, at 5.30pm. Admission is free, and all are encouraged to attend and support the next generation of Clare’s artists and curators.
For more information and event bookings, visit glor.ie.
