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HearSay International Audio Festival is a biennial audio arts and storytelling festival held in the mountain village of Kilfinane, County Limerick, Ireland. It brings together leading creators in radio, podcasting, sound art, film sound, theatre, and experimental audio for four days of listening, performance, workshops, and playful sonic experiments.
Key facts Location: Kilfinane, Co. Limerick, Ireland
Focus: Creative audio, documentary, podcasting, sound art, film/theatre sound
First edition: 2014
Typical schedule: 4-day festival using 15-20 village venues
Flagship honor: HearSay Audio Prize for short-form experimental audio
Background and setting Launched in 2014, HearSay was created to give audio makers a space to experiment far from conventional conference centers. The festival takes over Kilfinane (population ~500), using homes, pubs, churches, gardens, barbershops, parked cars, and other everyday locations as listening rooms, performance spaces, and installation sites.
Program and activities HearSay’s program mixes talks, listening sessions, live performances, sound walks, installations and intimate secret sessions. Past editions have included binaural nature walks, site-specific sound pieces, unconventional sonic meals, and listening in small living rooms with tea and hosts from the village. The schedule is dense (80+ events over four days), but framed to feel exploratory rather than over-programmed.
Community and ethos Festival organizers emphasize that there’s no audience at HearSay everyone is treated as a participant rather than a badge-wearing delegate. The event is run largely by volunteers, with strong involvement from Kilfinane residents who host events and welcome visitors into their spaces. The tone is deliberately playful and collaborative, encouraging risk-taking and cross-pollination between journalistic, artistic, and experimental audio cultures.
HearSay Audio Prize The HearSay Audio Prize invites creators worldwide to submit original short-form works (up to seven minutes) that embody the festival’s adventurous spirit. Submissions span many genres and levels of experience, and winning pieces have come from numerous countries and disciplines. The prize is positioned as both a creative challenge and a way to spotlight innovative audio storytelling globally.
