The Imagine Arts Festival is a multidisciplinary arts festival incorporating disciplines such as visual art, spoken word, literature, dance, theatre, comedy, music, film, children's events & workshops. The Festival places a big emphasis on live music with examples from recent festivals acts including Ron Sexmith, Billy Bragg, The Unthanks and in Irish and Folk names such as Andy Irvine, Martin Carthy, Danu, Karen Casey, and T with the Maggies.
The music programme also includes the Waterford John Dwyer Trad Weekend. In 2012, the festival incorporated a History & Heritage Day, in which the public were given free access to the buildings in Waterford Viking's Triangle, Reginald's Tower, Bishop's Palace, Chorister's Hall & 33, and The Mall (The Mint Cafe) where the first tri-colour was flown. There was a Booze, Blaas & Banter Day with the theme 'Down by the River'.
The festival plans to continue with a History & Heritage Day for 2013 and the theme of this year's festival is 'The Arts in Unexpected Places' e.g. The Health Park, Waterford used for film Babette's Feast & Meal accompanying the film; The Church, Patrick St. for music gigs; Chorister's Hall (Viking Triangle) as a performance venue for dance; and the Old Port Authority Building used for an art exhibition.
A visual arts trail takes place during the festival in various cafes in the city. The Courthouse, various schools & a bus have been used as venues for the launch & a performance pieces during previous festivals. Events have also been staged in site specific pop up buildings. The festival encourages new writing from local writers.
