THE Eigse Carlow Arts Festival gets under way tomorrow evening when David Lee, editor of Art Review, makes the official opening speech. As Irish arts festivals go Carlow is a relative newcomer. Yet it has established itself quickly while avoiding any hint of rivalry with nearby Kilkenny, whose Arts Week is one of the highlights of the cultural calendar.

Eigse Carlow has not neglected local talent, but what has been striking about its visual arts programmes has been its ability to bring in artists from abroad. Equally interesting is its flair in picking people who are not necessarily figures with an international reputation, but are artists of proven and individual talent.

As yet, Carlow lacks a proper exhibition space or arts centre, but that cannot be far away now. At first a disused convent was tried, but more recently St Patrick's College has been used and is the venue for the main exhibitions this year.

There are five "featured artists," who are given special treatment in terms of space and presentation. These are the painter David Black burn, who is from the North of England but worked for years in Australia; the Limerick painter John Shinnors, who needs no introduction (RTE is currently making a film about him); the sculptor Janet Mullarney, who lives mostly in Italy but has shown recently in Dublin; the Scottish sculptor John Ritchie; and the Longford born sculptor Daphne Wright. Mary Avril Gilian is featured as "an emerging artist".

The usual group show of invited artists includes Laila Balode from Latvia, Eithne Carr, Anne Donnelly, Leo McCann, Donald Teskey and Tom Wood. Teskey has also chosen the 28 exhibits for the annual Open Exhibition. There will also be an exhibit of portrait photographs of Irish artists by Muiris Moynihan. On Saturday, from 11.30 a.m. to 1 p.m., an open forum discussion on contemporary art is scheduled at St Patrick's College; the speakers are David Lee, Myles Pepper of the West Wales Arts Centre, and myself. Phone 0503 40491.