Arts & Culture – Spring ’27
| Dates | Feb 22nd to May 8th |
| Arrive | Dublin |
| Depart | Dublin |
| Length | 75 Days |
| Group Size | Up to 16 Students |
| Tuition | €17,500 |
Arts & Culture – Autumn ’27
| Dates | Sept 8th to Nov 24th |
| Arrive | Dublin |
| Depart | Dublin |
| Length | 77 Days |
| Group Size | 16 Students |
| Tuition | €17,500 |
Irish Arts & Culture Program
What’s It All About?
The Irish Arts & Culture Program invites students to explore and cultivate their creative side, build independence, and become part of Bundoran’s vibrant artistic community.
You’ll work across a variety of mediums in daily, small-group workshops led by our team of professional Irish artists. As the program unfolds, you’ll begin to focus on the disciplines that resonate most with you, working toward exhibiting your pieces at the culminating ‘Le Chéile’ Art Exhibition.
Along the way, students travel to some of Ireland’s most unique and celebrated locations on our overnight trips, exploring the rich tapestry of the country’s cultural and artistic heritage. At home in Bundoran, you’ll live and work alongside your peers — managing a household together, sharing responsibilities, and developing your creative practice in a supportive, low-pressure environment that mirrors the best parts of college life.
Arts & Culture students are also part of the wider Irish Gap Year community, with regular opportunities to join students on our Adventure Skill-Building Program for outdoor adventures, trips and shared experiences throughout the semester. This flexibility allows students to make the program their own — diving deeply into the arts while still having the option to get outside, try something new and be part of the wider cohort.
The program is based in Bundoran, a welcoming seaside town on the world-famous Wild Atlantic Way in County Donegal. Here, students live like locals — with their own home in the community — while venturing across the northwest of Ireland and beyond to immerse themselves in all things Irish.
This program is ideal for students seeking broad exposure to fine art in a small-group setting, with meaningful creative outcomes and tangible takeaways. Using the arts as a vehicle, students grow in independence, confidence and self-expression — all while having a brilliant time!
Previous artistic experience is not required; all we ask is that you are engaged in your work, whether it’s a new medium or one you have plenty of experience in. This program is about diving into Irish culture, developing as both an artist and a person, and above all, enjoying the process.
Highlights
- Explore and cultivate your creative voice in daily, small-group workshops led by professional Irish artists across a wide range of disciplines.
- Dive deeper into the mediums that inspire you most, working closely with expert tutors as you develop a body of work for exhibition at the annual Le Chéile Art Show.
- Build real independence by managing your own home with your peers — learning to live collaboratively in a supportive, fun and structured environment that mirrors college life.
- Travel across Ireland on immersive overnight expeditions, exploring some of the country’s most iconic and culturally rich destinations — Dublin, Galway, Dingle, Derry, Belfast, Kerry, the Gaeltacht regions, the Boyne Valley, the Aran Islands and more.
- Discover Donegal — your home away from home. Rugged coastline, creative energy, and a community you’ll quickly feel part of.
- Find Space to Create — a holistic, low-stress and hands-on experience infused with good music, laughs, home-cooked food and that unmistakable light-hearted Irish spirit.
- Be part of the wider Irish Gap Year community, with opportunities throughout the program to join our Adventure students for surfing, hiking, outdoor challenges and other shared experiences.
- Form lifelong friendships and unforgettable memories as part of a close-knit creative cohort.
Find Out More About our Arts & Culture Program
The Irish Arts & Culture Program is built around three interconnected areas: Artistic Exploration, Community and Independence Building. Throughout all three, students learn by doing — creating, exploring, contributing, travelling and gradually taking greater responsibility for their own experience.
Artistic Exploration
Fill your creative well, find inspiration and explore new ways of making art.
Throughout the program, students work alongside professional Irish artists in daily workshops spanning a wide range of creative disciplines. Our tutors place the emphasis on exploration and the creative process rather than producing a predetermined end result, giving students space to experiment, take creative risks and develop their own artistic voice.
Workshops may include photography, painting, charcoal, creative writing, sculpture and found art, woodcarving, leatherwork, jewellery making and other disciplines.
Creative connection exercises, including Artist Pages and Artist Dates, give students additional space to notice, reflect and find inspiration in their surroundings. Ireland itself becomes part of the creative process, with ideas and work emerging from the people, landscapes, history and experiences students encounter along the way.
No previous artistic experience is required. We simply ask students to arrive curious, open-minded and ready to create.
Community
Bundoran is our home, and over eleven weeks it becomes a home away from home for our students too. Through their art tutors, the Irish Gap Year team, local projects and everyday life in town, students get to know the people and community around them and experience what life in Ireland actually feels like.
Learning extends beyond Bundoran through day trips and overnight expeditions around Ireland. Students explore Irish history, culture and contemporary life through real places and experiences — from castles and historic sites to creative projects that encourage them to meet and learn from local people.
Arts & Culture students are also part of the wider Irish Gap Year community. They share trips, activities and social experiences with students across our programs, with regular opportunities to opt into adventures such as surfing, hiking and other outdoor experiences.
Independence Building
Living away from home is an important part of the Irish Gap Year experience. Students share responsibility for everyday life — cooking meals, keeping their house running, doing laundry, managing their time and contributing to the group.
We use a model of scaled responsibility, gradually giving students greater independence as the program progresses. Program Leaders are there to mentor and support, while encouraging students to solve problems, communicate directly, advocate for themselves and learn from both successes and mistakes.
Travel provides another important classroom. Navigating Ireland, managing personal responsibilities and becoming increasingly comfortable in unfamiliar situations gives students the opportunity to practise independence in the real world.
By the end of the program, the goal isn’t simply to have travelled without their parents — it’s to return home more confident in their ability to manage life for themselves.
Irish Arts & Culture Program Expeditions
Each expedition on the Irish Arts & Culture Program is unique, with its own area of focus and theme. The expeditions are 3 to 5 days each and take place every other week throughout the program.
These expeditions will show you the unique culture of Ireland and bring you face to face with many interesting and colourful characters involved in local communities and the arts scene.
You will be travelling with your cohort and Irish Gap Year Program Leaders on our minibuses and staying in a combination of guesthouses, Bed & Breakfasts and high-end hostels.
A Day in the Life of Our Irish Arts & Culture Program
Every day on our Irish Arts & Culture Program is unique and we strive to get the right balance of creative output and inspirational input. Many days will follow a format that includes an art workshop in the morning and a cultural outing in the afternoon, followed by a home-cooked group dinner in your house.
Here is one example of a normal day on our Irish Arts & Culture Program:
- 9am: Program Leaders arrive at your house
- 9.45am: Head out to your morning art workshop
- 10am – 1pm: Mixed Media & Upcycling Workshop with Ken Gunning
- 1pm – 2pm: Lunch at home
- 2pm – 5pm: Tour Donegal Castle, followed by a loop walk (with some plein air sketching) of Lough Eske and the surrounding forests
- 5.30pm – 6.30pm: Free time at home
- 6.30pm: Group dinner
- 7pm onward: Free time
While many days follow this creative rhythm, no two weeks at Irish Gap Year look exactly the same. Arts & Culture students also have opportunities throughout the semester to opt into Adventure activities and shared experiences with the wider IGY cohort — whether that means joining a surf session, heading into the mountains or taking part in a larger group adventure.
What’s Included
- All food (breakfast, lunch and dinner) excluding the occasional lunch during free time on city trips
- All accommodation, linens and towels
- All art supplies and instruction
- 24/7 contact and support for students
and parents - All transportation in Ireland
- Laundry facilities
- Wi-fi
What’s Not Included
- Flights
- Travel Insurance
- Pocket money
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you still have a question about the Irish Arts & Culture program we haven’t covered yet?
Take a look at our FAQs and if your question still hasn’t been answered, get in touch and we’d be happy to talk you through it.
Le Cheile Art Exhibition: Coming Together through Art
‘Le Chéile’ means ‘together’ in Irish and our Le Chéile exhibition at the end of the Irish Arts & Culture Program is a coming together of local artists, our gappers and the community for an evening of art, food, music and laughs.
Preparing and hosting this event is the capstone project of the Irish Arts & Culture Program and sees gappers exhibiting selections of their own work alongside local artists.
Don’t worry, you will receive mentoring and support in creating a body of work for the exhibition from your art tutors. Our Program Leaders will also encourage students to work as a team in organising and producing the event.
The Le Chéile Art Exhibition is a wonderful community event where professional and amateur artists exhibit side by side with our students. There is music, artwork in a variety of mediums, poetry and more in a friendly and inclusive environment.