The Irish Arts and Culture Program

Such a great once in a lifetime experience that not many have done! I loved bonding with the other members of the program and the social scene at night! Trying out new kinds of art really broadened my perspective and interests that I haven’t looked into before. The leaders are great and have amazing interactions with us. I personally came a few weeks late to the program but everyone was super welcoming and I feel as if I fit in right away with the other members. I would definitely recommend this program to others and love to experience it again if I could.

This whole experience was incredible for me- I made many close friends on this trip, and have explored the use of different artistic mediums that I never would’ve had the chance to experiment with beforehand. The tutors were all so friendly and helpful with whatever I needed help with, and I have learned so much more about Irish culture and art from their guidance. I would absolutely recommend this program to anyone who wants to step out of their comfort zone and have a meaningful time surrounded by incredible group leaders and friends.

Choosing the Irish Arts and Culture program was the best decision I could have made for my gap year experience. I improved my art in ways I couldn’t have even dreamed of and even more importantly I made the friends of a life time. I will never forgot this experience. The program leaders are funny, helpful, and extremely caring, any little problem that arose which were very few they helped solve before there was even a chance for it to truly become a real problem. If I was able I would honestly do this program again.

I had an incredible time in the Irish Gap Year Arts and Culture Program. The staff and teachers were really supportive and kind, and the local community was especially welcoming. I really grew as an artist through this program as it helped me build on old skills as well as develop new ones. This program also helped cultivate independence in myself and others. I made lifelong friends that I will continue to travel with. Overall it was a wonderful experience and I would definitely recommend IGY if you’re considering a GAP year in Ireland.

I had a great experience! It built my independence and i gained more confidence. We went on many trips and we saw many different parts of ireland. I love it here it is so beautiful. I made many life long friends. I learned more about Irish culture and how important it is to the people. This experience was splendid, I would do it all again if i could. I would recommend this to any student who is trying to figure out what they want to do in the future. If you are looking to take a year off Irish gap year is the place to go!

coming to ireland was a truly amazing experience. i loved being able to meet so many new people and the culture here is really amazing. the program helps you interact with your new surroundings well and offers an extensive art program that teaches you many new things. being able to travel around ireland was amazing and i really valued that opportunity we had. the housing was alright, a little far from town but it wasn’t to bad. i wish we had more opportunities on the weekends to do stuff outside of the town.

Good balance of workshops and travel, the only major issue was that the latter always seemed to be interrupting the former a bit. Workshop instructors were wonderful local artists who were very insightful and a joy to be taught by. I really felt like they helped me grow as an artist a great deal throughout the program. Group leaders were great as well, and were generally easy to talk to. Students were given a generous amount of free time to explore, both in Bundoran and in the places we visited, which was nice. There were still plenty of organized tours and events, which were absolutely fascinating, I just appreciate that they were appropriately balanced with time to explore locations ourselves, because if they hadn’t been it would’ve been kind of stifling. The exhibition at the end provided a really good end goal to work towards, and ended up being really fun on it’s on merits.

It’s a lot of fun to be in. The staff were really nice to work with. I learned a lot of art skills. The instructors were great. Ireland is a beautiful place to travel in and all together the trips were well planned. We went to Dublin and toured the Guinness factory as well as a historically important prison. We went to Belfast and got a street art tour as well as a black taxi tour. We went to Galway and go to learn about local history and see to the Aran islands. We went to Doolin and saw the cliffs of Moher.