The Irish Arts and Culture Program

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.

Irish Gap Year was a great experience for me. Ireland's scenery is breathtaking in all types of weather and the staff are very friendly. The program is well made with trips to most of the major spots in the country and some of the smaller places for fun activities. The programs good for people of all experiences with art, tutors are friendly and experienced. Well balanced program between giving students freedom and being strict. Sometimes staff are a little dramatic. The main setting for the program is perfect for getting students used to living on their own, letting students walk into town and, for the most part, take care of their own living quarters.
(Phil's a legend)
Highly recomend Irelands grass for its softness, perfect for naps or picnics on good days by the cliff walk. Also recomend bringing electronics and leaving plenty of space on your phone for downloading and photos.

Accommodations: Stayed in Portbeg Holiday Homes with half in one house and half in the other. Very clean, housekeeping comes once a week. We had a fridge, dishwasher, microwave, washer and dryer. We have the option of having our laundry done for us.

Food: Five days a week dinner is made for us, the quality is acceptable. Groceries are bought for us.

Staff: A nice, supportive group of people. Very helpful and available when we need them.

Trips: Got to see Dublin, Belfast, Galway, Doolin, Derry, and Dingle. Good balance between planned activities and free time to explore. Stayed in upscale hostels.

Workshops: Art workshops were lots of fun, our instructors were very nice and helpful. Tried plenty of new mediums, though I wish we had been given more Focus Workshops to work on what we wanted in preparation for our expo.

Doing this program was a very last minute decision for me, but I am so glad that I decided to come to Ireland! We explored so many different counties within Ireland and to be able to live in Bundoran was an amazing experience. Bundoran is a quaint town and we live within walking distance from downtown which is really nice. I got along great with my housemates, the rest of the arts group, and also the adventure group. I was a bit worried about doing an arts program having never really done art before, but with the help of the tutors I learned to create art that I was really proud of!