Program Reviews

Amazing program! Learned multiple art forms including photography, leather work, jewelry making, charcoal, watercolor, and so much more! Program leaders were so welcoming and supportive throughout the entire program. Great group dynamic and community bonding! It was such meaningful experience to take time to grow, self reflect, and explore my passions, all while living in a beautiful part of Ireland. We also were able to engage in various Irish adventures such as surfing and cliff jumping. Overall, it was a great experience. Good craic!

Amazing program! Learned multiple art forms including photography, leather work, jewelry making, charcoal, watercolor, and so much more! Program leaders were so welcoming and supportive throughout the entire program. Great group dynamic and community bonding! It was such meaningful experience to take time to grow, self reflect, and explore my passions, all while living in a beautiful part of Ireland. We also were able to engage in various Irish adventures such as surfing and cliff jumping. Overall, it was a great experience. Good craic!

Going on IGY's arts and culture program this spring was the best thing I did this gap year! Our program leaders were so lovely and welcoming (s/o Phil and Fiona!), and the arts tutors are amazing at what they do. The program is kept exciting (even during covid) with lots of hikes, arts workshops, day trips out to different cities, and group activities around Bundoran. I met some of my favorite people while getting to enjoy all the beauty of county Donegal--I'd definitely recommend this program to anyone who's excited about art or Ireland :)

My time with Irish gap year has been so valuable and fun despite COVID restrictions. The arts program is focused around workshops with local artists, and in the beginning everyone tries out the various mediums before focusing on a few for the final expo. All of the tutors are incredible; my favorite workshops were painting with Lani and charcoal with Michael. I learned a lot and made some pieces I’m really proud of. If drawing and painting aren’t your thing, there’s also leather working, jewelry making, creative writing and more. Plenty of chance to challenge yourself regardless of prior experience. Some other highlights of the trip were hiking (we explored an abandoned mine shaft!), exploring cities like Belfast and Derry, cliff jumping, surfing, and just hanging out at home with everyone. I appreciated that the program leaders trusted us to manage our own house and free time. I’ve made so many long-lasting memories & friends on this trip, and would recommend it to anyone looking to stretch their wings, make art, explore a new place and learn a bit about yourself along the way.

When I learned that I was travelling to Ireland in a pandemic, I was a little nervous. That immediately went away once I got to the Portbeg houses and got to experience Bundoran. Every day I had this wow factor that I was living in this beautiful costal town surrounded by a great and memorable group of people doing the art I have always wanted to do with the most amazing professional instructors. Hiking, Surfing, Kayaking and day trips to towns and cities across Ireland also occurred and seeing the historic sites of Ireland really resonated with me. Thank you Irish Gap year 🙌

Attending IGY was one of the best decisions of my whole gap year experience. I learned so much about art—not only practical skills, but also the values of unjudged creativity and perseverance. Seeing the natural beauty of Ireland through hikes was wonderful, and though covid prevented us from visiting as many cities as I would like, I’ll remember the places we did visit forever. Anyone who enjoys nature, art, or is even just open to pushing themselves into something new (I wasn’t much of an artist myself before I came here) will love this program.

I had a great time at IGY! Despite some unfortunate let downs due to Covid, It was an overall amazing experience. I made many new friendships, saw some beautiful places, tried new things, and learned a lot about myself along the way. The staff was fantastic; they were friendly and supportive and truly made the experience what it was. The tutors who taught our art classes were super talented and I think I improved my art skills greatly, especially in the mediums I was unfamiliar with. My time at IGY will stick with me forever and I will look back on it with fondness.

Doing this gap program was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. This experience was unforgettable I’ve discovered that I am a much better artist than I had initially thought and over the course of 3 months, i feel like I’ve improved on those skills. I also really got along with the tutors and feel like They’ve helped me bring out the artist in me. Our program leaders (Phil and Fiona) were amazing and I found that they’re easy to talk to and they made the program 10x better. I’ve also met some amazing people that were a part of this group that I will definitely be keeping in touch with after the program.

I had a great time here with the arts program! The artists we work with are really talented and fun, and offer a lot of different ways for students to be creative. The community and location is great, both the natural landscape by the ocean and the mountains inland, as well as the town and the people we met. We had a pretty fair bit of freedom to ourselves, living “unsupervised” in a communal house, and rarely had moments where and issues couldn’t be figured out in a way that didn’t feel fair. That said, covid limited a lot of what we could do, and led to a fair bit of frustration and cabin fever. We spent much of our free time in houses, as public attractions were shut for the season, and some of the changes in program rules due to covid caused some disagreement, but the staff were all reasonable with finding a middle ground that worked well. All in all, a fun time with good people

I had so much fun on IGY! I’m going to miss my peers, staff and Ireland very much! Fiona Mulrine is an angel of a woman, she is so supportive and always has us in her best interest, she deserves a raise and a thick bonus!!! We had a bunch of amazing tutors that helped us all create beautiful pieces of art. I feel like I’ve learned a lot from our tutors and classes and I’ll be going home with a whole new range of skills learnt here. I really enjoyed Vandoren of the town I found it very quaint and peaceful being by the sea. The surfing was a lot of fun as well!