2026 Summer School participants announced

Create and Learning Lab Agency are delighted to announce the participants in the 2026 Summer School on Collaborative Practice and Social Change. 

Now entering its eighth year, the forthcoming Summer School explores the work of collaborative and socially engaged artists and examines the politics of public art, counter publics, and the significance of place in an era of rapid geopolitical rupture and transformation.

Collaborative and socially engaged artists increasingly operate across multiple, intersecting community domains such as health, care, housing, post-conflict contexts, displacement, and climate change. Their work demands a wide-ranging skill set, including intuitive code-switching, deep listening, problem-solving, and advocacy. Artists in this field often act as mediators, catalysts, community allies, project initiators, enablers, producers, and more.

In 2026, we will highlight both the visible and invisible forms of labour that underpin collaborative and socially engaged practice. Through case studies and their own in-situ or in-process projects, participants will explore the distinct, yet interconnected skills and spheres involved in this work. This intensive programme will take place over six days, from 15–20 June 2026, Killary Lodge, County Galway.

Summer School Team and Facilitators

Summer School Director: Dr Áine O’Brien – Independent Curator/Researcher, Learning Lab Agency

Summer School Producer: Áine Crowley – Programme Manager, Arts and Engagement, Create

Summer School Assistant Producer: Carolann Courtney – Programme Coordinator, Create

Visiting Artists and Facilitators:

Dominik Czechowski, Curator, Researcher and Writer

John Conway, Socially Engaged Artist

Dana Olărescu, Socially Engaged Artist

The Summer School is offered with thanks to funders and supporters the Arts Council of Ireland/ An Comhairle Ealaíon, National Sculpture Factory, The MAC Belfast, the North East Inner City Community Arts Programme, and the Creative Places network.