A programme I invented with Irish Theatre Institute that uses hospitality, kindness, and deep hanging out to weave communities of artists and arts workers together. Pairs of artists based (mostly) in Europe visit each other to learn about each others’ practices and creative communities, while being integrally involved in the planning and designing of each others’ visits. A question of what it means to be a good host, and what it means to be a good guest.

The first and second editions took place in summer 2023 and summer 2025. To date we have worked with four international partner organisations: Bluecoat, Liverpool; Irish Classical Theatre, Buffalo; Spring Performing Arts Festival, Utrecht; and Viernulvier, Gent. Visits happened in Belfast, Birr, Buffalo, Clare, Cork, Galway, Ghent, Kilkenny, Liverpool, Longford, Utrecht and Waterford.

Following on from Gap Day (developed with Mermaid Arts Centre), Gap Exchange was developed from the same basic principles:
– artists are experts and know better than anyone what they need
– spending time together informally is a powerful way to make connections
– hospitality enriches both host and guest
– well-designed, small-scale interactions can have lasting positive impacts on the practices and communities of everyone involved.

Each artist hosted their counterpart in their homeplace and designed visits that dove into the local arts scene from an insider’s perspective. The programme prioritised local engagement outside of capital cities and embedded flexible support to ensure all artists could take part equally. We also found as many ways as possible to connect with and include other artists locally – whether it was hosting workshops, going on thinking time walks, or simply having a pint or a coffee together.

Short videos were made each year, using footage and recordings gathered by each artist:

Gap Exchange 2023
Participating artist pairs:

• Deirdre Dwyer (writer, director, designer & dramaturg, Waterford) and Fatih De Vos (rapper, sociologist, youth worker, and youth consultant, Ghent)
• James Riordan (theatre maker and artistic director of Brú Theatre, Galway) and Simone Tani (performer, mask maker, and managing artistic director at Teatro Pomodoro, Liverpool).
• Luke Casserly (multidisciplinary performance maker, Longford) and Merel Stolker (artist working between performance, visual art, and social practice, Ghent)
• Noelle Brown (actor, writer and theatre maker, Cork) and Jija Sohn (dance artist, Utrecht)
• Peter Power (multidisciplinary visual artist, composer, sound designer and director, Cork) and Asa Horviz (performance maker and composer, Utrecht)
• Shanna May Breen (performance maker, Offaly) and Gregory Herbert (visual artist, Liverpool)

Gap Exchange 2025
Participating artist pairs:

• John O’Donovan (playwright, Clare) and Cassie Cameron (theatre artist, actor, costume and props designer, and Producing Director for Irish Classical Theatre Company, Buffalo)
• David McGovern (theatre-maker, educator and socially-engaged artist, Louth/Dublin) and Amparo González Sola (choreographer and dancer, Utrecht)
• Dónal Gallagher (freelance theatre maker, director, writer, and co-founder and co-artistic director of Asylum Productions, Kilkenny) and Mira Bryssinck (theatre-maker and activist) and Dounia Mahammed (writer/performer, both in Ghent)
• Kate Guelke (opera-maker and Artistic Director of Spark Opera, Belfast) and Jennifer Lee Tsai (poet, editor, and literary critic, Liverpool)

I got to go on some of the visits. They were superb. Here’s some of the activities programmed by the artists for each other in 2023 alone: