Fire Station Summer School Open Call Deadline

Anam an Phobail

FSAS 2026 Summer Studio 22–24 July 2026

Fire Station Artists’ Studios (FSAS) is calling artists, curators, writers & thinkers to send their expression of interest for Anam an Phobail – (Soul of the Community) Summer School by 26th June 2026. 

Fire Station Artists’ Studios annual Summer School provides research opportunities to Irish artists, curators, thinkers and writers with a concentrated programme of events organised around an annual theme.

The 2026 Summer School is devised and facilitated by artist Paddy Critchley and will take place across FSAS and a number of community-based locations, including Mud Island Community Garden, DUBH Film Lab, Five Lamps Football Pitch,  the Anne Devlin and Sean O’Casey Community Centres and The Cobblestone Pub, from 22–24 July 2026.

In the dark times, will there also be singing? Yes there will also be singing. About the dark times.’ – Bertolt Brecht. 

The current social climate in Ireland can make us feel pessimistic, mournful and even frightened. Rising housing costs continue to force many young people to emigrate, while people entering and integrating with our communities are often met with racism and violence. While interest in learning the Irish language is rapidly growing, we are still witnessing rural Gaeltacht communities declining due to the shortage of housing and the rapid proliferation of holiday homes and Airbnbs.  Alternative art spaces are struggling to stay open across Ireland, being liable to an eviction notice at any given time. Common areas for people to meet, create, and flourish are becoming more scarce and more fragile. Ireland is becoming a place in which it is hard to sustain hope.

But there is hope.

Hope is not a passive emotion or a rose-tinted dream but a political practice that sustains and feeds us. It strengthens the attachments to each other that we need in order to resist, to create, to live our lives with dignity and pleasure.  Through music, art, collective action, and – ultimately – friendship, we have the power to shape our communities for the better. 

This year’s FSAS Summer School focuses on hope – on “reanimating the bonds of community”* and counteracting despair, in the pursuit of liberation. We will explore ideas around urban commons, technological degrowth, histories of resistance, and the reclamation of civic space – all bedded down in real-world projects and people. It will be a space to come together and learn, with the ambition that participants will bring these insights back into their own communities and practices. Across three days, the Summer School will combine talks, workshops, site visits, discussions and hands-on activities.

*this phrase borrowed from partner group Rupture Cinema

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Details of the Summer School – Full Programme Coming Soon

The week will start with a direct animation workshop with Helena Gouveia Monteiro hosted in the DUBH Darkroom. Afterwards Rupture Cinema will speak about their work and screen a film offsite in the Sean O’ Casey Community Centre. 

There will be a community morning led by 1815fc on the local 5 Lamps football pitch followed by a site visit to Mud Island Community Garden. Later that day we will meet and work with an Irish language activist from Glor na Mona and Deaglán Ó Mocháin as well as participating in a hands on workshop on signs and banners.

Aoife Hammond will lead us with music session that focuses on their work with Queer Sheds and the Faoin Tuath festival. There will be a collective group project and additional  site visit before a social evening in The Cobblestone Pub in Smithfield. The summer school will run over three days.

Dates: 22, 23 and 24 July 2026

Times: 10am–6pm on 22 July, 10am–6.30pm on 23 July, and 10am–6pm on 24 July, with an optional late-night social gathering in the Cobblestone Pub. 

Venue: Project Space, Fire Station Artists’ Studios, 9–11 Lower Buckingham Street, Dublin 1, as well as activities taking place at Mud Island Community Garden, Five Lamps Football Pitch,  the Anne Devlin and Sean O’Casey Community Centres and The Cobblestone Pub.

Fee: €120 for the full three-day programme, including lunch each day and a welcome drink at The Cobblestone Pub. There are 3 scholarships available to low income applicants of a reduced rate of €50. Please make a note of this in your application if you wish to be included in this selection.

Places: Limited to 12 participants 

How to apply

Participants will have an active and demonstrable interest in this area. 

To apply, please send the following:

1) a selected CV (2 pages maximum)

2) an expression of interest stating how participating in Anam an Phobail Summer School will benefit your practice and referring to projects/ interests that demonstrate your practice (1 page max + up to 3 images or audio/video files)

Please send all these documents in 1 PDF file by email to apply@firestation.ie with the subject line Summer School. 

The closing date for receipt of completed application is Friday 26th June at 5pm (Irish time).

For queries, contact clara@firestation.ie