How did this come about?
Conas a tharla sé seo?
Like most things, Irish for Artists / Gaeilge do na Healaíontóirí was born of frustration. The phrases we last learned and practiced as Gaeilge aged 10 could only get us so far - instructing people to open and close a window, or asking whether we ‘may have permission to go to the toilet’. We couldn’t find classes or apps that told us what we needed to know, which is to talk about the work that we make, why and how we do it, and where we do it.
We roped in artist and Gaeilgeoir Eimear Nic Roibeaird, and cooked up a plan for a series of workshops and a website that could help us to lean into the craic and the specificity of arts sector jargon to generate phrases that are both informative and irreverent.
What are you aiming to do?
Cad é do sprioc?
Beyond the workshops and this website, we are also planning a limited edition print and - eventually - a printed dictionary.
Our aim is to help artists in the North of Ireland to learn something new, build opportunities for creative collaboration, and deepen cultural partnerships.
Through the first round of workshops - funded by Belfast City Council’s Bank of Ideas participatory budgeting initiative in 2025 - we invited artists and creatives - from different disciplines and locations across the city - to tell us what they really want to be able to say as Gaeilge. We produced some general dictionaries, which you can find here, but the beauty was sitting down with participants to create bespoke phrases that were truly representative of their practices.
Second time around, we are able to run workshops during the 2026 City Centre Fleadh Fringe Festival, supported by MayWe and funded by Belfast City Council .
Nothing on these pages is perfect, but to that we say: is fearr Gaeilge briste ná Béarla cliste (trying to speak Irish poorly is better than not speaking it at all or relying only on English).
What next?
Cad ina dhiaidh sin?
Well we hope that by the time Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann rolls around in 2027, we might have a printed Irish for Artists / Gaeilge do na Healaíontóirí to share with you! Keep an eye on the PS² Instagram account for further updates.
Eimear Nic Roibeaird
Eimear Nic Roibeaird is an Irish artist and Gaeilgeoir who works primarily in watercolour and drawing. Drawing deeply from Irish folklore, mythology, language, and traditions of land reclamation, her work contributes to broader, urgent conversations about decolonisation, cultural sovereignty, and the inextricability of relationships between people, place, and language.
Eimear was raised within the Gaeilgeoir community in West Belfast, an experience that has profoundly shaped her both as an artist and an activist. For Eimear, the Irish-language community and the arts sector in the North of Ireland share traditions of resistance, solidarity, revival, and a desire to grow. As she says: ‘the arts and the language can strengthen one another, creating environments where people feel empowered to experiment, connect, and imagine new possibilities’.
PS² = Paragon Studios + Project Space, an artist-led organisation established in Belfast in 1994, with the core ambition of making art a meaningful part of everybody’s life.
We are situated in, and responsive to, a complex, post-conflict city. The backdrop against which we operate is ‘big P’ Political, such as social justice, sectarianism, borders, language, and colonialism. Amongst these concerns, we are consistently playful, embedding this tonally wherever possible and appropriate.
Onsite, we offer 15 affordable artists’ studios as well as residency programmes for graduates, curators, art writers and a collective. Our Project Space hosts a substantial programme of exhibitions and events alongside formal and informal artist support and development initiatives. We encourage experimentation and failure, attracting artists at every stage of their careers who want to try new (or weird) things out. We have just moved to a cavernous new city centre building, which we’re currently renovating, and have several exciting new projects in the works which will contribute to our new streetscape.
A substantial component of our work is offsite and outside - in homes and parks and rivers, and in gaps and spaces left over from the conflict, where we initiate community-based interventions that respond to social and environmental considerations. Our longstanding projects in areas of multiple deprivation, including flashpoint areas of North and South Belfast, proactively contribute to nurturing communal agency that has for too long been disincentivised.
Awareness and responsiveness to the barriers that we face - as artists, as members of society, in a very particular region, with some hyper-local as well as global considerations - is at the core of what we do. We value inclusivity, open-mindedness, and flexibility. We maintain a convening practice that brings people together - artists, residents, collaborators, visitors, and activists amongst others - and facilitate generously.
PS²
