Belfast Peer Support Programme: Speed Curating | Clinics | Informal Gallery Walk (28 October)

The Belfast Peer Support Programme 2025 is a transformative initiative aimed at empowering visual artists across Northern Ireland, particularly those working in isolated and rural areas. Through curated opportunities for engagement with curators, artist talks, and professional development activities, this programme provides critical support and visibility to independent artists.

The final event of this year’s programme will have a flurry of activity as artists can engage in 1-1 speed curating sessions or longer clinics with invited curators.  After lunch, there will then be an informal gallery walk around some of the artistic spaces in Belfast City Centre.

Structure

• 10:00 am – 10:15 am: Introduction
• 10:15 am – 12:30 pm: Speed Curating 12 invited curators will have eight 15-minute slots each with a fifteen minute break
• 10:15 am – 12:35 pm: Clinics – 4 invited curators will have five 25-minute slots for a more in depth discussion with attendees with a 15 minute break.
• 12:35 pm – 1:15 pm: Lunch/Networking
• 1:15 pm – 5:00 pm: Informal gallery walk of Belfast art spaces, including: The MAC, Belfast Exposed, Golden Thread Gallery, Catalyst Arts, PS2, Vault Studios and Arcade Studios

Lunch will also be provided so do let us know of any dietary requirements when registering.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Do research into the curators and spaces you wish to speak to before booking. A maximum of 2 bookings is available per attendee.

Speed Curators

Niamh Brown

Niamh Brown is a curator, researcher and producer based in Limerick city, Ireland. In 2012, she began working at Ormston House and currently works there as Curator of Strategy & Development. From 2016 to 2021, she worked with EVA International, including as Creative Producer for the 39th Edition (2020-2021). In 2024, she received the Arts Council’s Bursary Award. Brown was selected for the inaugural Backwater Artists Group Curator Award 2025 and curated the exhibition At first / I was land, featuring Paul Gaffney, Debbie Godsell, Fiona Kelly, Róisín O’Sullivan, and Sarah Long. Forthcoming projects include Community Spirits with Laura Fitzgerald, Inch, Co. Kerry and a solo exhibition by Sian Costello at The Dock, Co. Leitrim. Previous curatorial projects include Strange Weather, a solo exhibition by Laura Fitzgerald; Other Ghosts, featuring Jennifer Trouton, Joy Gerrard, and Ursula Burke; and The Feminist Supermarket, co-curated with Mary Conlon. Other projects include the Creative Europe project Artist-Run Network Europe (2020-2023), where she led on research on measuring the social value of artist-run initiatives. Outside of visual art, Brown sits on the Board of Directors for Women’s Collective Ireland, a grassroots organisation focused on collective and practical actions that empower and support women.

Viviana Checchia

Viviana Checchia is a curator, programmer, and researcher active internationally, and currently Director of Void Art Centre in Derry where she instigated a living practice of Social Permaculture.

Viviana is also Co-Director of ‘Vessel’, an international curatorial platform based in Puglia, South of Italy, for the support of social, cultural, and economic development through contemporary art.

Previous to these roles she was Residency Curator at Delfina Foundation, London, Senior Lecturer on the MFA at HDK-Valand, University of Gothenburg and Public Engagement Curator at the Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow. Viviana has produced and contributed to a range of international projects, including the Young Artist of the Year Award, Ramallah and the 4th Athens Biennale.

Viviana has lectured on curatorial studies and contemporary art practice at amongst others: the Centre for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, New York, MA Social Practice and the Creative Environment, Limerick Institute of Technology; the International Academy of Art Palestine, Ramallah. With Anna Santomauro, she received the 2013 ICI/Dedalus Research Award for research into the legacy of socially-engaged art practice in the U.S., and in 2016 was awarded the Igor Zabel Award for Culture and Theory Laureate’s choice for her contributions to the comprehension of and international interest in Eastern European art. Viviana holds a PhD from Loughborough University that focused on alternative Mediterranean curatorial practices. She currently serves as a trustee of cultural organisation, Timespan, Helmsdale, Scotland.

Ben Crothers

Ben Crothers is a Belfast-based curator, currently working in the role of Curator and Collections Manager at Queen’s University Belfast, a position which he has held since 2015. His curatorial practice has seen him deliver projects and complete residencies at a number of renowned venues such as Golden Thread Gallery (Belfast), Ex Elettrofonica (Rome), SOHO20 (New York), Comic Arts Brooklyn (New York), and the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum at Ohio State University (Columbus). Ben has developed exhibitions with an exciting range of artists including Laura Callaghan, Faith Couch, Buck Ellison, Adham Faramawy, HuskMitNavn, Marie Jacotey, Sarah Maple, Locky Morris, Zanele Muholi, Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi, Paul Pfeiffer, John Rainey, Cindy Sherman, Tom of Finland, Jennifer Trouton, and Harumi Yamaguchi. Ben is also Chair of the Board of Directors of Flax Art Studios and Co-Chair of the Belfast Visual Arts Forum. He previously served on the Board of Directors of the Northern Ireland Museums Council and sat on the selection panel for the 2026 British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Ben holds a BA in American Studies & Film Studies and an MA in Art History & Film, both from the University of Essex.

Catherine Hemelryk

Catherine Hemelryk is a curator and Director of CCA Derry~Londonderry, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and member of the British Art Network’s steering group. Catherine is a mentor, guest lecturer, editor, consultant and advisor. Under Catherine’s leadership, CCA was a Finalist for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2021 and during her time working at NN, Northampton, she led the organisation to achieve NPO status from Arts Council England. She was previously Curator at CAC Vilnius as well as working freelance with projects and curatorial residencies spanning Europe including GeoAIR Tbilisi, Sea Foundation Tilburg, Magacin Belgrade, Galerie Antje Wachs Berlin and Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridgeshire.

Ben Malcomson

Ben Malcolmson (b.1999) is a visual artist and curator from Belfast who is based in Dublin. His fine art practice explores the parameters of photography, video, and sculpture using alternative photographic processes in relation to one’s land and identity. His curatorial interests encompass social engagement and activism through a public-centred approach, particularly for young people. He graduated with a First Class Honour, Bachelor’s of Photography with Video, from Belfast School of Art, Ulster University, NI (2021) and achieved a commemoration in International Studies from The Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, NL (2019-2020). He has exhibited work nationally and internationally in Ireland, the UK and the Netherlands. He has spoken at conference events and delivered numerous facilitation workshops during his time working at Photo Museum Ireland as Curator of Education (2024) and Belfast Exposed as Assistant Curator (2022-23). Ben is a current studio artist based at Flax Artist Studios in the Emerging Artist Programme and has been funded and is supported by both Arts Council Northern Ireland and Arts Council Ireland. Further activity includes membership in the Constellations programme by Up Projects, ENG (2023-24) The Douglas Hyde Gallery, Student Forum, IRL (2021) and awarded the Making Marks residency by the Arab British Centre, funded by the British Council Kuwait, ENG (2019). Ben currently works as Registrar at Kerlin Gallery, IRL (2024 – ), working with leading contemporary artists such as Sean Scully, Dorothy Cross, Nathalie Du Pasquier and among others.

Jane Morrow

Jane Morrow (she/her) is a visual art curator, writer, researcher and advocate. She is Co-Director and Strategic Vision & Development Curator of PS2: a visual art organisation in Belfast, where she is responsible for programmes, partnerships, fundraising, communications and the future development of the organisation. She is interested in infrastructure for artists, working across network, production and engagement contexts to resource, nurture and profile artistic practice, and undertakes independent projects in these areas. Jane co-initiated and manages Angelica (a network which aims to amplify the voices of visual artists and curators based on the island of Ireland who self-identify as women or minority gender, who are also from underrepresented cultural or ethnic backgrounds). She is currently working on two strategic research projects, one for British Council Ireland and one for Create: the national development agency for collaborative arts. Jane is supporting numerous artists from across the UK and island of Ireland through ongoing mentorship. She is also the Secretary of the International Art Critics Association (Ireland).

Julia Moustacchi

Julia Moustacchi (b. France) is a Curator and Arts Manager based in Dublin. She is the Programme & Outreach Manager at Fire Station Artists’ Studios (since 2022) and was the Interim Director earlier this year (March-May 2025). Previous roles include Interim Curator at The LAB Gallery (2023-2024); Curator and Artist Liaison for Earth Rising at IMMA (2022 & 2023); Creative Producer of the EU Project ‘Looking to Understand Inclusion’, Dublin City Arts Office (2021-23); Public Engagement Curator, Sculpture Dublin (2020-22); and Co-Director of Basic Space (2019-23). Julia is a graduate of the MA in Arts Management and Cultural Policy in University College Dublin (UCD).

Gavin Murphy

Gavin Murphy is a Dublin-based artist and curator. As joint artistic director of Pallas Projects/Studios, he oversees the open-call Artist-Initiated Projects programme, and the long-running curatorial project Periodical Review. He has devised and realised numerous artist-led projects and programmes, and writes, advocates and conducts research on artist-run practice. He has curated exhibitions and produced solo projects by artists such as Dennis McNulty, John Smith, Alex Martinis-Roe, and Willie Doherty, and co-curated large-scale group exhibitions including House Projects (2006), The Future is Self-Organised, LCGA (2015) and ‘Dubliners’, Biennial of Painting, Zagreb, Croatia (2022). He was co-editor of the landmark publication Artist-Run Europe: Practice/Projects/Spaces (2016), its revised second edition published by Set Margins, Eindhoven (2023), and developed the accompanying online resource artist-run.eu. He has sat on numerous panels, seminars and symposia, including Futures Photography Platform with PhotoIreland, Eastside Projects, Birmingham, and he was a nominator for the Apexart Fellowship award (New York). As an Associate Lecturer on IADT’s BA Art programme, he has co-delivered the ‘In the making’ series of professional practice student exhibitions since 2015.

Samar Nezamabad

Marianne O’ Kane Boal

Dr Marianne O’Kane Boal is a well-known curator and writer on art and architecture. She has written extensively on these subjects over the past 25 years.  She writes for the Irish Arts Review, Circa, Perspective, Living Design, Visual Artists Newsletter and Architecture Ireland. She has curated over 50 exhibitions in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Marianne completed her PhD in Social Research at Atlantic Technological University Sligo in 2023. She is President of the Irish Section of AICA (International Association of Art Critics) and Expert Advisor on Art for the Ministerial Advisory Group on Architecture and the Built Environment in Northern Ireland. She has been delivering webinars and professional development workshops for Visual Artists Ireland for over fifteen years since 2009 on curating, creative proposals, presenting work, writing about practice and public art. Her research interests include art, architecture, children’s literature, the sociology of food and childhood studies. She has presented at conferences in Zurich, Prague, Chile, Belfast and Dublin.

Mark O’Gorman

Mark O’Gorman (b. Dublin, IRL) is the inaugural curator of visual art at The Complex, a multi-disciplinary arts centre in Dublin’s north inner city, since 2018. The exhibition programme focuses on commissioning site-specific work with a prolonged developmental process and conversational approach with artists, who are carefully brought together in relation to one another. Mark has presented exhibitions and co-produced events featuring artists including Olga Balema, Jeremy Deller, Vivienne Dick, Jaki Irvine, Sean Lynch, Bea McMahon, Dennis McNulty, Locky Morris, and Anne Tallentire. He consistently guest lectures at the National College of Art & Design, Technological University Dublin, and the Institute of Art, Design and Technology. His writing has appeared in Paper Visual Art and The Visual Artists’ News Sheet. He co-edited the publication Vertices with Paul McAree to accompany the exhibition of the same name at Lismore Castle Arts, 2024.

Deirdre Robb

Deirdre Robb is an award-winning curator and CEO of Belfast Exposed, Northern Ireland’s leading photography organisation. With over 25 years’ experience in the visual arts, she curates across contemporary photography, socially engaged practice, and therapeutic arts. Her work explores conflict, identity, mental health, and migration through both archival and participatory approaches. She is particularly interested in pushing the boundaries of photography and encourages experimental approaches.   Deirdre has curated major exhibitions such as ‘Beasts Of Burden, by Paul Seawright, Alain Le Garsmeur retrospective,  Imperial Courts 1993-2015 by Dana Lixenberg and ‘Parrs Ireland’ by Martin Parr and led international partnerships including Nationhood with Bradford City of Culture National Geographic Photo Camp in Belfast. She has pioneered therapeutic photography initiatives across health and community sectors, establishing Belfast Exposed as a UK leader in this field. Her curatorial practice combines strategic vision with a deep commitment to inclusion, healing, and providing a voice to those unheard. A recipient of the CO3 Leadership Award (2024), she regularly presents at national  cultural forums, advocating for the power of photography to transform lives and societies.

Clinic Curators

Sara Greavu 

Sara Greavu is the Director of Fire Station Artists’ Studios. Previously she was Curator of Visual Arts at Project Arts Centre and the curator, with Project, of the Irish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2024) with the artist Eimear Walshe. Prior to this she worked at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Derry; VOID Arts Centre; and Outburst Arts, Belfast as well as working independently as a curator, writer and organiser. Independent projects include Open the book at a different page, a research exhibition produced with artist Ciara Phillips and former members of the Derry Film and Video Workshop, which dealt with intertwined political and cultural initiatives in Derry in the 1980s. Originally commissioned for the 39th EVA International, an iteration of the show is currently in OFF Biennale, Budapest.

Hugh Mulholland

Hugh Mulholland has been active within the Gallery/Museum Sector for over a 30-years and has gained considerable experience at a senior level. Throughout his career he has been motivated by my unwavering commitment to the advancement of artistic and curatorial practice both nationally and internationally.
He was the founding Director of Context Gallery, Derry in 1992 (now CCA, Centre for Contemporary Art, Derry/Londonderry) with the specific aim of supporting artists from Ireland, the UK and Europe to realise their first solo exhibitions. He was Director of Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast from 1997 – 2006 and is currently the Creative Director of the MAC, Belfast (2012 – present) in each institution he has placed artistic and sectorial development at the centre of the organisation.

He has also been instrumental in many of the most significant developments in the visual arts sector in Northern Ireland having initiated Northern Irelands first presentation at the Venice Biennale in 2005 and again in 2007. Throughout his career he has presented significant exhibitions in Belfast by major art world figures such as Yoko Ono, Andy Warhol, Bill Viola, Stan Douglas, Kara Walker, Peter Doig, Sophie Calle, Nan Goldin, Gilbert & George, Ron Mueck as well as offering important career defining exhibitions by Irish and UK based artists such as Helen O’Leary, Mary McIntyre, Francis Hagerty & Andrew Stones, Paddy McCann, and Niamh McCann, Carol Rhodes, Keith Wilson, Lindsay Seers, and Louise Wallace.

Peter Richards

Peter Richards is the Co-Director and Head of Exhibitions at the Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast. He has over 20 years of experience in the arts, both as an artist and curator. Since 2001, he has overseen the realisation of over 250 exhibitions at the Golden Thread Gallery and at venues in America, China, Tiawan, and across Europe. Peter is a former Co-Director of Catalyst Arts, and a founding member of the Board of Directors of Bbeyond.

The Belfast Peer Support Programme is supported by Belfast City Council and in partnership with the MAC.