Belfast Peer Support Programme 2026: Practice and Visibility- 18th November
The Belfast Peer Support Programme 2026 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.
This year, the Belfast Peer Support Programme kicks off with a bumper day of informative show-and-tell presentations from regional artists, curatorial talks and panels and a keynote artist talk from acclaimed painter Hughie O’Donoghue in the Upstairs Theatre in the MAC. There will be a chance for attendees to engage and ask questions relating to each talk / session.
Structure
- 10:00 am – 11:30 am: Intro / Show and Tells from regional artists + Q&A
- 11:30 am – 12:45 pm: Building Creative Networks with Sara Greavu
- 12:45 pm – 1:30 pm: Lunch / Networking
- 1:30 pm – 2:45 pm: Curatorial Panel on Visibility
- 2:45 pm – 4:15 pm: Artist Talk with Hughie O’Donoghue
The show and tell positions have now been filled. If you would like to be put on a waiting list, please do so when registering. There will be a €50 fee for all artists that present as part of the Show-and-Tells.
Lunch will also be provided so do let us know of any dietary requirements when registering.
Biographies
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.
Ben Crothers
Thomas Wells
Thomas Wells (he/they), is an artist and researcher based in Belfast. Their practice centres socially engaged practice as a methodology often working within Queer communities to investigate collective experiences from the perspective of assembly. They are a member of Array Collective and currently a PhD researcher at The Belfast School of Art. Collaboration is at the core of their work, developing recently a durational performance and research project The House of Atreus alongside artist Emma Brennan which explores class and queerness in relation to architecture and embedded gestures of assimilation.
Niamh Birch
Niamh Birch, Co-Director of Catalyst Arts, is a multi-disciplinary artist from the West Midlands. Growing up in a small mining town outside Birmingham, Birch was shaped by a landscape marked by the remnants of industrial collapse. This environment continues to inform her interest in how histories of labour are preserved and where value is placed once industrial sites and communities are rendered obsolete. Her role at Catalyst Arts heavily centres around the preservation of the gallery’s 33 year legacy as a grassroots artist-led space, through the rigorous archiving of its resources, artworks and history.
Mary Stevens
Mary Stevens is the Exhibitions Officer at Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast, which was shortlisted for the Art Fund Museum of the Year 2025. She leads exhibition logistics, planning, loan management, and interpretation for the gallery’s programme, including Beyond the Gaze, Sophie Calle’s first solo exhibition in Northern Ireland in 2025 and The Ignorant Art School; Outside the Circle x Belfast 2026.
Mary was named one of the British Art Network’s Emerging Curators in 2023 and convened a British Art Network seminar at Golden Thread Gallery in 2024. The same year, she received a prestigious Frieze curatorial grant, in partnership with Art Fund and the National Gallery, to research transhistorical exhibition-making at Frieze Masters in London.
Mary is interested in building meaningful collaborations between Northern Ireland and the wider UK and Ireland through curatorial practice, research, and knowledge exchange.
Hughie O’Donoghue
Born 1953 Hughie O’Donoghue lives and works in Erris, Co Mayo and London.
He completed an M.A. at Goldsmiths, London in 1982 was Artist in Residence at National Gallery, London 1984-85, Irish Museum of Modern Art in 1997-98. Received an Honorary Doctorate from NUI, Cork in 2005. Elected Royal Academician, 2009, Aosdána, 2013 and Honorary Fellow of Goldsmiths, University of London 2022.
His work is in museum and private collections around the world. His next solo exhibition Luggala And Other Stories will open at the RHA, Dublin on 20th November 2026
Poster Image: Hughie O’Donoghue, Creek triptych oil, mixed media on sandbags, 3 x 190 x 190 x 20 cms approx. Photo credit Colin Crisford
The Second day of the programme will take place on the 26th November, also in the MAC and will be a morning of speed curating sessions followed by an informal gallery walk around Belfast. To register for speed curating – click here.
The Belfast Peer Support Programme is supported by Belfast City Council and in partnership with the MAC.