Date: 10 Feb 2026
An Grianán Theatre to Lead €200,000 Cross-Border PEACEPLUS Arts Project in Donegal and Border Regions
“The Viewing Project” is a project supported by PEACEPLUS, a programme managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) and funded though the Donegal County Council’s €7.6 m PEACEPLUS Local Co-designed Action Plan.
The project will bring communities together through theatre, storytelling, and large-scale participatory art from 2026 - 2027.
An Grianán Theatre has announced The Viewing Project, a major two-year creative arts initiative designed to foster meaningful cross-community connection, dialogue, and reconciliation across Donegal and its border regions. Funded through the PEACEPLUS programme, the project will engage over 300 direct participants and reach wider audiences through public performances, exhibitions, and high-visibility spectacle events.
Running up until Summer 2027, The Viewing Project uses theatre, storytelling, and co-created visual art to bring people from different social, cultural, and political backgrounds into sustained, purposeful contact. The programme places a strong emphasis on inclusivity, youth engagement, and trauma-informed practice, responding directly to the lived realities of communities in the North West.
At its core, The Viewing Project is built on a participatory, co-creation model. Rather than imposing a fixed programme, artists and facilitators will work alongside communities to shape the work from the ground up, ensuring authentic ownership and long-term impact.
The project will be delivered through a series of interconnected creative strands, including intergenerational storytelling and textile hubs, a co-created playwriting initiative, a touring community performance, school-based Theatre of Witness residencies, and a youth-led spectacle arts commission. These strands will culminate in a travelling exhibition and exchange festival in Summer 2027, showcasing work created across the project and creating new spaces for dialogue with wider audiences.
An Grianán Theatre will lead the project in partnership with a broad network of cultural, educational, and community organisations, including the Donegal Arts Office, The Regional Cultural Centre, The Derry Playhouse, Donegal Youth Theatre, Foróige, schools, youth clubs, and community resource centres across Donegal and the border counties.
The Viewing Project draws inspiration from internationally recognised models of socially engaged art and ethical community collaboration, placing relationships, dialogue, and collective repair at the centre of the artistic process. Evaluation will focus on qualitative outcomes, capturing personal testimonies, participant reflections, and evidence of attitudinal and behavioural change, rather than attendance figures alone.
By embedding creativity directly into communities, The Viewing Project aims to leave a lasting legacy: stronger cross-community relationships, increased cultural confidence among participants, and a new generation of artists and facilitators equipped to continue this work beyond the life of the programme.
