Pre-event workshop

Where Cultures Collide: Mapping Identity, Friction & Creative Possibility

A hands-on session before the main event. Through identity mapping, participants will uncover the cultures, communities, experiences and places whose friction shape who they are. Cultural collision as an opportunity for greater understanding, connection and creative possibility. ‍

[Facilitator TBC]

Film screening

We open with I'm Always Here, a short by Kayleigh Corcoran made through The Close-Up Summer Residency 2026. Across one 1990s summer, an Irish Traveller boy and his Latin American best friend try to hold on to the freedom of childhood while family expectations pull them towards very different futures.

Two panels

When Cultures Collide, Who Changes?
Moderated by Ayesha Syeddah.

Are cultural encounters about exchange, or is someone always expected to adapt? What really happens when cultures meet: who compromises, assimilates, translates themselves or makes others comfortable, and who gets to remain unchanged.

What Happens in the Messy Middle?
Moderated by Beatriz Gómez Moreno.

Can misunderstanding, tension and contradiction create something new? Collision isn't always beautiful. This is the uncomfortable, complicated space between cultures, and whether creative breakthroughs come from friction rather than agreement.

Panellists to be announced.

Live performances

Music, movement and spoken word, starting with JWY, a Dublin DJ with roots in Ghana, India and Suriname whose sets rarely sit still. Where sounds collide.

Headliner and more performers to be announced.

Connection over food and music

We close over food, where cultural tastes collide on your plate and on your tongue. The conversations that tend to happen in the margins, with something worth eating in front of you.

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