Street Ready Residency

Street Ready is a 3-day intensive residency designed to give emerging performers the tools and confidence to get out onto the street. Led by Henrik Gard (Cikada Circus), Kim McCafferty (Cavan Arts Festival) and Deirdre Dwyer (Waterford Spraoi Festival). This course is focused towards making a show that will be booked for festivals or community events, rather than a busking show.

Across the residency, you will explore:

• Stage presence and audience engagement

• Exploration of the context – site specific/general

• Exploration of format

• Touring considerations

This residency is tailored for those new to performance who want to build confidence, and learn how to approach making a street show in a supportive environment, or for those already performing who want to upskill or transition to street performance.

Residency Conditions:

• Duration: 3 days (2 nights)

• Accommodation: Shared dormitory with access to kitchen facilities

• Meals: Breakfast and lunch are self-catered; communal dinner provided each evening

• The training space, dorm rooms and kitchen are on the ground floor and are accessible.

Applications Close: 28th Sept

Notification Given: 5th Oct

Residency Dates: 23rd-25th Nov

To apply, click on the application form link on our website.

Information on the workshop facilitators:

Henrik Gard is the co-director of Cikada Circus, an acrobatic performance company and has been creating performances and events across Ireland for over ten years. His work focuses primarily on acrobatics, and circus, while also drawing inspiration from and intersecting with mycology and horticulture.In recent years, Henrik’s work has increasingly explored site-specific performance and the activation of unusual spaces and places, using circus as a means of reimagining how audiences encounter and experience their surroundings. In 2025, he published Context Creators, a book exploring these ideas and the creative possibilities of working outside of conventional performance spaces.

Kim Mc Cafferty is an artist working in public spaces. She creates & performs in street arts & site responsive physical theatre, work merging dance, theatre, circus & film. She has co created 3 critically acclaimed works of street arts with Fanzini Productions, touring internationally for over a decade. As well as collaborating with many of Ireland’s leading street arts companies, Kim has also created a number of her own works for national tours.Kim is the founder & artistic director of Cavan Arts Festival (2018-present), & works as creative producer for The National Circus Festival of Ireland.

Deirdre Dwyer is the Street Theatre Programmer for Spraoi International Street Arts Festival in Waterford, Ireland. She also works as a designer and director for theatre, both indoors and out. She holds an MA in Theatre Design (RWCMD Cardiff) and a BA in Drama and English (University College Cork). She guest lectures  at UCC and has taught at MIC, IADT, SETU, Berridge, France and LAMDA, London.She is a founder member of the Irish Society of Performance Designers and has been Artist in Residence in MIC, Limerick, Garter Lane Arts Centre, Waterford and Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris.

This residency is funded by Arts Council Ireland.