At this time of year, rural towns across Donegal come alive with laughter and twinkling lights.
But in Dungloe, it’s not just revellers breathing life into the town; there’s something particularly special stirring. A new creative space has found its home right on the Main Street.
Behind an unassuming shutter, a sheltered indoor street awaited. Dust had settled on signage, which whispered of a once-vibrant hub that was home to local hairdressers, butchers, bookshops and cafés.
The arcade, once at the heart of the community, had been vacant for 15 years.
Now, it’s been reimagined as an inclusive space for both professional and emerging artists and makers.
Rebranded as Arcade the not-for-profit space offers shared and private studios, workshops, exhibitions and serves as a home for the area’s thriving creative community.
Inside, the space is dotted with quirky artefacts that honour Donegal’s history. Each unit is adorned with hand-painted signage, with fonts that pay tribute to the building’s past.
You’ll find everything from vintage teacups to a disco ball that once hung above the dancefloor at Limelight, and even a reclaimed barber’s chair that spent decades travelling the length and breadth of the county in a mobile barbershop.
A view if the refurbished arcade in Dungloe.
The revival of the arcade was led by local artist Gary McGarvey, a native of Kincasslagh.
Gary moved back to Donegal two years ago after living abroad for over 20 years, with the last ten years spent in Oaxaca, Mexico.
The printmaker and graphic designer who works under the name ‘Horse’ was initially on the hunt for a studio for himself. He rented a unit in the arcade, used it as a studio space and quickly realised the potential the place had.
“I thought it would be a shame if it got filled with pound shops or bookies or something like that, so I approached the landlord to see if he would be interested in filling it with artists,” Gary told the Donegal News.
The landlord, eager to fill the units, was open to the idea.
When Gary first viewed the space, there was no electricity and it hadn’t been restored for the first six months of renovation after Storm Éowyn ripped through the county’s power infrastructure.
But this, Gary said, offered them the opportunity to grow organically and to gather feedback from the community and other artists.
“I think my business plan from a year ago to now is very different, and it has just naturally grown and gone in this direction,” he explained.
Gary started reaching out to local artists who might be interested in the concept and all the units were filled within a month.
Opening the doors to the public last month, Arcade has been a welcome injection of creativity and culture into the Main Street.
At the back of the building, a new café called Soloma has also found its home in the arcade. It was opened a few weeks ago by Pavlo, who moved to the west Donegal town from Ukraine three years ago.
Local artist Kim Sharkey is one of the many who has made the building her creative home, with a cosy studio tucked away at the back of the historic building. A collective of nine artists from Leitir occupy another of the four units and Gary himself has a space for his screen-printing equipment, where he plans to add a dark room.
Kim Sharkey with a selection of artwork which is on display at her new studio at Arcade, Dungloe.
One of the units at the front of the arcade is a spacious but cosy co-working space which transforms in the evenings to host workshops and provide a place for the creative community to gather.
Kim Sharkey has organised a series of ceramic classes for the New Year, just a small taste of the possibilities the space now offers creatives looking to exhibit their work and share their skills.
Gary hopes to host more workshops in the future in areas such as screen printing, photography and animation.
“It’s about offering something later than 6pm on the Main Street that doesn’t involve the pub,” Gary explained.
“I love the pub, I’m not trying to dissuade people from the pub, it’s just offering an alternative.”
“It gives the creative community a place to gather and collaborate. It’s not that Dungloe didn’t have it; it just wasn’t street-facing.”
In recent weeks, the space has hosted everything from traditional mummers’ mask-making workshops to Christmas markets showcasing local crafts.
The positive feedback from the community and local businesses has been overwhelming with passers-by enjoying the chance to step back into the arcade.
A view of the art exhibition wall in the arcade.
But beyond the nostalgia, Gary hopes the project also helps combat the urban decline that many rural towns across Ireland are facing.
In the first week that the space opened, Gary’s aspiration had already come to life as he watched people using the co-working facilities, strolling through the town, picking up coffee in the local café or Christmas gifts in the nearby jewellers.
Arcade hopes to act as an enabler for artists who might otherwise be working in silos in their studios, while also inspiring younger generations and showing them how they can make a living as full-time artists in rural Donegal.
Looking to the future, they hope to continue growing and expanding their offerings, including introducing artist residencies.
