While familiar at first, the United Kingdom and Ireland quickly invite a closer look at the stories, creativity, and histories that continue to shape life across the islands. As a great first place to travel internationally, they offer an accessible entry point into questions of identity, belonging, and cultural change. Roman ruins leave a legacy across the countryside, highlighting the past, while questions of Scottish independence hint at the future of the United Kingdom. London serves as a global center of migration, media, and the arts, while across the region, traditions in theater and literature remain deeply rooted and constantly evolving. In Ireland and Northern Ireland, the legacy of division and the long relationship with England continue to shape language, education, and political life.

Atlas Workshops programs across Great Britain and Ireland explore how culture, memory, and place intersect. We can investigate how art, public storytelling, and civic traditions reflect local identities and global connections. Whether tracing literary history, meeting with artists and educators, or reflecting on how communities remember their past, we explore how the familiar can gain new meaning—and how culture continues to grow across borders and generations.