(with kindness)
Theatre Forum and TheatreNI present All-Ireland Performing Arts Conference The Model, Sligo 11-12 June 2015
Questions
Question Everything
#APAC15
About the Partners Theatre Forum
TheatreNI*
Theatre Forum is the representative association for the performing arts with over 280 members including venues and arts centres, professional theatre, dance and opera companies, performing arts festivals as well as individual directors, actors, producers and makers. Activities include information provision, networking events, training and professional development, research, practical services and advocacy on behalf of the performing arts sector.
TheatreNI* is the representative body to support and develop theatre and the performing arts in Northern Ireland with over 90 members including venues and arts centres, theatre and dance companies, festivals, associates, and youth drama groups as well as individual artists and practitioners.
Director Anna Walsh director@theatreforum.ie Manager Irma McLoughlin manager@theatreforum.ie Administrators Eoin Gannon & Suzie Sweeney info@theatreforum.ie Theatre Forum 43/44 Temple Bar Dublin 2 www.theatreforum.ie +353 (1) 6778779
*TheatreNI is the trading name for the Ulster Association of Youth Drama following a merger with the Northern Ireland Theatre Association. Interim Coordinator Christine Bowen Interim Development Officer Keara Fulton info@theatreni.org TheatreNI c/o Lyric Theatre 55 Ridgeway Street Belfast BT9 5FB
Principal Funders Theatre Forum receives financial assistance from the Arts Council/An Chomhairle EalaĂon
TheatreNI aims to provide a voice for theatre and the performing arts that is heard and valued. Its programme includes training and development opportunities through workshops and professional development bursaries, networking, research, sector-specific information sharing and advocacy on behalf of the sector.
APAC15 Funders TheatreNI is supported by The National Lottery through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland
APAC15 Sponsors
Welcome On behalf of Theatre Forum and TheatreNI, we would like to warmly welcome all our colleagues and friends to the 2015 All-Ireland Performing Arts Conference (APAC). We are delighted to have brought this year’s conference to The Model in Sligo. We hope you enjoy your time in Sligo in the beautiful North West. Our thanks to this year’s conference curator, Jo Mangan, who has put together a programme that challenges us to think radically, to embrace change and develop new ways of working but above all, to do this in a spirit of empathy and kindness. For the past few months Jo, with the assistance of Ali FitzGibbon and the team at Theatre Forum and TheatreNI, has worked tirelessly to deliver a conference that is relevant to every one of us, a conference where ‘broad participation is a given, not just an aspiration’.
So this is your chance to take stock and to look forward but most of all, your chance to connect with your colleagues across the country and share your concerns and ideas. We have been through a tough few years and many face tough times ahead but we are still here, still very much alive and still questioning, provoking and challenging. But this year we are questioning with kindness. We all deserve a little bit of that! Mona Considine & Louise Rossington
Introduction Question Everything (with kindness) Each time the performing arts community comes together, we challenge ourselves to change, renew, transform. For nearly a decade now, theatre and the arts have been ‘at a crossroads’. We’ve been battered and bruised and reduced by economic crisis and deep funding cuts. During this turbulent period, we told ourselves that there’s an urgent need for transformation, innovation, and diversification in the sector. But has anything really changed? Have the structures of how we make and present theatre really been interrogated? We like to think of ourselves as different, but how much does the performing arts community simply reflect broader society: broadly conservative, change-averse and divided between the haves and the have-nots. If that’s the case how can we affect real change? Or do we even want change? Is it time for less talk and more action? Do we need to embrace radical ideas that challenge the old way of doing things, and create a more collaborative, kinder and more progressive model? Surely our greatest asset, as part of the creative sector, is that we can creatively reimagine ourselves.
It is my fervent hope that the combination of international and national guests, contributions from our open-call speakers and you, the people at the beating heart of theatre and the performing arts on the island, will inspire and provoke kindness, while interrogating the status quo. Over these two days, let us reconnect with our initial burning desire to be involved in the arts, and recharge – with kindness. Jo Mangan APAC15 Curator I’m happy to add that the above statement was written before the recent Referendum. Perhaps we now need to consider that we are a more generous, decent society than we may have believed. Is it possible that we can reflect the openness and progressiveness displayed on 22 May 2015 in our work, and embrace risk, innovation and decency?
Do we need to embrace radical ideas that challenge the old way of doing things, and create a more collaborative, kinder and more progressive model
Thursday 11 June 11:30 – 12:30
Benchmarking Presentation
12:00 – 13:30
Registration/Lunch
13:30 – 13:45
Welcome
Theatre Forum Chair, Mona Considine and TheatreNI Chair, Louise Rossington welcome the delegation.
13:45 – 14:45
The Artist as Activist
By questioning the status quo, artists have shown that they are capable of bringing about profound political change. But how and when should the artist engage with politics? Icelandic artist Birgitta Jónsdóttir shares her experience during Iceland’s traumatic economic collapse. And she explains her transformation from poet to protester to parliamentarian. Followed by discussion chaired by Ali FitzGibbon.
14:45 – 16:00
Free Radicals
When was the theatre scene last radical? Have we lost our ability to ask hard questions about the society in which we live? This forthright discussion will explore what we can learn from the past, and whether it can be applied to our current ways of working. Chair Deirdre Kinahan Panellists Veronica Coburn, David Grant, Gary Keegan, and Peter Sheridan.
16:00 – 16:20
Coffee
16:20 – 17:00
Perspectives I
Paula McFetridge: App technology and site-specific theatre. Lucina Russell: Miss Understood: The Lesser Spotted Arts Officer. Ollie Breslin: Young people as artists. Damien O’Connor: Expression, Inclusion, Empowerment, Ownership.
17:00 – 17:50
Majority Pursuit / Minority Report
What would the arts sector look like where broad participation was a given, not just an aspiration? How can we make the arts a majority pursuit, and is this possible or even desirable? A panel of practitioners working with and from a range of communities lead the conversation about barriers to participation, the struggle for diversity and the hopes of the next generation. Chair Pádraig Naughton Panellists Saoirse Anton, David Bolger, and Claire Hodgson.
17:50 – 18:30
Speaking Freely
Should we speak differently about the arts? As cutbacks and crisis battered the sector, the temptation has been to state our case in business-speak, in a language that ‘they’ will understand. Author, broadcaster and arts advocate Sir John Tusa questions that approach, insisting we must find a different way of talking about and for the arts. If the arts want to command respect and free themselves to do what they do best, they must reclaim their own voice.
18:30 – 19:30
Drinks Reception
Sligo County Council will host a drinks reception in The Model with tapas provided by Só Sligo Food and Cultural Festival.
20:00
Dinner
Move to The Glasshouse hotel for dinner.
Friday 12 June 09:00
Coffee
09:30 – 09:55
Spreading the Kindness
How do we spread the love? Tom Andrews, CEO of People United, talks about his arts and creativity organisation founded on the wish to increase kindness. People United is an innovative charity that explores how the arts and creativity can grow kindness, empathy and a sense of common humanity. They work with artists, academics and activists to explore the potential of the arts in making a difference in the world. Two sessions follow during the day inviting delegates to ‘Take a Walk with Tom’ to take the conversation further.
10:00 – 10:45
A Walk with Tom I
First Walk with Tom.
09:55 – 11:10
A Different Space?
Should we be doing things differently? Many venues appear to be running along similar tracks of being multi-disciplinary receiving houses. Should we rather focus on developing spaces that foster the creation of new work? This session questions the status quo, where we meet venues specialising in specific art forms, artist led venues and venues trying to break the mould. Chair Patricia McBride Panellists Owen Calvert-Lyons, Vanessa Fielding, Kerry Michael, and Sophie Motley.
11:10 – 11:30
Coffee
11:30 – 12:15
Are Two Heads Better than One?
12.15 – 13.15
Lunch
12:45 – 13:30
A Walk with Tom II Perspectives II
Second Walk with Tom.
13:45 – 15:00
The Dangers of Instrumentalism
Have the arts become a victim of instrumentalism? When campaigning, should organisations such as National Campaign for the Arts (NCFA) and ArtsMatterNI articulate the intrinsic value of the arts, rather than the value of the arts as a tool for cultural tourism and economic recovery? Tourism-focused public art commissions and initiatives by city councils and school boards now make up a growing slice of the arts funding pie. But are we handing too much artistic control to County Councillors and School Principals? Chair Sir John Tusa Panellists Elizabeth Crump, Monica Spencer, and Ray Yeates.
15:00 – 15:30
Feedback and Close
13:15 – 13:45
Is it possible to have two leaders at the head of an arts organisation? How do companies foster a culture where the public face and the ‘silent partner’ pull together for the greater good? This session affords a meeting with some of these unsung heroes and explores the strengths and pitfalls of collaborative and co-operative leadership. Chair Claire Hodgson Panellists Tríona Ní Dhuibhir, Eimear Henry, and Pádraig Heneghan.
Glen Patterson: Liability. Michelle Carew: More than sum of its parts: outcomes and art in youth theatre. Catherine Young: When your instrument becomes the instrument. A dancer’s reflection on the role of the dance artist in the community.
Speaker Biographies Tom Andrews
Tom Andrews is the Founder and Co-Director of People United. He has worked for 23 years developing imaginative ways of bringing people together and promoting understanding. Previously, Tom founded and ran the acclaimed music organisation Music for Change and worked as Strategic Manager for the Royal Opera House. He also wrote the first education pack on Tibet and promoted artists from around the world as part of the voluntary initiative Under One Sky. He was part of the first cohort of the Clore Leadership Programme (2004-2005) and is a fellow of the RSA (Royal Society of Arts). He regularly mentors cultural and community leaders.
Saoirse Anton
Saoirse Anton is currently studying English and Drama at Trinity College Dublin. She authors her own blog, www.sittingonthefourthwall.wordpress.com, as well as writing for The Public Reviews, The University Times’ TAF Blog, and TCD Rant & Rave. She is a past member of Portlaoise Youth Theatre and has been involved with NAYD (National Association for Youth Drama) on a number of programmes such as the National Festival of Youth Theatre 2011, Young Critics 2013 and NYT Lab 2014. Within TCD Saoirse has become involved in both DU Players and Trinity Arts Festival.
David Bolger
David Bolger is the Artistic Director and co-founder of CoisCéim Dance Theatre. He has directed and choreographed over 20 original productions for CoisCéim, including the award-winning Swimming with My Mother, Touch Me, Pageant, Missing and most recently Agnes. He has also written and choreographed for film, most notably the multi-award winning dance films, Hit and Run (CoisCéim/Rough Magic Films) and Deep End Dance (Wildfire Films). David has received numerous choreographic commissions including Tanztheater Freiburg/Heidelberg, Fidget Feet Aerial Dance Company, Druid Theatre Company, Cameron Mackintosh, The National Theatre, The Guthrie Theater, Abbey Theatre, Spoleto Festival, Lyric Theatre and Riverdream’s Heartbeat of Home. He made his opera direction debut in 2004 with Gluck’s Orfeo, which received an Irish Times/ESB Theatre Award and became the first Irish opera to be invited to the State Theatre (Wiesbaden). Other opera work includes Imeneo, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Opera Ireland), La Traviata (ENO) and Nicholas Maw’s Sophie’s Choice (Royal Opera House, London). He recently co-directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream at The Guthrie Theater and was associate director on DruidShakespeare for Druid. David has been a member of Aosdána since 2007.
Ollie Breslin
Ollie Breslin is the artistic director of Waterford Youth Arts for the last 25 years or so. His background is in theatre where he worked in a community theatre company called Ciotóg in the early 80s. He also now helps with an arts festival in Waterford called Imagine.
Owen Calvert-Lyons
Owen Calvert-Lyons’s belief in the power of theatre to transform communities has shaped his career in the arts. He is the Artistic Director of The Point and The Berry Theatres in Hampshire. Through The Point’s Associate Artist programme, Owen mentors four emerging companies each year as well as curating the Powered by The Point artist residency programme, which supports the creation of 25 new productions every year. Prior to this, Owen established Arcola Theatre’s award-winning Creative Learning Department, which he ran for four years. Owen has also worked for York Theatre Royal, The Courtyard Centre for the Arts, Theatre Royal Plymouth and National Association of Youth Theatres. Theatre credits include: Jack and Pinocchio (Berry Theatre); Around the World in Eighty Days, Boy with a Suitcase and Walking the Tightrope (Arcola Theatre); I am a Camera (Cornelius Cook - nominated for Best Director Off West End Awards 2011); 1984, The Children and The UN Inspector (York Theatre Royal); and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (The Courtyard).
Michelle Carew
Michelle Carew is Director of the National Association for Youth Drama (NAYD). NAYD is the national development organisation for youth theatre in Ireland with a membership of 58 youth theatres based in communities across the country. Michelle has 14 years’ experience in the cultural sector spanning the fields of theatre, youth arts, film production and festivals. She is currently Vice-President of the National Youth Council of Ireland and is a member of the National Youth Work Advisory Committee (NYWAC). Michelle holds a BA in Theatre Acting: Devised Performance from the University of Leeds and an MA in Cultural Policy and Arts Management from University College Dublin.
Speaker Biographies Veronica Coburn
Veronica Coburn was a founder member of Barabbas, Ireland’s first dedicated physical/clown theatre company. Barabbas played in, amongst others, The Kennedy Centre/Washington, The Next Wave Festival/BAM, and The Wellington International Festival/New Zealand. Veronica is the author of Clown Through Mask, The Pioneering Work of Richard Pochinko As Practised By Sue Morrison. Written in collaboration with Sue Morrison the book is published by Intellect Press. Veronica is currently artist in residence in Draíocht where she runs Hallelujah! Draíocht’s Community Clown Choir. Hallelujah! will culminate in October 2015 with an hour long original piece of theatre, Ship of Fools, inspired by Alessandro Barricco’s Novecento. Veronica runs Tenderfoot, The Civic Theatre’s apprentice theatre programme for transition year students. Tenderfoot provides young adults with an opportunity to learn about theatre by making theatre. The core of the programme is new writing and a volume of plays, TENDERFOOT – Plays By & For Young People, was published last year. As a playwright Veronica has won the Prix Europa Radio France and a World Gold Medal NY for her work for radio.
Lizzie Crump
Lizzie Crump works across the arts and culture, leading projects with many different people and partners; from large-scale agencies and cultural venues, to very small organisations, individuals and artists. She specialises in being the strategic glue between the public sector, politics, culture, arts, education and learning professionals and in finding new ways for people to share expertise, work together, express opinions and make change. Lizzie has worked for Torbay Local Authority, as Head of Education and Learning at the Arts Council, as a Cultural Adviser to Partnerships for Schools, and as a freelance consultant. She is currently Co-Director of the Cultural Learning Alliance with Samantha Cairns, and is one of a small core team of people helping to get the “What Next?” movement off the ground; a national conversation about the value of the arts and culture to our everyday lives. She is a trustee of the English and Media Centre, of the Poetry Society and of Musical Futures.
Vanessa Fielding
Vanessa Fielding is Artistic Director of The Complex, a new live arts centre, recently installed in ‘Little Green Street’, Dublin 7. There she is programming its first season of mixed arts, including indigenous work made by The Complex artists. Her own discipline as a theatre maker, has led her to direct many productions, the highlights of which are Green, Complexity, Iron for The Complex, Kiss of the Spiderwoman for Co-Motion, Gaslight for Druid, Little Shop of Horrors for the Lyric, Belfast, The Woman Destroyed, Lyric, London, UK and European tour. She is particularly interested in theatre presentation of a non-traditional kind, and has transposed eight northsideDublin vacant sites into places for professional arts practice to achieve open plan and accessible engagement, most notably in Smithfield Square from 2009-2012. Later this year, she hopes to direct Two Way Mirror by Arthur Miller and in 2016 FAT DAD a new play by Anthony Goulding.
Ali FitzGibbon
Ali FitzGibbon has been a programmer and producer of indoor and outdoor performance and projects for over 20 years. Since 2003, she has been the Director of Young at Art, an international multi-artform children’s arts organisation and festival reaching 30,000 – 50,000 people every year. In 2012, she was co-producer of Land of Giants, one of four major community events as part of the Cultural Olympiad of the London 2012 Olympics. In 2005, she created the world’s first Baby Rave. She has been an arts campaigner at regional and national level and has contributed to policy development on culture and regeneration, youth arts, arts in education and general arts policy. She works as a tutor, guest lecturer and mentor in strategic arts management and social enterprise in the creative industries. Ali is currently on the artistic panel for the On the Edge Festival in Birmingham in 2016. Ali worked in an advisory capacity on this year’s programme.
David Grant
David Grant is Director of Education in the School of Creative Arts at Queen’s University, Belfast, where he has been a lecturer in drama since 2000. A former Managing Editor of Theatre Ireland magazine, Programme Director of the Dublin Theatre Festival, and Artistic Director of the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, he continues to work as a theatre director alongside his academic work, having recently directed revivals of Owen McCafferty’s Mojo Mickybo for Bedlam Theatre Company, Patrick McCabe’s Frank Pig Says Hello! for An Grianán Theatre, and Oscar Wilde at Home, a site-specific event in Florence Court House in Enniskillen for the Wilde Weekend. He has a long association with youth and community-based arts, most recently devising Days in the Bay with the Tiger’s Bay Men’s Group in Belfast. Publications include Playing the Wild Card for the Community Relations Council, and The Stagecraft of Brian Friel for Greenwich Exchange Books. He is also director of the first Brian Friel Summer School, which will take place this August in Redcastle, Donegal.
Pádraig Heneghan
Pádraig Heneghan is a freelance General Manager and Producer. He is currently working with Landmark Productions on various projects and with Riverdream Productions (international touring of Heartbeat of Home). He has worked with Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre (Stravinsky Double Bill, international touring of Rian) and was Deputy Director of the Gate Theatre. He was in charge of all touring projects for the Gate since 2003, working with some of the major worldwide festivals (Lincoln Center Festival, Edinburgh International Festival, Sydney Festival, BAM Next Wave Festival, and Barbican). He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland and is a board member of The Corn Exchange and Theatre Forum.
Speaker Biographies Eimear Henry
Eimear Henry has over 10 years’ experience in the cultural sector working with a number of organisations on strategic and business development. This includes six years at Replay Theatre Company with three years as Executive Director during which time they launched a number of new strands of work. Eimear is a former board member of the Northern Ireland Theatre Association and a founding member of Theatre for Young Audiences NI. She continues to represent the sector on the board of TYA (Theatre for Young Audiences) UK. She is currently part of the Tourism, Culture and Arts team at Belfast City Council where she works on the implementation of the Cultural Framework for Belfast 2012-15 and on investment in the arts through a number of funding streams and support programmes.
Claire Hodgson
Claire Hodgson is a theatre/dance director and artist. Claire is Founder and Chief Executive of Diverse City which was nominated for the National Diversity Awards 2014. Diverse City works to make the arts more diverse. Claire co-created the ceremony to open the Olympic sailing events in 2012 involving young people from Dorset and Brazil. Since November 2012, Claire has been Co-Artistic Director with Billy Alwen (Cirque Bijou) of Extraordinary Bodies – a circus company of disabled and nondisabled artists. Claire was a Clore Fellow in 2012 and writes a column for The Guardian culture professionals online. She is former Head of Performing Arts at London Metropolitan University.
Birgitta Jónsdóttir
Birgitta Jónsdóttir is a Poetician for the Pirate Party in the Icelandic Parliament & Chairman for IMMI (International Modern Media Institute). Birgitta has helped create two political movements since 2009, the Civic Movement and the Pirate Party and both parties have successfully entered the Icelandic Parliament. She specialises in 21st Century law-making with focus on direct democracy, freedom of expression, information and digital privacy. She is a hacker in parliament. Birgitta is a long time activist and was a WikiLeaks volunteer when the largest leak in human history was dropped into the digital arms of the organisation by the courageous whistleblower Chelsea Manning. She played a crucial role in WikiLeak’s release of the Collateral Murder. Birgitta put forward the early 2010 IMMI parliamentary resolution with the aim of resurrecting Iceland out of its post crisis misery as a Safe Haven for freedom of expression, information and digital privacy. It was unanimously adopted tasking the Icelandic government in creating this vision. The creation of the IMMI laws is ongoing. Birgitta is a regular contributor to the Guardian newspaper and had the honour to guest edit the January 2015 edition of the New Internationalist titled Democracy in the Digital era. She believes individuals can change the world.
Gary Keegan
Gary Keegan is a graduate of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, London. He is an internationally renowned, multi-award winning theatre maker and is a founding member of Brokentalkers, one of Ireland’s leading contemporary theatre companies. Gary is the former Artistic Director of Dublin Youth Theatre and he still works extensively as a facilitator and lecturer within community, youth theatre, second level and third level settings. Recent credits include Frequency 783, Have I No Mouth and The Blue Boy. Gary is currently an artist in residence at Project Arts Centre. Gary’s latest project with Brokentalkers will premiere at the Munich Kammerspiele in February 2016.
Deirdre Kinahan
Deirdre Kinahan LOVES Theatre. She sits on the Abbey Board, The Stewart Parker Trust and the steering committee of the National Campaign for the Arts. She writes and produces plays and is published by Nick Herne books. Recent work includes: Spinning, Moment, Halcyon Days, Bogboy, Hue & Cry, Melody and A Bag On Ballyfinch Place for BBC Radio 4. Deirdre is currently writing Wild Sky in commemoration of 1916 for Meath County Council Arts Office, which will play in Meath/Dublin and the US next year. She is under commission to Manhattan Theatre Club New York and Fishamble, Dublin. Two films are in development with Blinder Films and The Irish Film Board. Deirdre’s play Spinning will receive its US premier in Chicago in Spring 2016, Halcyon Days its Polish premiere in Autumn 2015 and Moment opens at the Studio Washington next season. Awards include the Tony Doyle Bursary, Fringe First, Peggy Ramsay, Jim McNaughton Tilestyle and Arts Council of Ireland Bursaries.
Jo Mangan
Jo Mangan is CEO of The Performance Corporation and Director of Big House Productions. Recent work includes founding and curating the BIG House Festival – Ireland‘s first ever site-specific arts festival, Artistic Director of Bram Stoker Festival 2014 (both awarded Best Irish Festival ERICs awards), and International Programmer for Limerick City of Culture, where the highlight of her progamme was Royal de Luxe. Selected directing credits with The Performance Corporation include: Slattery’s Sago Saga (Dublin Theatre Festival), Swampoodle, KISS USA and GAA! (Washington DC), Power Point (Dublin Fringe Festival and Tampere Festival Finland), Dr. Ledbetter’s Experiment (Kilkenny Arts Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe), Drive-By (Cork Midsummer, Dublin Fringe and Canterbury Festivals). Other work includes: Bogboy (Tall Tales), Beware of the Storybook Wolves (The Ark) and What the Folk (Siamsa Tire). Her work has been presented on three continents and won awards internationally and nationally including a number of Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards (Best Director and Best Production nominations). She has also directed for Radio, TV and Film. She was awarded the 2011/12 Jerome Hynes Clore Cultural Leadership Fellowship. She is on the board of Riverbank Arts Centre and Fidget Feet and a previous board member of VISUAL, Theatre Forum and Fishamble.
Speaker Biographies Patricia McBride
Patricia McBride is Director of An Grianán Theatre, Letterkenny, Co Donegal. She is a theatre producer and venue manager with over 25 years’ experience. She holds a BA (Hons) Degree in Performing Arts from De Montford University, Leicester and a Masters in Cultural Management from University of Ulster. In the UK, she worked in various roles in organisations such as The Royal Academy of Arts, the Haymarket Theatre, and Proteus Theatre Company. Returning to Ireland she was Manager of Charabanc Theatre Company and General Manager of the Lyric Theatre, Belfast. Since moving to Donegal, she has been an active member of the arts and cultural sector serving on the management committees of Earagail Arts Festival and the Donegal County Cultural Forum. She also serves on the board of the Lyric Theatre, Belfast and Highland Radio, Letterkenny. She is currently Chair of the Nomad Venue Network.
Paula McFetridge
Paula McFetridge has been Artistic Director of Kabosh since August 2006. Founded in 1994, the company is committed to challenging the notion of what theatre is, where it takes place and who it is for. Most recently she has directed the music and visual art installation to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1994 IRA ceasefire www.20belfast.com; premiere productions of Those You Pass on the Street by Laurence McKeown, commissioned by Healing Through Remembering to look at Dealing with the Past; Belfast by Moonlight by Carlo Gébler with original music by Neil Martin, an oratorio staged in St George’s Church to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the foundation of Belfast; and, Inventors by Carlo Gébler, Vincent Higgins, Seth Linder and Jimmy McAleavey, a celebration of Ulster invention in a pop-up barn at Ulster’s main agriculture fair. She is a fellow of Session 532: ‘Peace-Building Through the Arts’ at the Salzberg Global Seminar; and was awarded Belfast Ambassador 2014 for using theatre to tackle difficult social issues.
Kerry Michael
Kerry Michael was appointed Artistic Director & Chief Executive of Theatre Royal Stratford East in September 2004. Since then he has upheld the theatre’s commitment to develop new work and provide a platform for those voices under-represented in the ever-changing communities of East London. In 2007, Theatre Royal was nominated for an Olivier Award for ‘presenting a powerful season of provocative work that reaches new audiences’. Its hip-hop dance production Pied Piper won an Olivier the same year. The following year, Kerry’s production of Cinderella was nominated for an Olivier, the first pantomime nominated in the Awards’ history. In later years Theatre Royal has been nominated for Olivier Awards for You Me Bum Bum Train, Roadkill and this year for Oh What A Lovely War. Kerry’s most recent directing credits include I was Looking At the Ceiling & Then I Saw the Sky, a co-production with Barbican; The Great Extension in 2009; The Harder They Come, which had wide critical acclaim transferring to the Barbican and the Playhouse Theatre in the West End before going on a very successful tour of Canada and the US; Ray Davies’ Come Dancing, and the world premiere of TAKEAWAY, the first British Chinese musical. Kerry originated the International Festival for Emerging Artists. Involving over 30 national and international partners, this brought together emerging artists from around the world to share and collaborate in the development of new work. Kerry also pioneered the OPEN STAGE project, where Theatre Royal Stratford East became the first theatre of its size to hand over its programming power to its audiences in the run up to the 2012 Games. It hosted Nigeria’s Hospitality House (Nigeria House) with 30 Nigeria House coming out of that residency where there was secured commissioning grants for 30 young artists (aged 18-35) of Nigerian heritage. This was one of five Cultural Olympiad Festival 2012 projects. Other collaborations during this time have been with Sadler’s Wells, National Theatre of Scotland and World Stages London. More recently Kerry has instigated and produced Home Theatres with the initial project taking place in London with 30 performances in 30 homes across the city. The Home Theatre project is one that Kerry was involved with in Brazil last year. This project is now being developed across the UK. Kerry is a founding member of Stratford Rising a consortium of organisations, based in Stratford, with interests in arts related productions, programming, education, training and development; a director of NewhamActive and a member of Equity’s International Committee for Artists’ Freedom.
Speaker Biographies Sophie Motley
Sophie Motley is co-Artistic Director of WillFredd Theatre and Associate Director of Rough Magic. She studied at the Samuel Beckett Centre, TCD and trained on Rough Magic’s SEEDS3 Programme. Productions include: Jockey, CARE, FOLLOW, FARM, (WillFredd Theatre), Tejas Verdes, Vincent River (Prime Cut), The Sleeping Queen (Wexford Festival Opera), MICE WILL PLAY (Caoimhín O Raghallaigh & Nic Gareiss), Everything Between Us, Plaza Suite (Rough Magic), The Party, Corners (ANU), The Gleaming Dark (Old Vic Productions) and Pilgrims of the Night (Rough Magic SEEDS3). Sophie is a regular Staff Director at English National Opera and was Resident Assistant Director at the Abbey Theatre. She is currently developing a new music theatre piece for children by Mark Doherty with WillFredd Theatre, two contemporary Irish operas, a collaboration with Prime Cut Productions and a new 3D film opera by Michel van der Aa.
Pádraig Naughton
Pádraig Naughton became Executive Director of Arts & Disability Ireland (ADI) in 2005. A graduate of the National College of Art & Design, Dublin, he completed a degree in Craft Design majoring in ceramics in 1993. Pádraig also holds a PGCE (Post-Graduate Certificate in Education), Art & Design Teaching, from Bretton Hall College, University of Leeds West Yorkshire 1998. Subsequently, Pádraig established a studio practice focusing on tactile experimental sculpture and landscape drawing that resulted in a wide range of group and one person shows in Ireland, UK, Belgium, and Japan. In 2003, Pádraig joined Equata, the Disability Arts Development Agency for South West England becoming its Artistic Director in 2004 and that year was also nominated by Arts Council England to the first Creative Cultural Leadership Programme developed by Dartington College of Arts and Exeter University. ADI is the national development and resource organisation for arts and disability in the Republic of Ireland. ADI champions the creativity of artists with disabilities, promotes inclusive experiences for audiences with disabilities and works through strategic partnerships to enhance the disabilityrelated capacity of arts organisations. In 2014/15 ADI partnered on 19 projects, delivered 32 assisted performances and supported 20 artists in the development of new work, mentoring and training across 12 local authorities.
Tríona Ní Dhuibhir
Tríona Ní Dhuibhir is a theatre producer and General Manager of Dublin Theatre Festival (2007 –present) where she oversees finance, personnel, contracts and governance. While General Manager of Barabbas (2003 – 2007), she produced all the company’s work and toured extensively internationally as Production Director of Daghdha (1999 – 2002). Tríona’s passion for the arts has fuelled many voluntary roles. She is chairperson of The Performance Corporation renowned for site–specific works including the award-winning Big House Festival at Castletown House and the 2014 Bram Stoker Festival. She was respectively Treasurer and Chairperson of Limerick Art Forum, Treasurer of Cantóirí Choir, Administrator of Joint Productions a coordinating body of five professional arts organisations and is a mentor on Theatre Forum’s Mentor Programme. Tríona is a singer/song-writer who has produced and performed her own one woman shows. She has a BA in English Literature and History and an MA (First Honours) in Ethnomusicology (IWAMD)
Damien O’Connor
Damien O’Connor graduated from Goldsmiths College, University of London with a BA (Hons) degree in Drama and Theatre Arts in 1993. Since then, Damien O’Connor has worked as an arts practitioner in both the UK and Ireland for organisations such as Graeae Theatre Company, London, New Breed Theatre Company, Manchester, Extant, London and Dadafest, (formally North West Disability Arts Forum), Liverpool. For the past seven years, he has worked as the Disability Arts Coordinator in the arts office at Mayo County Council assisting in the advancement of the Arts and Disability agenda within the county through the development of the UPSTART funding scheme, a programme aimed at increasing the participation of disabled people in the arts in Mayo. He has also worked on national and international partnership projects such as the Altered Images project, 2008 to 2011 and the Ignite project, 2012 to the present.
Glenn Patterson
Glenn Patterson is the author of nine novels, the most recent of which is The Rest Just Follows. The Mill for Grinding Old People Young (2012) was Belfast’s first One City One Book choice. Here’s Me Here, a collection featuring his articles and essays for print and broadcast has just been published by New Island, who previously published the collection Lapsed Protestant. A memoir, Once Upon a Hill: Love in Troubled Times was published in 2008 and a new novel, Gull will appear in January next year. His work for radio includes the plays DeLorean (Radio 4, 2011) and Babble (Radio 3, 2006) as well as short stories. His first feature film Good Vibrations (co-written with Colin Carberry) was released in 2013. He has also presented numerous television documentaries and an arts review series for RTÉ.
Speaker Biographies Lucina Russell
Lucina Russell was appointed as Arts Officer for Kildare County Council in 2000. She established a number of long-term arts initiatives including a dedicated Arts and Health programme and Laban-based dance training courses and summer schools. In 2014, she produced All About EVA, a feature film involving local writers, cast and crew. It premiered in JDIFF 2015. She supports professional development opportunities and mentoring for artists across art form and is committed to collaborative practice. Lucina was Chairperson of the Association of Local Authority Arts Officers from 2009-2012. She sits on the board of Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge and is a member of the advisory group for www.artsineducation.ie. A graduate of Textile Design, Lucina has a Masters Degree in Art and Design Education from NCAD and received the Irish Times award for Outstanding Achievement on the Post Graduate Dip in Art and Design Education from LIT. She is a keen gardener and newbie blogger, writing for MS and Me as well as her own blog Poppy Cottage Diaries.
Peter Sheridan
Peter Sheridan is a writer, theatre director, playwright, screenwriter, and film director. He was one of the founder members of Project Arts Centre. He has worked with Charabanc Theatre Company and the Royal Court Theatre where he directed his own plays, The Liberty Suit (in collaboration with Gerard Mannix Flynn) and Emigrants. Sheridan directed The Balcony Belles, an award-winning documentary for Temple Films, and in 1998 he wrote and directed The Breakfast, a short film which won the Prix Arte Europe Award at the Brest International Film Festival. In 2000, he wrote and directed the film Borstal Boy, based on Brendan Behan’s memoir. He is author of 44 - A Dublin Memoir (PanMacmillan, 1999) and Forty-Seven Roses (PanMacmillan, 2001). His third volume of memoirs, Break a Leg, was published in 2012 and adapted for the stage in 2013.
Monica Spencer
Monica Spencer is a theatre and performance practitioner based in Limerick with over 25 years’ experience covering most aspects of theatre. She has worked as Executive Director of Daghdha Dance Company, Artistic Director of the Everyman, Cork as well as in a number of roles for Belltable, Limerick, Firkin Crane, Cork and as a festival director and facilitator. For Daghdha, and for the Everyman, she delivered building refurbishment programmes. Festival work includes Make a Move, the Cork Stage of Le Tour de France en Irlande, UnFringed and Outsiders. Her performance work includes roles with Island Theatre Company, Belltable Theatre HUB, Amalgamotion, The Limerick Experiment and radio drama for RTÉ, Live 95FM, and The Gaff, Limerick. She led and participated in a number of projects during Limerick 2014, City of Culture including Indie Week, The Colleen Bawn Trials, PULSE Theatre Legacy Project and Starting with T. She is a member of Creative Communities Limerick and facilitates a drama group in Moyross where she also teaches literacy as a VEC Tutor. She is an active member of PLAN, the Limerick artists’ network and holds a BA in Literature and Sociology and a Masters in Festive Arts – both from the University of Limerick.
John Tusa
John Tusa is a broadcaster, writer and arts manager. Born in Czechoslovakia in 1936, he came to England with his family in the summer of 1939. Educated at St Faith’s School, Cambridge and Gresham’s School, Holt, he took a first class Honours Degree in History at Trinity College, Cambridge. He served his National Service between 1954 and 1956 mainly in West Germany ending as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery. John Tusa joined the BBC as a General Trainee in 1960, becoming a Producer in the BBC’s General Overseas Service. He resigned from BBC staff in 1966 to freelance as a broadcaster, interviewer and reporter. In 1980, Tusa became a founding presenter of the new ‘Newsnight’ programme where he remained for six years. During that time he was honoured by the Royal Television Society and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. From 1986-92, Tusa was Managing Director of BBC World Service. Between 1995 and 2007, he was Managing Director of the Barbican Centre. Thereafter, he was Chair of the University of the Arts London and of the Clore Leadership Programme. Tusa’s books about the arts world include Art Matters (1999), Engaged with the Arts (2007), and most recently Pain in the Arts (2014).
Ray Yeates
Ray Yeates was appointed Dublin City Arts Officer in 2011. Previously he was Director of axis: Ballymun and has worked as a theatre director and actor since graduating from UCD in the 1970s. He has directed more than 100 professional theatre productions in Ireland, the US and England. He recently performed Dermot Bolger’s The Parting Glass in New York, Paris and Sweden and toured with the production throughout Ireland. He is currently responsible for Dublin’s Bid to become European Capital of Culture 2020.
Catherine Young
Catherine Young is currently Dance Ireland’s Associate Artist (2014/15). She has been Dancer/Choreographer in Residence at Siamsa Tíre since 2006 where she was Artistic Director of CYD, KYDT and founder (now co-curator) of Tocht International Dance Festival. Catherine holds an MA in Contemporary Dance from UL where she is also a guest lecturer/choreographer. Prior to this, she spent eight years training and performing in San Francisco and New York. She has studied/worked with Printz Dance Project (USA), The American Conservatory Theatre (USA), Retina Dance Company (UK/Belgium), Lacina Coulibaly (Kongo Ba Teria Dance Company – Africa), Wendy Houstoun (UK) and Hofesh Schecter Company (UK); and has created work for the Dublin Dance Festival, Dublin Fringe Festival, CoisCéim Dance Theatre, Shawbrook Touring Company and the University of Limerick among others.
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Theatre Forum Insurance Facility JLT Ireland is delighted to be a sponsor of APAC15. We are the providers of an insurance facility specifically designed for Theatre Forum members. JLT Ireland provides a range of insurance products for the specific and varied needs of venues, production companies, and festivals. We are a leading global insurance broker celebrating our 50th year in Ireland this year, specialising in providing a broker service to the many organisations involved in the culture, not-for profit, social and charitable sector and working to get the best deal for clients in terms of price, quality of cover and service.
Say hello As many delegates are our clients already, we would encourage all delegates to our stand to introduce yourselves so that we can meet the people behind the organisations and to put a face to the names.
Enjoy APAC15 A better deal for our clients JLT Ireland is delighted to be attending APAC15 Our clients include many of the island’s theatres, and we hope that you all enjoy a great and festivals and producers. Our ethos is client first. varied APAC programme - the result of the hard So in addition to the placement of tailor-made work, enthusiasm and dedication of the Theatre insurance packages for our clients we also Forum and TheatreNI teams. provide a claims and risk management service. Louisa Tew Client Relationship Manager, JLT Ireland
JLT Insurance Brokers Ireland Limited trading as JLT Ireland, JLT Financial Services, GIS Ireland, Charity Insurance, Teacherwise, Childcare Insurance, JLT Online, JLT Trade Credit Insurance and JLT Sport, is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.
Thank You
We are grateful to many people for their help and assistance in organising this year’s conference: Tara McGowan, Megan Johnston and all the team at The Model. All our conference volunteers. Marie O’Byrne and Maeve McGowan at the Hawk’s Well Theatre. Druid for their DruidShakespeare ticket offer. Mary McDonagh of Sligo Arts Service. Sponsors Ticketsolve and JLT for their support too. Special thanks to APAC15 curator, Jo Mangan. Everyone at the newly merged TheatreNI as well as Ali FitzGibbon. The board members of both the conference partners for their unstinting assistance and support. Last but not least, thanks to you, the members of both our organisations, who support, attend and contribute so generously to make APAC such a worthwhile event.
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