BIOGRAPHIES
ANU PRODUCTIONS | MATT SMYTH
Matthew Smyth is an Obie-award winning theatre producer and festival organiser from Ireland working over the years with companies ANU Productions, Collapsing Horse Theatre and Dead Centre, three of Ireland’s leading theatre companies producing work in some of the most globally important festivals and theatres. These include Manchester International Festival, Brisbane Arts Festival and the Schaubuhne in Berlin to name a few. As a curator and programmer he has run Ireland’s oldest and largest comedy arts festival The Kilkenny Cat Laughs for 5 years as well as the Theatre Stage at Electric Picnic for the last 6 years for Dublin Theatre Festival. He curated the Pitchonomics strand at Kilkenomics (Ireland’s first comedy and economics festival) and programmed and hosted Ireland’s first conference on Massive Open Online Universities for the Higher Education Authority of Ireland as part of the UA Award Summit (of which he was Summit Director of for 4 years). Matt has been an advisor to city councils; arts institutions and managed large public grants up to€500,000 as well as raising corporate sponsorship above €100ks on projects and managing those relationships. As well as forming boards for ANU and Collapsing Horse, he is on the board of directors for Project Arts Centre, Dublin - Ireland’s leading contemporary arts centre as well as formerly being a Dublin hub Ambassador for the global network Sandbox. Matt is also a qualified career coach working with arts practitioners around Ireland and the UK. Last and least, he also ran the official pub crawl at the Dublin leg of the international MuseumNEXT conference after his success at running the unofficial one at the Geneva leg of the same conference.
CRASH ENSEMBLE | SIÂN CUNNINGHAM
Siân has over 20 years’ experience working in the arts in Ireland across a range of organisations and artforms. Having started her career with the Arts Council of Ireland, she then joined Dance Ireland as General Manager where she played a key role in the opening and establishment of DanceHouse as a rehearsal venue and home for dance in Ireland. After this she spent a number of years working in festivals, firstly as Managing Director with the Dublin International Film Festival and most recently as General Manager with Body & Soul Music & Arts Festival. She holds degrees in music and German from University College Dublin where she also completed a HDip in Arts Administration, and she also has a degree in law from TU Dublin.
CRASH ENSEMBLE | KATE ELLIS
Cellist Kate Ellis is dedicated to the performance and exploration of all things with the shiny label of new music. Kate is the Artistic Director of Crash Ensemble, cellist with Martin Hayes’ newly formed Common Ground Ensemble and is often seen playing with the musicians of Yurodny, TRE trio and Fovea Hex. Her great range of musical collaborators include Bobby McFerrin, Rhiannon Giddens, Martin Hayes, Savina Yannatou, Barry Guy, the Irish Gamelan Orchestra, Gavin Bryars, Gavin Friday and Karan Casey. She has commissioned new music from a diverse range of Irish composers, including Donnacha Dennehy, Barry Guy, Niall Vallely, Adrian Hart and Linda Buckley, and has premiered numerous new works by composers including Nico Muhly, Gerald Barry, David Lang and Terry Riley.
Kate has toured and broadcast in Australia, the USA, Europe and China, performing at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Centre, Shanghai EXPO, Istanbul Akbank Jazz Festival and Edinburgh International Festival. Kate is currently writing music with UK based musician Laura Cannell as part of a year long project releasing music monthly alongside bespoke film as a creative documentation of 2021. This project is supported by the Arts Council of England. Kate is the recent recipient of residencies at the Martello Tower, Jaywick, UK and at the Cultural Centre Irlandais, France 2020/21. www.kateelliscello.com
FISHAMBLE: THE NEW PLAY COMPANY | EVA SCANLON
Eva Scanlan is the General Manager and Producer of Fishamble: The New Play Company. Current and recent producing work includes On Blueberry Hill by Sebastian Barry, Fishamble’s award-winning Pat Kinevane Trilogy on tour in Ireland and internationally, The Humours of Bandon by Margaret McAuliffe, Maz and Bricks by Eva O’Connor, Inside the GPO by Colin Murphy, Tiny Plays for Ireland and America at the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC and the Irish Arts Centre in New York, and Swing by Steve Blount, Peter Daly, Gavin Kostick and Janet Moran on tour in Ireland, the UK, and Australia. Eva produces The 24 Hour Plays: Dublin at the Abbey Theatre in Ireland (2012-present), in association with the 24 Hour Play Company, New York, and has worked on The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway and The 24 Hour Musicals at the Gramercy Theatre. Previously, she was Producer of terraNOVA Collective in New York (2012- 2015), where she produced terraNOVA Rx: Four Plays in Rep at IRT Theater, the soloNOVA Arts Festival, the Groundworks New Play Series, Woman of Leisure and Panic (FringeNYC), P.S. Jones and the Frozen City, among other projects.
PAVILION THEATRE | HUGH MURRAY
Hugh Murray has been in the position of Director, Pavilion Theatre Dun Laoghaire since 2011. Previous posts include Riverbank Venue Manager (2009-2011), Sony Music UK Senior A&R Manager (2002-2004), Sony Music Ireland A&R Manager (1996 – 2002) and Mean Fiddler Dublin Venue Booker (1995 – 1996).
Other roles include Artist Management (Delorentos 2005-2010) and Artists Liaison for Electric Picnic (2008), Other Voices (2008) and New Year’s Eve Countdown Concerts 2012 & 2013 and other events including Africa Day, Temple Bar Trad and Culture Night.
PROJECT ARTS CENTRE | CIAN O’BRIEN
Coming soon..