Theatre Support Organisations

YOU ARE HERE   IRISH THEATRE ONLINE  >  THEATRE SUPPORT ORGANISATIONS

Contact: Brendan McGowan
An organisation that co-ordinates the full-length competitive drama circuit and organises the annual Confined All-Ireland Drama Finals and the RTÉ Open All-Ireland Drama Finals in April and May each year.

Contact: Brona Whittaker, Client Services Manager (Arts)

The aim of Arts & Business is to help build communities by developing creative partnerships between business and the arts in Northern Ireland.

Secretary: Dolores Deacon
The Association of Drama Adjudicators is a regulatory body that oversees drama adjudicators to ensure high standards.

Contact: Colm Croffy

AOIFE, the Association of Irish Festivals and Events, aims to support festival organisers to make festivals in Ireland entertaining, safe and financially sustainable. Services include training, the provision of information and networking opportunities and a group insurance scheme.

Chairman: Nick Anton
The AIST was formed in 2005 by a group of industry professionals to promote the improvement of standards in Health & Safety, and general welfare of crew in the Arts, Entertainments and Events Industries. It aims to do this by providing a professional standard of industry-specific training, by highlighting health & safety issues and by creating a community where skills and information can be shared.

Honorary Secretary: Alan Marshall

The Association of Ulster Drama Festivals aims to encourage amateur drama through the holding of festivals, promotion of co-operation and co-ordination between festivals and the fostering of relations with similar organisations in Northern Ireland and other regions.

Chief Executive: Steven Hadley

Audience Development Manager: Alice Lewis

Audiences NI is the dedicated audience development agency for Northern Ireland. Its mission is to increase and diversify audiences by fostering collaboration and enabling arts organisations to practise effective audience development through the provision of consultancy, training, research, market intelligence, e-marketing and other services.

Audiences NI was established as a limited not-for-profit company by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland on 20 August 2004.

Audiences NI's membership currently comprises 30 members including venues, festivals and theatre companies.

Chief Executive: Stuart McLaughlin
Director of Programmes: Karen Brett
Director of Marketing and PR: Rowena Neville

Business2Arts promotes creative partnerships between business and the arts, providing training in business skills for arts organisations as well as advice for business members on potential arts sponsorship opportunities.
Business2Arts is a non-profit organisation funded by business members. In addition, Business2Arts operates an Arts Affiliate membership scheme, organises the annual Arts Sponsor of the Year Awards and produces publications relating to arts sponsorship.
See also Awards & Competitions.

Contact: Nick Reilly

CityArts (formerly City Arts Centre) is committed to a policy of participatory arts practice in contemporary society and as such, CityArts' programme of work is created in collaboration with communities of place and/or interest, realised in context at various locations across the city of Dublin. CityArts is also home to The Archive, a 'living archive' which charts the history of CityArts and its involvement with the development of community arts movement in Ireland.

Having moved through a succession of buildings since its founding in 1973, CityArts has recently secured a new home on Bachelor's Walk in Dublin's city centre. Currently working from a temporary office base, CityArts will move into its new home after reconstruction works are complete in early 2009.

Director: Heather Floyd

Administrator: Kate Muldoon

CAF is an umbrella body for community arts in Northern Ireland. Its primary aim is to create access to the arts and opportunities for participation for more people.

Director: Eve O'Kelly
General Manager: Jonathan Grimes

The Contemporary Music Centre is Ireland's national archive and resource centre for new music, supporting the work of composers throughout the Republic and Northern Ireland.
The Centre is used, nationally and internationally, by performers, composers, promoters and members of the public interested in finding out more about music in Ireland. Its library and sound archive, open to the public free of charge, contain the only comprehensive collection in existence of music by Irish composers.
The Contemporary Music Centre engages in an ongoing programme of development work to promote new Irish music at home and abroad, and is a member of the Forum for Music in Ireland and the International Association of Music Information Centres (IAMIC).

Director: Sarah Tuck
Project Support and Professional Development: Katherine Atkinson

Create is the national development agency for collaborative arts, providing advice and support services to artists and arts organisations across all artforms working collaboratively with communities of place and/or interest.
The area of artists and arts organisations working collaboratively with communities of place and/or interest is widely seen as one of the most vibrant and challenging areas of arts practice, requiring skills of negotiation and project management. The exploratory processes and practices of collaborative arts demand different approaches to traditional definitions of art, artists and arts development.
Create responds to these demands by offering a range of services for artists and arts organisations which include Professional Development, Learning Development, Project Management and Consultancy and Projects and Initiatives that support and develop collaborative arts.

Managing Director: Paul Johnson
Development Officer: Elisabetta Bisaro
General Manager: Siân Cunningham
Administrator: Duncan Keegan

Dance Ireland is a multi-faceted resource organisation dedicated to providing training programmes and practical supports which respond to the needs of the professional dance artist, while increasing the public's involvement with dance at all levels.

Established in 1989, Dance Ireland is an all-Ireland membership organisation made up of dancers, choreographers, teachers, students, dance and arts organisations, and dance enthusiasts. Our work reflects the diversity of dance practices in Ireland today, and our programmes operate at local, national and international levels. All activities and services are open to members and non-members and are charged at extremely reasonable rates.

Dance Ireland also manages DanceHouse, a home for dance and movement-related activities. In addition to serving as a venue for many of the activities conducted under Dance Ireland's professional and outreach programmes, DanceHouse also hosts, on a rental basis a range of rehearsals, open evening classes and weekend events that cater to the interest and needs of the general public.

Dance Resource Base is the premier non-profit resource organisation for dance in Northern Ireland. The company works to link, serve and strengthen the sector by developing practical services and support to those involved in dance and also provides information to the general public about dance. Dance Resource Base is a membership organisation providing a range of facilities and resources to support the dance community in Northern Ireland. Dance Resource Base has a comprehensive dance database, which includes professional dance artists, choreographers, dance teachers, health professionals, arts organisations, educational institutions as well as members of the public interested in dance. The organisation also plays an important advocacy role in raising the profile of the art form.

Press Officer: Keith Ashmore

The Department's mission is to contribute to the economic, social and cultural progress of Irish society and the enrichment of its quality of life through promoting sustainable tourism; encouraging excellence in sporting and artistic achievement; facilitating greater access to sport and the arts; and preservation of our cultural inheritance.

Director of Services: Valerie McGuile

The DLI is the resource organization for amateur drama practitioners. Services include a dedicated library of play scripts open to the public at The Mill Theatre every Tuesday and Thursday. Theatre training by way of the provision of workshops, an annual summer school and winter school for actors and directors. Additional services include an insurance scheme for amateur companies and a quarterly magazine. The DLI is also the Irish agent for amateur performing rights of Samuel French Ltd and Josef Weinberger Plays and others.

Director: Sinéad Mac Aodha
Programme Adminstrator: Rita Mc Cann
Information Officer: Dorothea Depner

Ireland Literature Exchange is the national organisation for the international promotion of the literature of Ireland. ILE does this primarily by offering translation grants to international publishers. To date the organisation has supported almost 1000 titles in forty-one languages.

ILE also offers residential bursaries to literary translators, organises translator and author events at international festivals and participates regularly in the major world book fairs. In addition, Ireland Literature Exchange welcomes grant applications from Irish publishers who wish to publish international literature in translation.

Group Secretary: Des Courtney

Irish Actors Equity Group is the only trade union for stage, screen, radio, television and cabaret in Ireland, representing Actors, Dancers, Street Performers, Theatre Directors, Stage and Set Designers.

Contact: Manus Hanratty

Ireland's National Association of Songwriters, Composers and Publishers. IMRO collects royalties from theatre companies using copyrighted music.

Chief Executive: David Kavanagh

The Guild is the representative body for writers in Ireland for the stage and screen. It is a member of the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds, the European Writers Congress, the Federation of Scriptwriters in Europe; has a joint membership agreement with the Writers Guild of Great Britain; an agreement with the Authors Licensing and Collecting Society and is affiliated to SIPTU.
See also Awards and Competitions.

Honorary Archivist: Mary Clark

The archive collects memorabilia relating to the history of theatre in Ireland, curates exhibitions, provides research facilities and organises occasional lectures.

Co-Directors: Siobhán Bourke & Jane Daly
Information & Events Manager: Jen Coppinger
General Manager: Claire O'Neill
Irish Language Editor: Anna Bale

Irish Theatre Institute is a resource organisation that seeks to maximise creative opportunities and resources for performing artists and producers across theatre and dance in Ireland, Northern Ireland, and internationally. ITI's goal is to create a 21st century theatre institute that acknowledges and supports the ambition of Irish theatre artists and companies. ITI is committed to the innovative use of Internet and database technology to promote theatre and dance and to working in a spirit of partnership with organisations in Ireland and abroad.

It has three distinct yet complementary areas of activity which enable it to deliver its strategic goals. These three areas are:

• International Networking and Promotion
• Research
• Information and Support Services

Irish Theatre Institute advances the interests of the Irish theatre sector a) by providing information, support and advice services to established and emerging playwrights, theatre artists and companies; b) by co-coordinating and delivering research projects; and c) by initiating and presenting networking, promotion and showcase events at a national and international level.

In September 2008, Irish Theatre Institute officially launched its new premises at 17 Eustace Street, in the heart of Dublin's cultural quarter Temple Bar, specifically for use by the Irish theatre sector and international visitors to Dublin keen to see and engage with Irish work. With in excess of 1,000 artists and practitioners using or visiting the Institute this year it has quickly established itself as a key resource for a wide range of activities from Research to Training, Project Development to Casting and Networking to One-to-one Information Clinics.

Irish Theatre Institute published the 4th edition of Irish Theatre Handbook (editor Liz Powell) in 2007. This publication is the only comprehensive guide to the current Irish scene and contains a wealth of information listing 122 drama, 26 dance and 7 opera companies, 36 festivals and 102 venues complete with artistic and programming policies, personnel and contact information.

Director: Cathal McCabe

The Irish Writers' Centre was founded in 1991. The aim of the centre is to foster writing and an audience for literature in Ireland, and this it does by a year-round programme of readings, workshops, lectures and seminars as well as a range of support and information services.

Directors: Anica Louw and Philip Dawson

LD Dance is a facility-based resource organisation. Shawbrook is a centre for dance education and promotion of dance and dance theatre in Ireland. LD Dance creates opportunities for Irish students to develop their training and performance skills. Its major aim is to provide experiential learning and performing opportunities. Shawbrook is the location for the residencies for Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre and is the home of the Irish National Youth Dance Company, the Irish National Dance Awards and the Longford Dance Fest.
See also youth organisations and festivals

Director: Orlaith McBride
Administrative Officer: Katie Martin
Training Officer: Dave Kelly
Youth Theatre Officer: Anna Galligan
Research and Development Officer: Rhona Dunnett
Publications/Project Officer: Jody O'Neill
ArtsTrain Assistant Co-ordinator: John Taite

NAYD is the development organisation for youth theatre and drama in Ireland. NAYD supports youth drama in practice through an annual programme that includes the National Youth Theatre, National and regional festivals, commissioning new writing, publications, resources, training and other services as well as research and policy development. NAYD also supports the sustained development of youth theatres around Ireland in partnership with local agencies and organisations. NAYD is also involved in developing drama-in-education and works closely with the formal and non-formal education sector. NAYD advocates the inherent value and unique relationship between young people and theatre as an artform.

Course Director: Tony Coughlan

The Northern Amateur Theatre Association provides education and training for the amateur theatre movement in Northern Ireland and organises a summer school each year.

Chair: Michael Poynor
Project Manager: Bryony Flanagan

The Northern Ireland Theatre Association (NITA) is the sectoral support and umbrella body for professional & semi-professional theatre in Northern Ireland. NITA is a membership organisation, and current members include production companies, theatre & arts centres, local authority arts services, festivals and individual theatre practitioners.

NITA exists to provide support, lobbying & advocacy to the sector, a voice for all working in theatre in Northern Ireland, sector-specific training, networking opportunties, information exchange, e-bulletins, job advertising, research and other sectoral initiatives. NITA is currently delivering 'Behind the Scenes', a 3-year ACNI lottery funded training programme and delivered in partnership with the Independent Theatre Council.

Chief Executive: Dermot McLaughlin
Head of Cultural Development: Gráinne Millar
Head of Finance & Business Development: Dara Connolly

Temple Bar Cultural Trust is a private limited company that works on a not-for-profit basis to support culture in Temple Bar.
It values self-reliance and funds all of its core activity from its property income.

TBCT supports culture in four ways: By looking after 14 nationally important cultural spaces and four public spaces that it owns and providing discounts worth €2m to the artists and cultural organisations that use the buildings and spaces; through commissioning new work in all artforms and working with others to co-present, co-produce and co-commission new work; TBCT organises over 250 free outdoor cultural events each year; in addition, it also manages the Temple Bar Cultural Information centre on East Essex Street

General Manager: Paul McCarthy
Box Office Manager: Marie Lynch
Front of House Manager: Ann Rea

The Firkin Crane is a focal point for dance in Ireland, supporting professional development of artists, widening engagement with audiences and creating innovative partnerships at local, national and international level.

The Firkin Crane promotes the practice, performance and development of dance, developing partnerships throughout the dance community and provides support for development and growth of dance as an art form. In developing the audience base for dance, The Firkin Crane welcomes events from across all art forms thus creating a cross fertilisation of ideas and involvement, developing the collaborations between dance artists and practitioners from other disciplines.

Local interest in dance has been steadily growing and the Firkin Crane is key to this resurgence.

Contact: Tania Banotti or Irma McLoughlin

Theatre Forum is the membership body for the professional performing arts in the Republic of Ireland. Membership is open to producing theatre companies and venues of every scale, as well as festivals, arts centres, TIE, YPT, dance and opera companies and individuals. Its mission is to support, represent and develop the environment in which the performing arts are made in Ireland, through advocacy, information exchange, organisational development and training.

Director: Pat Donlon

The Tyrone Guthrie Centre was established in 1981 as a flagship North/South project providing a workplace retreat for practitioners in all art forms. Facilities include studios, dark room, music room with grand piano and a performance studio.

See also bursaries

Director: Ali FitzGibbon
Administrator: Michael Staley
Marketing & Development: Emma Martin

Young at Art is an arts charity for children and young people. Its vision is to make life for children and young people aged 0-18 years as creative as possible through engagement with the arts. Young at Art has commissioned and developed professional artists to produce work for the younger audience, mainly in the performing arts. It has undertaken touring of its own work and work by visiting artists throughout Northern Ireland. The organisation's principal activity is the Belfast Children's Festival. Other activities include outreach and development work, touring and advocacy.

See also Belfast Children's Festival.