Today we celebrate the achievements of the 18 arts managers from producing organisations, 12 from the republic and 6 from the North, who are completing the 2015 course.  They are a dedicated and committed class, many of whom have travelled considerable distances and made considerable sacrifices to attend each of the modules over the course of their six month course. The participating organisations have come from all over Ireland, North and South.

From the Arts Council/An Comhairle Ealaíon Liz Meaney, Arts Director, Performing and Local Arts was on hand to congratulate the class and Fintan O’Toole, Literary Editor of the Irish Times gave a talk which you can listed to above. .

2015 was a year of firsts for the programme- it was decided to run the ADP for one year only for producing organisations, who could not previously participate and also, through collaboration with Audiences Northern Ireland with support from The Arts Council of Northern Ireland, to open the course to producing organisations from the north

We are delighted that this has gone so well and we look forward to future collaborations.

This is the fourth year of the Audience Development Programme which is funded by the Arts Council and which was run from 2012-2014 for venue and festival managers.  During those first three years, 42 venue and festival managers have completed the programme.  This year’s 18 producing organisations bring the total number of arts managers who have completed the course to 60.  Graduates are awarded a Certificate in Management Practice from the Ulster University and our students have a record of excellent performance.

We wish all of this year’s class well and we congratulate them again.

Republic of Ireland: Irish Association of Youth Orchestras Allin Gray; Music Network Louise Walsh; Corn Exchange Lucy Ryan; Temple Bar Gallery & Studios Rayne Booth; Opera Theatre Company Sorcha Carroll; Na Piobairi Uileann Emmett Gill; Fishamble: The New Play Company Marketa Dowling; Improvised Music Company Aoife Concannon; Irish National Youth Ballet Katharine Lewis; Irish Architecture Foundation Sile Stewart; Decadent Owen Barnes; Age & Opportunity Joyce Dunne

Northern Ireland:  Moving On Music Mick Bonner; Golden Thread Gallery Sarah McAvera; Aishling