Who We Are

Lucy Medlycott started off her career studying Fine Art Sculpture in Limerick School of Art and Design under Tom Murphy, Louise Walsh and Martin Folan. While in Limerick she discovered the versatility & electricity of the street as a space for arts exploration.

Since graduating from Limerick in 1993, Lucy, together with a group of colleagues, went on to found Bui Bolg Outdoor Arts Company in Wexford. Lucy worked with Buí Bolg in many capacities over the years from community artist to costume designer to manager. Lucy orchestrated many of their flagship projects, bringing their work from Ballina to Beijing and from Mullingar to Memphis and more.

Lucy is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and previous winner in the South East County & City Women in Business Awards.

Lucy co-founded the Irish Street Arts, Circus & Spectacle Network with Chantal McCormick of Fidget Feet in late 2010. Lucy has worked as Project Manager of ISACS since 2014, and is currently Executive Director. She has big dreams for the future!

Full-time (39 hours per week) – Annual remuneration: €40,000 – €45,000

Helen graduated from UCD with a BA (hons) in French and Linguistics in 2001, and began her career in the National Library of Ireland from 2002 – 2004. She discovered the object manipulation world via poi, which led her to manage the Jugglers’ Rest Backpackers in Picton, New Zealand in 2005, and on her return home she joined the organisational team for the European Juggling Convention (EJC) for its first visit to Ireland in Millstreet, Co. Cork in 2006.

Following the EJC Helen returned to UCD in 2007 for a Masters Degree in Cultural Policy and Arts Management, where her dissertation topic was the (then recent) official recognition of circus as an artform in Ireland, and its impact on artists in the sector.

From 2006 – 2015 Helen went on to act as a cultural freelancer in a variety of production management, technical and box office roles, with organisations including Dublin Fringe Festival, The National Concert Hall, Festival of World Cultures, Dublin Dance Festival, TheatreCLUB, and many more. In 2015 she joined box office software provider Ticketsolve as a Project Manager providing support and training to their network of venues and festivals. Since 2015, Helen also forms part of the Black Powder Monkeys team of pyrotechnicians.

Full-time (39 hours per week) – Annual remuneration: €40,000 – €45,000

Cristina is an Italian Artist and Art Professional based in Ireland.

She has a keen interest in all aspects related to the world of arts and culture. Her academic studies at the Fine Arts Academy in Rome provided her with an excellent grounding in visual arts and a comprehensive understanding of the intricacies of its practice.

After her Master’s in Graphic Arts, she pivoted into Arts Management, obtaining a Master’s Degree at IULM University in Rome. She also has a Post Graduate Diploma in Cultural Event Management from IADT, Dublin, and she is currently studying Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship at Trinity College Dublin – Post Graduate Certificate.

She has extensive experience managing and administrating arts events/projects in Ireland and Italy, with 3 years specifically focused on Street Art initiatives – from the point of view of mural art.

As an artist, she is a printmaker specialising in woodcut and woodblock and is a member of the Graphic Studio Dublin.

Part-time (20 hours per week) – Annual remuneration: €18,000 – €20,000

Jonah started his life and career in circus arts in Dublin a little over a decade ago. Initially focusing on partner acrobatics and doubles aerial, he quickly became interested in producing shows and figuring out all the logistical, technical, administrative, interpersonal and artistic work that goes into making successful productions. He is one of the founders and co-artistic director of the multi-award winning Loosysmokes.

[Appointed 29/04/2021]

Brian Rafferty is Managing Director of the Irish Aerial Creation Centre with a wealth of business and trade association experience. Following a business degree in UL, Brian took over the family travel business with four agencies until 2011.

He was on the board of the Irish Travel Agents Association for over 20 years reaching the position of Vice President for over eight years. Brian has worked in the property business, and scaled up a number of businesses in recent years including Travelsavers, The Urban Coop and was the Economic Development officer for Waterford County Council. He was also an elected County Councillor in Tipperary.

[Appointed 05/05/2022]

Mark O’Donnell was appointed by Macnas in April 2019 to become the company’s new Executive Director.

Mark’s background is in public management, and he has over 20 years experience working in Galway across a broad range of functions for both City and County local authorities, as well as a number of years as Director of the West Regional Authority, where he managed EU co-funded projects.He led the business engagement component of Galway’s successful European Capital of Culture bid in 2016, and went on to project manage the early stages of the company set-up before returning to Galway City Council in 2017 to work on capital project planning & delivery, and more recently, HR management.

A graduate of NUI Galway, Mark has academic qualifications in Law, Finance, Corporate Governance & Management

[Appointed 05/05/2020]

Founding member of Waterford Spraoi, now working as freelance programmer and manager on various festivals, including Spraoi, Cat Laughs, Kilkenomics, and Winterval Waterford.

Previous work has included St Patricks Festivals Dublin and Cork, and Tall Ships Waterford. Member of the Arts Council of Ireland from 2014-2019. Graduated from WIT with degree in bi-lingual business administration.

[Appointed 30/04/2019]

Aoife is an experienced large scale Circus and Spectacle Director. She has worked Internationally as Artistic Director for companies such as Franco Dragone, MGM and Cirque Du Soleil. Her work has included large scale resident shows, arena touring shows, festival touring and outdoor performances. In these roles she works with large multidisciplinary teams and artists to produce performances that combine artistic and technical excellence. In 2021 she established Twisted Lane Productions, a Spectacle Theatre Company based in Ireland. With Twisted Lane Productions, her focus is to create large scale work that combines theatrical storytelling with the intimacy of immersive theatre. Current projects are exploring the connections between female story and rural landscape.

Aoife has received a number of funding awards from the Arts Council of Ireland, and is on the Arts Council of Ireland Peer Review Panel.

[Appointed 05/05/2022]

Henrik Gard is originally from Sweden but for the last seven years he’s been based in Ireland as an acrobat and circus performer.

He says that his career caught speed in 2015 when he was part of the ISACS NEST programme creating and performing his own solo show. Today he is co-director of the company Cikada Circus, founded in 2017, with his acrobatic partner Ali Stanger.

He is also one of the founding members of the acrobatic ensemble group Síolta Circus, and performs regularly with Belfast company Tumble Circus.

If that is not enough, Henrik is a leading figure and initiator of Irish Acro, Ireland’s first and only acrobatics convention now in its 5th year running.

[Appointed 05/05/2020]

Joshua Angelo Estrella (he/they) – Josh is a first generation, non-binary, queer immigrant from the Philippines, now living in Ireland for 5 years.

They have an extensive background in data science, analytics, and management across multiple industries spanning social media, technology, telecommunications, finance, gaming, and biotechnology.

They are one of the leading figures in the Asian and LGBTQ+ communities in the technology industry in the EMEA region.

They are also a diversity leader, advocate, and a life & leadership coach focused on empowering underrepresented communities. On their free time, they dabble on the aerial arts, primarily fabrics, rope, and lyra, as well as pole and exotic dancing.