Meet the Irish Gathering at Adelaide Fringe Festival

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 & dynamism of the street as a space for ar-tistic 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 ca-pacities over the years from community artist to costume designer to manager. Lucy orches-trated 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 Southeast County & City Women in Business Awards. In 2023 Lucy was awarded the Conference Ambassador Recognition Award (CARA) from Fáilte Ireland for her work bringing the FRESH STREET con-ference to Galway in partnership with Circostrada and Galway 2020.

Lucy co-founded the Irish Street Arts, Circus & Spectacle Network with Chantal McCormick of Fidget Feet & Ulla Hokkanen formerly of Galway Community Circus 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!

Niamh has been Director of Irish Theatre Institute since April 2022. Niamh has 29 years professional experience in the arts sector, she has worked with many leading organisations including: Mermaid County Wicklow Arts Centre as Director, Project Arts Centre as Executive Producer, The Gallery of Photography, Black Church Print Studio (an artists’ resource organisation for Fine Art Print), and Arthouse Multimedia Centre.

A passionate advocate for the sector, Niamh is presently Chair of the Board of Dublin Fringe Festival and has served on many boards over the past years, including: CoisCéim Dance Theatre; Theatre Forum Ireland; and The National Campaign for the Arts. Prior to her appointment to Irish Theatre Institute, Niamh O’Donnell was Director of Poetry Ireland, an all island resource organisation nurturing poets and developing poetry by building content, capacity, interest, understanding, participation and engagement.