Pro Networking at Festival of Fools

I work with Play to the Crowd/ Winchester Hat Fair as Festivals and Projects Producer. A former night club manager I started as a volunteer for Hat Fair Festival in 2012, and now I’m responsible for Operational management of the festival overall, programming and oversight of production and community engagement programme. Each year brings fresh challenges and excitement – I love it! I really have the best of both worlds.

I am a creative alchemist from the States, creating work in a wide range of places and spaces. I am the founder & directrix of the Richmond Fringe Festival, Virginia which programmes an extraordinary array of weird and wonderful work from across the globe, and I co-created the boutique pop-up venue – The Luminous Spiegelyurt. I also work in the global festival industry as Outreach Manager for the World Fringe Network.

In addition, I am the founder of the Spectacle & Mirth production haus, building Internationally award-winning immersive projects such as City Liminal, Journey to the Kingdom of Hypnos, the Reverie Rooms and I am the founding creative director at Révéler Experiences.

You can follow my exploits on The GlamourHobo Field Notes podcast & substack.

Chippy is an acrobat and clown from Cork. He studied in CREAT school of circus in Valencia where he specialised in trampoline and teeterboard. He is now based back in Cork, clownin’ swoonin’ and trainin’, as he was born to do.

“Taking part in DELVE will help me to open up a new network with artists and performers in the north of Ireland. To gain new inspirations and to grow my understanding of how street shows are developed.”

Megan Roberts is a pole & aerial hoop student  based in County Clare. She came to aerial as an adult and is building her technique with regular training. Megan focuses mainly on hoop and conditioning and is beginning to explore flexibility and floorwork to support her practice.

“To experience the festival in Belfast, a city my grandparents left for Clare like many families during the Troubles, and to reconnect with it through creativity and community while gaining inspiration for developing my own aerial-based performance in the future. Shannon was nicknamed “little Belfast” and I still live here.”