LASTA FESTIVAL 2025 at DUNAMAISE

• Throughout the year, the Young Curators have had the opportunity to meet up with curators from the other venues across the NASC Network. They received mentoring from industry professionals in marketing, touring and venue management and have been learning about negotiating deals, how to approach artists and companies, and how to manage budgets.
• They have also visited the Galway International Arts Festival to experience excellent arts programming in the flesh.
• The Young Curators are working towards programming events for their own festival which will take place in October 2025.
• The Young Curators Programme, based on a project originally conceived and delivered by Backstage Theatre, Longford in 2020, is targeted at young people between the ages of 18 and 25 who want to gain experience in working in the arts, especially those interested in venue and festival management and programming.
  
• The curators were selected on the basis that they were from, live in or have a strong connection to the Midlands and its communities; had a passion for the arts and for attending performance; enjoyed working with a small team; liked organising events and making things happen; and being able to make the commitment to the programme if selected.
• The project is about programming and producing creative work in the performing and visual arts - selecting shows that they may have seen for Dunamaise Art Centre’s programme of events or making a show in collaboration with the young curators in other venues.
• Curating will include managing the event from the first conversation with the artists to the day of the performance, making sure everything runs smoothly on the day. In this, the young programmers will be supported by the team here at Dunamaise Arts Centre, the young curators at the other participating venues, and the professionals hired to support the programme including project co-ordinator Maisie Lee.
• Established in 2006, the NASC Network is a partnership of eight venues who work together to present touring projects and share marketing and other areas of expertise. The NASC Network Venues are Dunamaise Arts Centre (Portlaoise), An Grianán Theatre (Letterkenny), Backstage (Longford), Glór (Ennis), Lime Tree Theatre (Limerick), The Pavilion (Dun Laoghaire), Siamsa Tíre (Tralee) and Town Hall Theatre(Galway)
• The Young Curators Programme is based on a project originally conceived and delivered by Backstage Theatre, Longford in 2020
• Dunamaise Arts Centre Young Curators have received additional support from Creative Ireland Laois

Ellie is a graduate of the TU Dublin Drama programme, and a theatre maker with a wide
range of multidisciplinary experience. This includes performance, direction, producing, sound design, voice acting, stage management and more.

Ellie began her work in the arts with Sligo Youth Theatre, performing in the National Youth Theatre ensemble in the Abbey Theatre, and then working as a drama facilitator with Sligo Youth Theatre herself. Here, she began getting practical experience working with performers to develop work, and developing her own methods of Process Drama and experimenting with improvisation.

She then entered the TU Dublin course for Drama (Performance). There she learned from
experts across a wide range of skills and developed herself artistically. She received
practical training in Facilitation, Acting, Voice and Speech, Singing, Movement, Acting to
Camera, Shakespeare and more.
During this time she has engaged as a performer in many pieces, these include A Memory of Two Mondays (2022), A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (2023), 3 Winters (2024) and multiple exhibitions of scenes. She has also been a resident Sound Designer at TU Dublin for a variety of performances in that time.

While attending, she engaged with outside productions such as a 24 Hour Play project, and also began her own program called Project 962. This program engaged upwards of 30 performers and artists in drama to create a new show every year, and give training in technical and behind the stage roles to traditional performers while allowing them to share their unique artistic voice on stage.

At present, Ellie is working in the Gate Theatre Dublin. She is also engaged with multiple
productions around Dublin through the Fringe Festival and beyond in a variety of roles, and of course, engaged here in Dunamaise as one of the Young Curators.

“I am incredibly excited to work with Dunamaise in the creation of a new programme. My hope is to include the voices of the local community from beginning to end of this process to have what appears here to reflect the stories that people are genuinely interested in engaging with and telling themselves. My goal is to bring storytelling, in all its many forms, through Dunamaise in a way that is not isolating or elitist, but rather is not only accessible to
everyone in the local community, but showcasing the kind of art that will actually engage and connect with people. I am incredibly honoured to be part of this program and I look forward to spending more time around this space."