Appointment of 5 new members and a Chair to the Board of the Arts Council

Minister Catherine Martin has announced that she will appoint Maura McGrath as the new Chair of the Arts Council and five new members of the Board. They are:

• Róise Goan
• Gary Granville
• Brian Ó Gáibhín
• Gaby Smyth
• Richard Yarr

The appointments will be for 5 years and follow from an open call for expressions of interest and an assessment process operated by the Public Appointments Service.

Commenting on the appointments, Minister Martin said:

A new Chair of the Board of the National Concert Hall will be appointed in due course.

Maura McGrath

Maura McGrath has been a member of the National Concert Hall (NCH) board since 2014 and Chair since 2016, during which time she led on the transfer of the National Symphony Orchestra and Choirs to the NCH from RTÉ, the successful response of the NCH to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the development of exciting plans, approved by Government, for the redevelopment and renewal of the National Concert Hall at Earlsfort Terrace.

Maura holds a Master's Degree in Management and Organisational Behaviour from Trinity College Dublin. She is a member of the Institute of Directors in Ireland, is accredited in Corporate Governance, and is a faculty member of the Irish Management Institute. As a highly experienced HR consultant, change facilitator, coach and chair her work has spanned the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. As an advisor she has successfully delivered strategic and organisational transformation to a wide range of organisations. Maura has held previous prestigious board roles across all sectors in Ireland including the Public Appointments Service and the UMPC Clinic Waterford.

Róise Goan

Since May 2023, Róise Goan has been Artistic Coordinator with Kunstencentrum Vierniulvier in Ghent, one of Europe’s leading contemporary arts centres. From 2019, Róise was the Artistic Director of Artsadmin in London. She has also worked as Guest Dramaturg at Vooruit in Belgium, and as a freelance arts programmer in Ireland. Under the banner of The Local Group, she created performance projects with artists and communities of place and interest in off-the-grid locations between 2015 and 2019.

She studied Drama and Theatre Studies at Trinity College Dublin, graduating in 2004. In 2008, she was appointed as Director of the Dublin Fringe Festival, which she led for five years, and where she established Fringe Lab, a year-round studio and artist-support programme.

Highlights of her freelance career include working with Prime Cut in Belfast on artist development, and two European Capital of Culture bids including Three Sisters 2020. Alongside her work in the performing arts, she has written for television, most notably the TG4 series Aifric.

Gary Granville

Dr. Gary Granville is Emeritus Professor of Education and former Interim Director of the National College of Art and Design (NCAD), Dublin. He was previously Assistant Chief Executive of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) in Ireland. In that capacity, he oversaw the design and introduction of national programmes, including the Leaving Certificate Applied, the Junior Cycle Schools Programme and initiatives in citizenship education, in enterprise education and in the arts.

In recent years he has chaired the NCCA Development Group for Art at junior cycle and Leaving Certificate. Gary Granville has extensive experience as a member of policy advisory groups including Creative Ireland, Higher Education Authority, Teaching Council, NCCA and other national and international bodies. His publications include books, articles and commissioned reports on arts education, curriculum and assessment policy, labour history and global citizenship. Is cainteoir dúchais Ghaeilge é agus oibríonn se tré mheán na Gaeilge mar is cuí.

Brian Ó Gáibhín

Brian Ó Gáibhín is from Cluain Dolcáin, Dublin, and currently is Príomhoifigeach Oibríochtaí / Chief Operations Officer of Áras Chrónáin Ionad Cultúir in Dublin where he manages and oversees the development and implementation of an extensive, diverse and inclusive Arts, Cultural and Performance programme in partnership with local and national stakeholders.

Brian holds a BA in Education and a Master’s degree in Business and Information Technology (DCU). Early is his career, Brian was a primary school teacher in a Gaelscoil, a presenter on TG4 and Head of the Music Department at the International School of Chouiefat in the U.A.E. He also travelled the world extensively as Tour Manager for International Artists.

Brian has been an active member / chairperson on numerous boards and committees. Brian was Chairperson of South Dublin County Tourism 2004-2015 and central to bringing Oireachtas na Cruinne (Irish World Dance) 2017 and Oireachtas na Samhna 2019 to South Dublin County. Brian led Áras Chrónáin to All-Ireland IPB Place Awards for ‘Creative Place Initiative’ 2018. Brian developed and led the achieving of the official status of ‘Líonra Gaeilge – Irish Language Network’ in 2020 for Sráidbhaile Chluain Dolcáin, the first in the history of the state. Brian currently sits on the Board of Directors of South Dublin Chamber of Commerce and An tOireachtas, and is Chairperson of Comhchoiste Náisiúnta na Líonra Gaeilge - Irish Language Network.

Gaby Smyth

Gaby Smyth studied at UCD (B. Sc Hons, HDE), University of Limerick (M.A), Leinster School of Music (LLSM), and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, also qualifying as a Certified Mediator (CEDR, London). He has been in financial and taxation consultancy for over thirty years, specialising in the literary, music, film, theatre and visual arts – representing and advising many of the major Irish and international practitioners in these areas.

Gaby has also been involved in the leadership and governance of many arts organisations in Ireland; he has been the chairman of the boards of Temple Bar Gallery & Studios, Corn Exchange Theatre Company, and TEAM Educational Theatre Company. He was also chairman of the boards of the Dublin International Film Festival and Opera Theatre Company; and was inaugural chairman of Irish National Opera. Additionally, he was non-executive chairman of Boulder Media Ltd., a major Irish animation company, and the first independent chair of Screen Producers Ireland, the umbrella organisation for the film, animation and TV industry in the state. Furthermore, he has chaired the board of Amnesty International Ireland between 2001–2005, and again from 2010 to 2014. He was also chair of the International Chairs’ Forum for Amnesty International.

Richard Yarr

Richard Yarr is one of Northern Ireland’s best-known Arts professionals: an award-winning Music and Arts producer with the BBC; a recognised innovator in the sector; and the recipient of a National Honour – an MBE for Services to Music. He is also a Deputy Lieutenant of the County Borough of Belfast.

Richard has substantial experience of leading local government committees and charities. He is Chairperson of the Charles Wood Festival of Music & Summer School; Artistic Director of the Northern Ireland International Organ Competition, which he founded in 2011; a Music Advisor for CCEA (The Council for the Curriculum, Examinations & Assessment, NI) and Director of Music in Belfast’s oldest place of worship. He is also Music Fellow at Lichfield Cathedral School in Staffordshire and Patron of both the Northern Ireland Young Musician of the Year Competition and the Lagan Festival of Speech, Drama, Music & Art.

Richard co-ordinated the BBC's national coverage of Derry~Londonderry UK City of Culture in 2013 and, as a strong advocate of Arts partnerships, created BBC Northern Ireland’s School Choir of the Year Competition in 2015 – a partnership between the BBC, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the National Youth Choir of Northern Ireland. Richard is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Freeman of the City of London.