Editorial Panel

Ailbhe Murphy - Create

Ailbhe Murphy is the Executive Director of Create Ireland, the national development agency for collaborative arts in Ireland, supporting artists and communities. Prior to becoming a visual artist, Ailbhe Murphy trained as a nurse at the Royal City of Dublin Hospital. She completed her practice-based PhD with the University of Ulster in 2011 and, since 2007, she has worked with independent researcher Ciaran Smyth at the arts and research platform Vagabond Reviews.

Alison Baker Kerrigan - Arts and Health Co-ordinators Ireland

Ali Baker Kerrigan is the Arts Officer in Tallaght University Hospital (TUH), a large academic teaching hospital in Dublin. Her role is focused on managing the Hospital Arts and Health Programme for the National Centre for Arts and Health (NCAH at TUH). Her work is keenly informed by her background in fine art photography, passion for curating art and working alongside fellow arts and health co-ordinators in Ireland. The hospital arts programme features a number of national innovations and strives to promote best practice in arts and health, through professional development, evaluation and research.

Claire Flahavan - Healthcare Professional Representative

Claire Flahavan originally trained in medicine, and graduated in 2004 from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. She went on to specialize in psychiatry, working across a range of mental health settings for over a decade. Claire completed an MA in Art Therapy at Crawford College (Cork) in 2013, and now works full-time as an art therapist. She is based primarily at St Louise’s Unit (CHI Tallaght, Dublin), a service for young people who have experienced sexual abuse or sexual assault, and also holds a post at the National Maternity Hospital. She enjoys teaching and writing about her work as a therapist.

JP Swaine - Healthcare Professional Representative

JP Swaine is a trained psychotherapist and works as a Culture Transformation and Social Movement Leader within HSE Values in Action. He is the Co-Founder of First Fortnight mental health charity, which runs an annual arts festival and an art psychotherapy service.

Marielle MacLeman - Artist Representative

Marielle MacLeman was born in Scotland and is now based in Galway. She works across visual art, writing, book design, participative and collaborative approaches for exhibition, public art, and publication, with 16 years arts and health experience. She has worked with all ages and in contexts spanning acute to chronic, long-term and palliative care.

From 2003-2011, Marielle was Artist Co-ordinator with Art in Hospital at The Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice, Glasgow where she developed and facilitated a multi-generational programme of activities for day services, out-patients, in-patients, families and carers, encompassing art and creative writing workshops, exhibitions, and access to museums and galleries. Since relocating to Galway, she has worked on several projects with Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust including an ongoing residency in the haemodialysis unit at Merlin Park University Hospital. She has completed public art commissions in care for the elderly, paediatric, maternity bereavement, neonatal, multi-faith, and mental health contexts.

Pippa Little - Association of Local Authority Arts Officers

Dr Pippa Little is the Culture and Arts Officer with Limerick City and County Council.

Tess Leak - Artist Representative

Tess Leak is an artist and musician who has been working with the Arts for Health Programme in West Cork since 2010. She is a graduate of the BA in Visual Art on Sherkin Island and The Curious School of Puppetry in London. In 2020, she created the Museum of Song Postal Project in collaboration with artist Sharon Whooley which was delivered to healthcare settings as a response to the isolation of participants during the pandemic.

In 2019, Tess collaborated with a group of residents in Bantry General Hospital to create the puppetry-based performance Stories from the Well-Field which brought to life participants’ poems about childhood friendships. This was supported by an Arts Council Project Award and an artsandhealth.ie documentation bursary. Tess is co-founder and curator of participatory projects Haiku Island Press, The Museum of Miniature and The Museum of Making and Mending and is cellist with the Vespertine Quintet.