Editorial Panel

The Editorial Panel ensures long term, transparent and viable structures inform the work of artsandheath.ie. The Panel’s role is advisory and strategic. It makes recommendations on the tactical direction of the site in terms of content so that it is open, fair and transparent in its editorial decision making.

The managerial details and processes rest with Réalta, the National Resource Organisation developing Arts and Health in Ireland. The Panel is designed to ensure broad and fair representation of the range of stakeholders and interests.

Claire Meaney (Chair) - Réalta

Claire Meaney is an artist, curator and arts manager. She is the Director of Réalta (formerly Waterford Healing Arts Trust) and was Assistant Director from 2007 to 2016. She has a BA in Fine Art, DIT (2002) and a Certificate in Youth Arts, NUI Maynooth (2006). In 2010, she completed an MA in Arts and Heritage Management at WIT. Her minor dissertation is titled The Artist’s Perspective of Making Collaborative Art in a Hospital Context in Ireland. In 2010, she was awarded an Arts & Health Bursary Award from the Arts Council to develop her arts participation practice.

Ann O’Connor - The Arts Council

Ann O’Connor is Head of Arts Participation with the Arts Council. Ann previously held the position of Arts and Health Advisor to the Arts Council and worked as an independent arts consultant, specialising in the area of arts and health and arts participation. Ann was Arts Coordinator with the Health Service Executive in Cork (2006 – 2009) and managed the Cork 2005 European Capital of Culture | Culture and Health Strand (2005 – 2006). She was Arts Development Worker with Blue Drum (2003 – 2005) and Sligo County Council (2000 – 2003), and was Cross Border Development Officer with Irish Rural Link (1997 – 2000).

Catherine Abbott - The Arts Council

Catherine Abbott is Arts and Health Manager with the Arts Council. Catherine has over 20 years’ experience as an arts partnership and programme manager across a variety of multi-disciplinary cultural venues and projects in Ireland, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Morocco. Prior to joining The Arts Council, she held positions with the National Concert Hall, the British Council and Expo 2020 Dubai and worked with organisations such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Welsh National Opera, Tate Britain and Louvre Abu Dhabi. She has led on a range of Arts and Health programmes throughout her career, in particular as Curator of IMMA Horizons at the Irish Museum of Modern Art and over a 12 year period as Westmeath County Arts Officer.

Claire Flahavan - Healthcare Professional Representative

Claire Flahavan originally trained in medicine, and graduated in 2004 from the Royal College of Sugeons in Ireland. She went on to specialize in psychiatry, and worked across a range of mental health services for over 10 years. She completed an MA in Art Therapy at Crawford College (Ireland) in 2013, and now works as a therapist at the National Maternity Hospital (Ireland), supporting women and couples navigating complex pregnancies. Claire has given presentations about her clinical work at national and international conferences, and teaches on a number of art therapy training programmes. Outside of her clinical practice, Claire enjoys working in mixed media to create hand-stitched books, objects and textile-based artwork.

Damien McGlynn - Create

Damien McGlynn is the Executive Director of Create, the national development agency for collaborative arts. Damien has worked in the cultural sector across Ireland, the UK and Europe for 15 years. He was previously the Ireland Director of Creative Lives, where he managed major public engagement projects and played a leading role in a number of Creative Europe and Erasmus+ projects. He is a trustee of Waterford Healing Arts Trust as well as Engage and Sydenham Arts in the UK.

Paula Curtin - Réalta Board of Directors

Paula Curtin is the Director of Midwifery at University Hospital Waterford (UHW). Paula has worked in maternity services at UHW since 1995, and in the post of Director of Midwifery since 2016. Paula has been interested in the work of the Waterford Healing Arts programme at UHW for many years, and has been involved in a number of WHA initiatives, including the visual art projects “Arrivals” and “Passengers”, and writing and art workshops for staff. Paula believes art in healthcare settings brings great benefits to service users, service providers and all those who pass through a busy hospital environment each day.

Margaret Organ - Association of Local Authority Arts Officers

Margaret Organ is a local authority Arts Officer since 1996. Based in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford with Waterford City & County Council, she oversees the Old Market House Arts Centre, Dungarvan and is curator of the annual Waterford Writers Weekend. Her remit includes Festivals and Events, Rural Arts, Arts in Education, Community Arts, Public Art, Arts in Health and several artforms. A graduate of Communications, she had a prior career in the media sector. More recently she is a graduate of Creativity and Change with MTU, Crawford College of Art & Design (2020). Margaret has undertaken a number of summer schools with Crawford College in the area of Art Therapy.

Maud Hendricks - Artist Representative

Maud Hendricks is a socially engaged theatre artist co-creating new work with people in public places and institutions. As Artistic Director of Outlandish Theatre Platform, Maud develops new projects in arts, health and community contexts with Bernie O’Reilly. Maud works within a framework of the Theatre of Ruins and the Sublime everyday. They investigate lived experiences and co-create intersectional theatre landscapes using inter-media methods of co-creation. Maud seeks out the boundaries of social justice through methods of self-representation, aiming to diversify audiences.

Image shown: Sheelagh Broderick

Sheelagh Broderick - Arts & Health Co-ordinators Ireland

Dr Sheelagh Broderick is an artist, writer and researcher who has worked in the health sector for nearly 20 years. Sheelagh is currently Senior Health Promotion and Improvement Officer with HSE South West. Her 2015 PhD “(Mis)Interpreting Arts and Health: What Else Can an Arts Practice Do?” explores the field of arts and health in Ireland and the frameworks of assessment applied to them. Sheelagh has published many articles in different publication arenas including “Arts Practices in Unreasonable Doubt? Reflections on Understandings of Arts Practices in Healthcare Settings” (Arts & Health, An International Journal for Research, Policy & Practice, 2011).

Dr Trudy Meehan - RCSI Centre for Positive Health Sciences

Dr Trudy Meehan is a Chartered Clinical Psychologist and a Lecturer in the Centre for Positive Psychology and Health at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dublin. Trudy previously worked for Stanford University as Director of the BING Overseas Study Programme, Cape Town, and as a clinician she was a Senior Clinical Psychologist in the HSE where she worked in the Psychiatry of Later Life in St James’s Hospital, Dublin. Trudy’s research explores the value of art in the context of health and the social/political determinants of health.

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