Brian Montague

Brian Montague, originally from Belfast, is a business investor with interests across a range of sectors including hospitality, commercial property, and IT. Brian has played the fiddle from a young age with a particular interest in Northern tradition. He lives in Dublin.

Máire Ní Ghráda

Máire is an uilleann piper originally from Cork, now living in Clonlara, County Clare. She is a regular teacher at international piping tionóil and and at the annual Willie Clancy School in Miltown Malbay. Máire also teaches Irish and Irish Folklore Studies in the University of Limerick. On behalf of the university, she has developed an innovative collaboration between UL and RTÉ-Raidió na Gaeltachta, Ar Bhruach na Sionainne. This radio series airs over a six week period each summer and gives students of the university, including those studying in the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, the opportunity to gain experience of the research, performance and presentational aspects of Irish language and music broadcasting.

Síle Denvir

Síle Denvir is a harpist and sean-nós singer from the Connemara Gaeltacht. She is a founding member of the group Líadan, she has toured with The Chieftains and recent performances include a collaboration with Liam Ó Maonlaí and Peter O’Toole in Macalla, a performance of music and sounds. She also performed as part of Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin’s composition Fill Arís with Iarla Ó Lionáird, Lillis Ó Laoire and The RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra in June 2018. Síle is a regular contributor to various TV and radio programmes and has also presented the programmes ‘Sean-Nós’ and ‘Fleadh TV’ on TG4. Síle is also an academic and works as an Irish language lecturer in Dublin City University. She has a particular interest in Irish-language song and her publications include Ciarán Ó Fátharta - Amhráin, an edition of songs composed by the Connemara songwriter Ciarán Ó Fátharta, published by Cló Iar-Chonnacht. Síle has a BA in Music and Irish from NUI Maynooth, an MA in Irish from NUI Galway, a Graduate Diploma in Music Education and an MA in Traditional Music Performance from the University of Limerick. She also received her PhD doctorate from the University of Limerick in 2012. Her latest research project, a CD/Booklet called Caithréim: Ceol agus Amhráin ó Dhrámaí an Phiarsaigh, was published by Cló Iar-Chonnacht in May 2016 and was shortlisted by The Irish Times in the highly competitive ‘Best Traditional Album 2016’ category. Úna has held artist residencies at the Centre Culturel Irlandais Paris, the Institute for the Public Life of Arts and Ideas Montréal, and the Future Music Lab at the Atlantic Music Festival, Maine, USA. Úna also works as a sound engineer specialising in Irish traditional music, and experimental, live electronic and multichannel music—a role in which she travels worldwide. In 2016, Úna was awarded a James M. Flaherty Research Scholarship by the Ireland Canada University Foundation. She released an album of her compositions for harp and electronics, named For in 2018, and in 2019 received the inaugural Liam O’Flynn Award from the Arts Council of Ireland and the National Concert Hall, Dublin.

Áine Hensey

Áine Hensey has worked in broadcasting since 1979. She began her career with RTÉ Radio 2 (now 2FM), and worked with Radio 1 and Clare FM before joining Raidió na Gaeltachta in 1995. Best known as a presenter and producer of traditional Irish music programmes (Heather Breeze, Sunday Folk, the Mist-Covered Mountain, Mind the Dresser, Béal Maidine, An Ghaoth Aniar, the Late Session, An Ghealach Ghorm and more) she has also been involved in the production of current affairs, sport, and history shows at both local and national levels. Most recently, she produced the flagship Raidió na Gaeltachta series of debates on the legacy of 1916. She is a regular contributor to programmes on TG4 and has acted as a script consultant on Geantraí, Gradaim Ceoil TG4, and other productions. She was a member of the selection panel for the Gradam Ceoil awards and also wrote and edited the commemorative book that was produced to mark the tenth anniversary of the Gradaim. Áine has many years of experience in the field of arts administration and public relations, having worked with the renowned youth festival, Slógadh, from the late 1970s. She has been musical director of Éigse Mrs Crotty in Kilrush, project animator with Oidhreacht an Chláir, and, since 2014, co-director of Consairtín, the national concertina convention. She was awarded a PhD in early modern history from Maynooth University in 2012 and is currently chairman of the board of directors of Gael-Linn.

Úna Monaghan

Úna Monaghan is a harper, composer, researcher, and sound artist from Belfast. She held the Rosamund Harding Research Fellowship in Music at Newnham College, University of Cambridge from 2016-2019. Her research examines the intersections between Irish traditional music, experimental music practices, improvisation, and interactive technologies. She performs with harp and electronics. Her recent work combines traditional music with bronze sculpture, sound art, and movement sensors. Her compositions have been presented on BBC and RTÉ television and radio, in theatre productions, and at international festivals and conferences, such as the International Computer Music Conference, York Festival of Ideas, and New York Electroacoustic Music Festival. She holds a PhD on New Technologies and Experimental Practices in Contemporary Irish Traditional Music from Queen’s University Belfast. Úna has held artist residencies at the Centre Culturel Irlandais Paris, the Institute for the Public Life of Arts and Ideas Montréal, and the Future Music Lab at the Atlantic Music Festival, Maine, USA. Úna also works as a sound engineer specialising in Irish traditional music, and experimental, live electronic and multichannel music—a role in which she travels worldwide. In 2016, Úna was awarded a James M. Flaherty Research Scholarship by the Ireland Canada University Foundation. She released an album of her compositions for harp and electronics, named For in 2018, and in 2019 received the inaugural Liam O’Flynn Award from the Arts Council of Ireland and the National Concert Hall, Dublin.

Bob Collins

Bob Collins was born in Killarney, Co. Kerry, but grew up in Co. Limerick. He graduated from UCD with a BA in philosophy and an MA in Business Administration. Bob joined RTÉ in 1975 as secretary to the Authority and progressed to serve as Director General of RTÉ from 1997 to 2003. He currently sits on the Board of a number of organisations.

Kate Barry

Kate Barry has a law degree from Birmingham University, she has worked for Eversheds Law Practice in the UK. She moved to Ireland and is now working in Academic Law.

Libby McCrohan

Libby McCrohan is an Irish traditional musician and artist from Fingal. She plays a round back Greek bouzouki. Her approach to accompaniment is sensitive, subtle, and rhythmical, taking inspiration from the reg playing of uilleann pipers. She holds a BA in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering from Trinity College Dublin as well as a Higher Diploma in Data Analytics. She is also very interested in visual arts, digital design and crafts.

Edwina Guckian

Dancer, choreographer, film maker and cultural producer Edwina Guckian hails from outside the village of Drumsna in Co. Leitrim. She learned her dancing from her mother and the local dancers of Leitrim and Roscommon. Her style is greatly influenced by the style of local music she grew up listening and dancing to. Her grandfather, Ned Lee, from Easter Snow, Co. Roscommon taught her to play the fiddle and brought her to many sessions, ceilís and rambling houses across Connacht in her youth. Having started teaching dancing at the age of 16, Edwina has now taught her steps and around the world sharing the stage with some of Ireland’s most influential acts. In 2004 Edwina established a culture club Áirc Damhsa which now has over 400 members, 11 teachers and is based in 9 counties. The following year she left her full – time primary school teaching career to focus on her personal development in dance. Since then, she has been awarded Leitrim County Council Arts person of the Year, Art’s Councils Next Generation Award and Connacht Business Person of the Year by the Irish Enterprise Board which led to her setting up www.irishdancecourses.com, an online learning hub for dancers worldwide with courses in all styles of Irish dance with the modern-day dance masters of Ireland. Since 2016, with the support of The Arts Council of Ireland, Dance Ireland and Leitrim Arts Office she hosts a hugely successful festival called Leitrim Dance Festival of which she is artistic director. She also organises many events in her community throughout the year such as the Effrinagh Crossroads Dance. In January 2020, Edwina launched her independent film production company, Dreoilín Productions, making creative videos and documentaries focusing on music, dance, heritage, culture, nature and community. Edwina continues to produce a series of public talks with Vincent Woods hosting musicians, singers and dancers from Leitrim that have had a significant impact on the tradition in the area. Supported by the Arts Council of Ireland, it is called Jenny Put the Kettle On and will see another series of the project in 2022. She is currently curating a Creative Ireland project called Sowing the Seed with her Leitrim community and further afield encouraging the return of old farming techniques to work with nature once again and looking at the traditions and folk customs associated with the land. The project featured in National Geographic December 2021 issue. In April 2022, Edwina was awards the Gradam Comaoine TG4.

Niamh Ní Charra

Niamh Ní Charra is a musician, composer and professional archivist. Strongly influenced by a wealth of local Sliabh Luachra musicians, she started playing music at the early age of 4. A multiple award winner on both fiddle and concertina, she toured from 1998 to 2006 as a soloist with Riverdance, before returning to Ireland where she is now based. Her recently released 5th album “Donnelly’s Arm”, recorded under challenging circumstance during the Covid_19 pandemic and several lockdowns, has none-the-less received much critical and public acclaim. It was crowned Number 1 Trad Album of 2021 by Alex Monaghan, reviewer for several publications including Irish Music Magazine, Living Tradition and FolkWorld. Niamh is also a professional archivist having completed an MA in Archives and Records Management at UCD. She is based at the University of Galway where she is project manager and project archivist for their two largest archives; the Conradh na Gaeilge and Mary Robinson collections. She is the Communications and Campaigns officer for the Archives and Records Association, Ireland, she is co-host of the podcast series Archive Nation, and regularly gives presentations on her work in this field, including recently at both Electric Picnic and at the International Council on Archives (ICA) conference in Rome. Along with touring extensively as a solo artist and with her own band, Niamh has also performed and recorded with The Chieftains, Galician piper Carlos Núñez, and Basque musicians Ibon Koteron and Xabi Aburruzaga. She regularly gives workshops and masterclasses on both fiddle and concertina, has performed for several presidents and members of royalty and has additionally coordinated concerts hosted by the Irish embassy, on behalf of the government. A selection of her compositions featured in ITMA’s Saothar series in July 2022.

Mairéad Hurley

Mairéad Hurley is a concertina player from a musical family in Ballymote, Co. Sligo. She has performed on stages and taught concertina master classes in Ireland and the UK, as well as in various locations across Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand. In 2014, she was the resident Irish music tutor at the Gaelic Club in Sydney, Australia. In 2016, Mairéad, John Blake and Nathan Gourley released a trio album entitled The Truckley Howl, the name coming from an enigmatic phrase uttered by legendary piper Séamus Ennis. In 2021 she was part of ITMAs 'Drawing From The Well' series alongside her sister Deirdre, in which they explored the connections between tunes, songs and stories associated with the famed “Petticoat Loose” of Co. Waterford. In her professional life, she is an Assistant Professor in Science Education at Trinity College Dublin, and her research examines learning approaches which combine science with the arts. She has been successful in securing over €5M in funding for international cooperative projects on science education since 2017.