Lauren McNamara – Young Curator

NASC Networks Young Curators 2022

 

Hi, my name is Lauren McNamara. I am a writer and performer from Limerick and this year along with Gill McNamara, I am one of the Young Curators in Belltable.

The Young Curators programme has been an amazing experience in how programming arts events works. Gill and I have had the unique opportunity to learn from some of Ireland’s best and most experienced venue managers, marketing, technical and box office staff. Being able to bring a show to a professional venue is something that is invaluable both from an event organiser position but also from an artist’s position. Understanding what a venue both offers and needs is essential for anyone working in the arts.

As part of the programme, we got to meet with venue managers from several theatres around Ireland and learn from the other young curators working with them. As a group we visited several festivals such as the Galway Arts Festival and the Dublin Fringe Festival. Seeing the passion and ideas from young curators all around the country, you could only feel excited about the future of Irish arts.

Giving a platform to programme artists who you feel have something important to say feels incredible. For working with local groups such as Tiger’s Eye, Weird Gravy, William Keohane and local poets and for the opportunity to bring in productions such as Fanboy and Pucked I feel very grateful. These are shows and artists we are excited for Limerick to see. We will be sitting right in the middle of the theatre taking it all in and I hope you will join us.