Members of Aosdána gathered in the beautiful Vernon Studio at Royal Irish Academy of Music for the 2nd Aosdána Open Forum on April 23rd, 2025
The one day event featured discursive panels and presentations, networking opportunities, as well as interactive break out sessions to enable members contribute their thoughts and feedback.
The first panel, chaired by Amanda Coogan, discussed and presented works on the themes of Class, Disability, Ethnicity, and Gender, as a subject matter for artistic practice and barriers to sustaining a career as an artist. Panellists included Aideen Barry , John Byrne, Siobhan Cleary, Brian Maguire, and Jimmy Murphy
An afternoon panel chaired by John McLachlan, allowed members Aideen Barry, Cecily Brennan , and Mia Gallagher the opportunity to present the draft Aosdána Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy document, as well as the draft Aosdána Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Implementation plan. Leon Diop Head of Equality Diversity and Inclusion at the Arts Council was present to answer questions and contribute to the discussion.
Presentations were given by Arts Council staff on the profile and promotion of Aosdána and Aosdána members; these included an overview of the recently published International Comparison to Aosdána research document; Aosdána social media initatives and a new ‘Member of Aosdána’ logo.
Members of SAFE TO CREATE were present and spoke to the membership on their programme for the Irish Arts and Creative Sectors, explaining their Dignity at Work programme with the aim to impact change on the culture and practices of the arts and creative sectors in Ireland to provide safer working conditions for all workers.
As the day came to a close members were given a tour of the magnificant Whyte Recital Hall. The Whyte Recital Hall features 300 seats in an acoustically designed horseshoe layout. It is Dublin’s only purpose-built chamber music recital hall and opened in September 2023.