Kathy Scott

Kathy is a cultural activist and creative entrepreneur dedicated to creating provocative experiences that animate the spirit of our times. Her greatest mission in this life is to nudge humanity forward by inspiring people to rise and lift each other up along the way. She is the creative director of The Trailblazery which was founded as a response to a need for deeper human connection and belonging in our world.

 

Joseph Jones (Seosamh Mac Seoin)

Joseph Jones (Seosamh Mac Seoin) an Ulster Irish teacher, actor & filmmaker who teaches at the Irish Arts Center in Manhattan and has also taught at the New York Irish Center in Queens. Dedicated to promoting the Irish language, Joseph is also a presenter on TG4/Cúla4, the first Irish-language kids' TV station.

 

Siobhán O’Kelly 

Siobhán O’Kelly trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Theatre work includes Fiach, Cogadh na Saoirse and Twelfth Night. She has appeared in TV shows like London Irish, Paddywhackery and Na Cloigne.  Her film credits include High Rise, Arracht and The Daisy Chain. In 2015 Siobhán won Best Actress at the European Independent Film Festival for her role in Sophie At The Races and in 2016 was nominated for an IFTA for her work on the TV series An Klondike. Having lived in London for many, many years Siobhán is delighted to be back in Ireland reconnecting with its people and language.

 

Annemarie Ní Churreáin

Annemarie Ní Churreáin is a poet from the Donegal Gaeltacht. Her books include Bloodroot (Doire Press, 2017), The Poison Glen (The Gallery Press, 2021) and Ghostgirl (Donegal County Archives, 2023). Her awards include the Irish Arts Council’s Next Generation Artist Award, The Markievicz Award, The Kavanagh Fellowship and a Hawthornden Residency Award (NYC). Ní Churreáin is the UCD/Arts Council Writer in Residence for 2025. She is the poetry editor at The Stinging Fly Magazine.

 

Theo Dorgan

Theo Dorgan is a poet with ten collections published, the most recent being ONCE WAS A BOY, which received the accolade of One City, One Book 2024 in his native Cork. He is also a novelist, documentary screenwriter, translator, essayist and editor. In 2022 he devised the script for ANU's production of STAGING THE TREATY, and he scripted and presented the multi-award-winning Alan Gilsenan documentary for TG4, AN BUACHAILL GEALGHÁIREACH/THE LAUGHING BOY. Two of his long poems, SAPPHO'S DAUGHTER and ÉRIU & AMERGIN,  have been set to music by Colm Mac Con Iomaire and a CD of the latter is due to be released later this year. Translations of his work have been published in Greek, Italian and French, with a second collection in Spanish due in 2024. He is a member of Aosdána.

 

Edwina Guckian

Dancer Edwina Guckian hails from outside the village of Drumsna in Co. Leitrim. Coming from a family steeped in the tradition of music and dance, her style is greatly influenced by the style of local music she grew up with across Leitrim and Roscommon. She set up Áirc Damhsa Culture Club for youths in her area to have a space to be immersed in traditions and cultures from home and all across the world in a fun and non – competitive environment. Now in its 20th year, the club has over 500 members in 9 counties. Edwina is the artistic director of Leitrim Dance Project annually hosting events in the county such as Leitrim Dance Festival and the Effrinagh Crossroads Dance.

 

Dr. Kevin Whelan

Kevin Whelan is a native of Johnstown, near Clonegal, in County Wexford, attended school at FCJ Bunclody and played for Kildavin GAA club. He has been Director of University of Notre Dame Dublin since 1998. He has lectured in fifteen countries, and at the Sorbonne, Cambridge, Oxford, Torino, Berkeley, Yale, Dartmouth and Louvain. He has written or edited over twenty books and over one hundred articles on Ireland’s history, geography, literature and culture. During his tenure as the face of Notre Dame in Ireland, Kevin has taught over 3,000 ND undergraduates. From 1999 to 2011, he directed the annual Irish Seminar, the leading seminar in the field of Irish Studies. Kevin, a native of County Wexford, is the father of four children. His passions include hurling, poetry, book-collecting, the Irish language and travel.

 

RÓIS

RÓIS is a composer, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and electronic artist from Fermanagh, whose songs breathe new life into a forgotten Ireland. Blending elements of folk, sean-nós, electronics, and jazz harmony, RÓIS’ genre-bending sound transports listeners to a different realm. With shapeshifting sets, no two performances are ever the same, as audiences accompany RÓIS into her sound world. Expect twists and turns of tempo and genre, and moments of sheer magic, as she conducts the energy of the room. This is a place where the ancient meets the new.

 

Michael Gallen

Michael Gallen is an Irish composer, writer, director and performer. Recent works of note include Bád ón Alltar (2024), a new large-scale orchestral work co-commissioned by the Orchestre Nationale de Bretagne, Ulster Orchestra and the Irish National Symphony Orchestra. Michael founded the Straymaker company in 2018 with the goal of creating innovative opera and music-theatre projects rooted in an Irish idiom. His opera Elsewhere, the company’s maiden production, premiered at the Abbey Theatre to critical acclaim. Other Straymaker projects in development include multiplatform music-theatre work The Curing Line, which Michael is composing and directing, and which is currently one of the final three nominees for the 2025 Fedora Prize for Opera. Michael was the lead vocalist and songwriter with Irish band Ana Gog and performs as a solo artist under the moniker Sudden Wells, with a new album due for release in Autumn 2025.  

 

Cáit Ní Riain

Cáit Ní Riain is a singer and multi-instrumentalist from Upperchurch in Co. Tipperary. She is deeply rooted in Irish traditional music and song, and influenced by folk musics the world over that have grown from the ground up, from the human’s relationship with land. She is particularly passionate about the traditional songs of Ireland, the keening tradition, the deep embodiment of voice, and voice as a potent healing tool. She also composes her own music and songs which are rooted in themes of wildness, love, and the need to decolonize our minds, hearts, and bodies. She plays piano and sings in ‘The Weaving’, alongside accordionist and singer, Méabh Begley and Leeds’ fiddler, Owen Spafford.

 

Dónal Ó Céilleachair

Dónal Ó Céilleachair is a multiple-award winning filmmaker with 30 years of experience in cinema, broadcast television and the arts. His work has been shown in cinemas, museums, galleries, film festivals and on broadcast television and streaming services worldwide.

 

Jenny Ní Ruiséil

Jenny Ní Ruiséil is an Irish speaker, musician and yoga teacher originally from Kildare who has spent years also working for Irish-language college Coláiste Lurgan (TGLurgan). She is committed to exploring, practicing and living a heart-based, creative life, using the traditional teachings of the Himalayan Masters combined with the deep roots of her Irish and Celtic lineage as guides and frameworks. Her fascination with all things music, sound, language and energy-based has led her to explore the connections between these ancient spiritual practices (particularly mantra) and how rooting ourselves deeply in a practice, lineage or tradition can help to facilitate an even deeper sense of home.

 

Lillis Ó Laoire

Lillis Ó Laoire grew up in Gort an Choirce, County Donegal. Lillis won Corn Uí Riada on two occasions at the annual Oireachtas festival and in 2020 he was conferred with the TG4 Amhránaí na Bliana – Singer of the Year Award. He is Professor in the Department of Irish, National University of Ireland, Galway. He has published books and articles, in Irish and in English on singing and ethnology in addition to many other aspects of folklore and folkloristics. His best known publications include On a Rock in the Middle of the Ocean and Bright Star of the West: Joe Heaney, Irish Song Man.

 

Ciara O’Donnell

Ciara O’Donnell is the creative artist under the name “Domhan” channeling music and songs inspired by the Earth and the Divine. Domhan’s voice (pronounced “Dow-an” in Gaelic) has captivated audiences in both her native Ireland and abroad, showcasing her undeniable virtuosity as a multi-instrumentalist, potent songwriter and vocalist. Ciara is a Shamanic Practitioner, Pranic Energy Healer, Music and Language teacher and Vocal coach and facilitator of women’s circles. She is also a member of transcendental band “Bog Bodies”, here she allows the spirit of Ancient Ireland to move through the music in a bid to help activate and empower the ancient memory embedded in all of our DNA.

 

Michael Keegan-Dolan

Michael Keegan-Dolan was born in Dublin in 1969. He founded his own company, Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre in 1997 and rose to acclaim as its artistic director creating three Olivier Award-nominated productions: Giselle (2003), The Bull (2005), and The Rite of Spring (2009). Michael Keegan-Dolan founded his new company Teaċ Daṁsa in 2016. Its first production, Swan Lake / Loch na hEala, won the Irish Times Theatre Award 2017 for Best New Production and the UK Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for Best Production 2018. In 2024 Teaċ Daṁsa moved into its own building on the cliffs of the West Kerry Gaeltacht in a townland called Glaise Beag. Michael plans to devote the next part of his working life feeding and growing a dynamic relationship with this place, its language and culture. He believes that it is important for an artist to work with their own history as this history is carried in their body.

 

Ella Noah Bancroft

Ella Noah Bancroft is a proud Bundjalung woman. She is a descendant of the Bundjalung peoples of Northern NSW, and also has bloodlines to Scotland and Poland. She is a Indigenous born artist, published author, mentor, consultant and founder/CEO of “The Returning Indigenous Corporation”. Ella is an experienced speaker and facilitator advocating for the environment, social justice and system change. She is passionate about decolonising the world and the rise of feminine force.

 

Ciara Ní É

Ciara Ní É is a bilingual poet, performer, broadcaster and filmmaker. Founder of REIC and co-founder of AerachAiteachGaelach, she was named as one of the Irish Examiner’s 100 Women Changing Ireland in 2022. She’s toured internationally, written and directed her first film, and presented award-nominated documentaries. Expect bold poetry, Gaeilge, and unapologetic queer creativity.

 

Duncan Wickel

Award-winning bowed-string instrumentalist, world class musician, singer, writer, and inventor, Duncan Wickel is “A considerable talent…as persuasive in a traditional ballad as he is country fiddling or ripping through cascading classical flourishes or atonal double stops” (The Boston Globe). Along with his band, Rising Appalachia, he was featured on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series. He has toured with major folk artists including IBMA guitarist of the year Molly Tuttle, Grammy nominees The Duhks, The Wood Brothers, Irish music greats John Doyle and Karan Casey, Ruth Moody, The Stash! Band, and many others.

 

Leah Song

Leah Song is a storyteller, song-catcher, musician, poet, and activist primarily known for her role as front-woman of Rising Appalachia, alongside her sister Chloe Smith. As a soloist she incorporates sultry vocals, folklore, boleros and the blues into her troubadour performance. Her music is based in the traditions of Southern soul, the diasporic music of the Celtic Isles and her deep studies of traditional folk music from across the Americas. She has studied and worked alongside some of the greatest teachers and tradition keepers of our time including Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Bobby McFerrin, Martin Shaw, Joanna Macy, Charles Eisenstein, Winona LaDuke, Guadelupe Urbina, Sobunfu Some, and Rosemary Gladstar to name a few... Gathering tools and teachings of resilience, music, mythology, and ritual through sound.

 
 
 

We would also like to acknowledge our friends Sonya and Nina Montenegro of The Far Woods, whose beautiful ‘Against Forgetting’ print shares a similar motif to our logo at The Hedge School.