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.

Manchán Magan

Manchán Magan writes regularly for The Irish Times, presents The Almanac of Ireland on RTÉ Radio 1 and has presented dozens of documentaries on issues of world culture for TG4 & RTÉ. His book Thirty-Two Words for Field explores the insights the Irish language offers into the landscape, psyche and heritage of Ireland. www.manchan.com

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.
www.spotlight.com

Colm Mac Con Iomaire

Dublin born, Wexford based Colm Mac Con Iomaire is a well-known violinist, composer, film score arranger, and a founding member of hugely successful Irish bands ‘The Frames’ and ‘Kíla’. Colm has spent over three decades travelling the World playing music.

Michael Cronin

Michael Cronin is 1776 Professor of French and Senior Researcher in the Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation in Trinity College Dublin. Among his recent published titles are Irish and Ecology: An Ghaeilge agus an Éiceolaíocht (2019). He is a former Irish Language Literature Advisor to the Arts Council and Director of Poetry Ireland.

Irish with Mollie

Mollie, a visionary Irish language educator, weaves storytelling and etymology into her innovative teaching methods, celebrating and nurturing identity and heritage connections. She offers accessible, relatable resources with infectious enthusiasm. Mollie’s creative workshops and courses demystify the language and explore the healing and soulful path of effective learning. Rethink and revitalise Irish!

Fay'd

Fay'd is a rapper and a musician from Tallaght. He writes lyrical and melodic music blending the two sharply contrasting phases of his life. His unique style mixes the traditional Irish sean-nós music with today's modern hip-hop.

Niall Morahan

Blue Niall, is an artist, designer and musician from Dublin. His sound blends traditional Irish music with bilingual rap and contemporary club music. Niall hosts a biweekly radio show called 'Athbheochan' on Dublin Digital Radio and is currently working on "Oisín," an audiovisual project which is a modern retelling of the legend of Tír na nÓg. In addition to his music career, Niall is a designer and social entrepreneur. He is a cofounder of Project UnBound, a partnership for systemic change in Ireland through design.

Roxanna Nic Liam

Roxanna is an actor and spoken word artist who has performed in English and in Irish for over 15 years. She has performed all over Ireland and the UK and is currently on Fair City. Her bilingual short film Siúcra went viral during the pandemic and is used in Irish classrooms all around the country.

Tiokasin Ghosthorse

Tiokasin Ghosthorse seeds from the Mnicoujou and Itazipcola Lakota as an educator, musician, and international speaker on peace and the global issues facing Native people. Tiokasin is a 2016 Nobel Peace Prize Nominee of the International Institute of Peace Studies and Global Philosophy. He is also the Host and Executive Producer of “First Voices Radio National/International, a one-hour live weekly radio program he founded in 1992 and is now syndicated on 110+ public and community radio stations.

Colm Bairéad

Colm is a writer-director with a diverse filmography in both narrative and documentary film. Colm’s first narrative feature was An Cailín Ciúin (The Quiet Girl) which received two BAFTA nominations and an Academy Award nomination for International Feature Film. It is the highest-grossing Irish-language film of all time.

Cleona Ní Chrualaoi

Cleona Ní Chrualaoi is a film and television producer, best known for the Irish-language film, An Cailín Ciúin (The Quiet Girl), which garnered worldwide acclaim and was nominated for two BAFTAs and an Academy Award in 2023. Cleona was selected as one of Screen International’s Stars of Tomorrow in 2022.

Jenny Ní Ruiséil

Jenny 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 their relation to the body, heart and mind of today's practitioner, and how rooting ourselves deeply in a practice, lineage or tradition can help to facilitate an even deeper sense of home.

Mícheál Ó Nualláin

Mícheál is the Director of Baile Átha Cliath le Gaeilge, a joint initiative between Conradh na Gaeilge and Dublin City Council with the mission of having Irish more seen and heard around the Dublin City. He is a founding member of Irish Speaking Dublin GAA Club, Na Gaeil Óga.

Mary Kennedy

One of Ireland’s most popular broadcasters, Mary Kennedy came to national prominence as an RTÉ Newscaster and presented the Eurovision Song Contest in 1995. Since then, Mary has presented many programmes including a successful six year run of Open House, People of the Year, Up for the Match, Nationwide, Guaranteed Irish and RTÉ’s Christmas Carols. She has published five books and writes a monthly column for two magazines, Ireland’s Own and The West Cork Opinion.

Deirdre Ní Chinnéide

Deirdre Ní Chinnéide is a composer, singer, psychotherapist, spiritual director and workshop facilitator presenting throughout Ireland, the United States, Australia and Europe. The Aran islands off the west coast of Ireland provides a special setting for her retreat work and was the place of inspiration for her music. Her CD Celtic Passage won Celtic Album of the Year on its US Release.

Liam O’Connor

Liam O’Connor, one of Ireland’s leading fiddle players, was born into a musical family in Dublin. His father Mick O’Connor is a flute player and researcher of music who was a founder member of the Castle Céilí Band. During his youth, Liam was taught by Séamus Glackin and won several All-Ireland and Oireachtas fiddle titles. He was awarded TG4 Young Musician of the Year in 2002. He has performed as a soloist and in duets with Liam O’Flynn, Noel Hill and Harry Bradley among others. In 2009, he released a critically acclaimed CD entitled “Dublin Made Me” with uilleann piper Seán McKeon and in March 2017 he released this long-awaited solo album, “The Loom”.

Sinéad Ní Uallacháin

Sinéad Ní Uallacháin is a radio and television broadcaster who hails from the West Kerry Gaeltacht. She presents the award winning podcast Beo ar Éigean with her friends and colleagues Siún Ní Dhuinn and Áine Ní Bhreisleáin. She recently presented the TG4 travel show, ‘Beidh mé ar Ais', with Osgur Ó Ciardha.

Macdara Yeates

Macdara Yeates is a traditional singer, cultural producer and filmmaker from Dublin, with an interest in folk music and its role in communities. Recent projects include: My Father’s Kind, a collaboration of traditional Irish music and poetry with poet Dermot Bolger; Sing a Song of Docklands, a songwriting and community outreach project celebrating the work of Dublin’s dock workers; and ABAIR, an annual programme of song, story and oral history at the St. Patrick’s Festival, drawing collaborations from artists in Ireland, Andalusia, Samiland and more.

Rising Appalachia

Rising Appalachia is an American folk music group led by multi-instrumentalist sisters Leah Song and Chloe Smith. As world travellers for nearly two decades, Rising Appalachia have merged multiple global music influences with their own southern roots.

Osgur Ó Ciardha

Osgur Ó Ciardha is the general manager of Locke Hotels. With Peadar Ó Caomhánaigh, he founded Pop-Up Gaeltacht in 2017, a project to encourage Irish speakers to socialise in the community, in order to normalise the use of Irish in non-traditional settings.

Róisín Chambers

Róisín Chambers is a sean-nós singer and fiddle player. From a family of musicians, she grew up surrounded by Irish music, language and culture. Having lived in Glasgow for many years, she also played a huge part in the promotion of Irish culture in the city through teaching at Irish Minstrels Branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóiri Éireann and being an active member of Conradh na Gaeilge, Glaschú. Róisin has performed with many artists over the last 15 years including The Bonny Men, Gerry O’Connor, Salsa Celtic, At First Light and many more.

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