Arthur Lappin will assume the position of Acting Director of The Ark in September 2012.
It has recently been announced that Arthur Lappin will assume position of Acting Director of The Ark, A Cultural Centre for Children in September 2012, when our current Director Eina McHugh takes a one year sabbatical. Eina has received a 2012-2013 Fulbright Visiting Scholar Award in Visual and Performing Arts. She will be a Visiting Scholar, based at the Lincoln Center Institute in New York from November 2012, undertaking research into their Imagination Initiative and contributing to a professional exchange of ideas. Eina will return to her position as Director of The Ark in September 2013.
Speaking of the announcement Arthur Lappin said, “I look forward to working with the wonderful team at The Ark for the next year and to maintaining the exemplary standards of children’s work which have characterized The Ark from its inception.”
Arthur Lappin has been a producer on many feature films, television drama series and documentaries over the past 20 years, including My Left Foot, The Field, In the Name Of The Father, In America and Agnes Browne. Before that he was a leading independent theatre producer and was the first Drama and Dance Officer for The Arts Council/An Comhairle Ealaion. He is currently Chairman of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival and a Director of The Dunamaise Arts Centre, Portlaoise. He was Chairman of The Ark, A Cultural Centre for Children from its beginning in 1995 to 2002. He also served for 5 years on the Board of Barnstorm Children’s Theatre Company, Kilkenny. He is a founder Member of The Makebelievers a charity for sick children operating in the Midlands. He has long been an advocate for support of arts work for children and is delighted to have this opportunity to play a direct professional role in the operation and development of The Ark. Arthur is married with 5 children.
Sheila De Courcy, Chair of the board welcomed the appointments today saying, “We wish Eina well on her sabbatical and are excited at the potential the Lincoln Centre research will open for youngsters in Ireland. We are delighted to welcome both Arthur Lappin and the new board members Gerard Smyth and Brian Lavery. For Arthur is it a return to The Ark and he brings with him a lifetime of skills, knowledge and insight, all of which will be so valuable at this difficult time for arts organisations. We on the board are also looking forward to working with both Gerard Smyth and Brian Lavery whose input and skills will be so important in the challenging year ahead”.
Gerard Smyth is a poet and journalist and worked for over 40 years with The Irish Times where he was Managing Editor responsible for arts and features and wrote on cultural policy. His poetry has appeared widely in publications in Ireland, Britain and the United States, as well as in translation. His seventh collection, The Fullness of Time: New and Selected Poems (Dedalus Press) was published in 2010. He was this year's recipient of the O’Shaughnessy Poetry Award from the University of St Thomas in Minnesota. He is chair of the board of Poetry Ireland and also a board member of Rough Magic theatre company. He is a member of Aosdána.
Brian Lavery is a commercial manager at Vodafone Ireland, where he manages all of the telecoms company's business with small- and medium-sized enterprise customers. He previously worked as a management consultant with McKinsey & Co., a reporter for the New York Times, and an arts critic for the Irish Independent. He grew up in the United States and has lived in Dublin for nearly 15 years. His 3- and 5-year-old daughters are loyal patrons of the Ark.