Dublin native Orla Flanagan has been announced as the new Director of glór.
She will begin work in the Ennis venue in early September and comes to glór from the Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival in the UK, where she has been in the role of Theatre Producer for nearly five years.
Orla was the General Manager at the Gate Theatre in Notting Hill. Before moving to the UK from Dublin, Orla was Producer & General Manager at Fishamble: The New Play Company for five years, where she produced ten world premiere productions which toured Ireland and internationally.
In 2007 Orla participated in the prestigious ten month Fellowship programme for Arts Management at the John F. Kennedy Centre in Washington D.C., for which she was awarded the Fulbright Award for the Performing and Visual Arts.
Prior to this she worked as Literary Officer at the Abbey Theatre between 2001 – 2005, where she was very involved in the development of new writing, dramaturgy and supporting artists.
Whilst she grew up in Dublin, Ms Flanagan is no stranger to Clare, and has roots on both sides close by. Her grandmother on her mother’s side was raised on Loe Island on the Shannon Estuary and then in Quin. Her grandmother on her father’s side grew up on Cornmarket Row in Limerick, where her father was a cabinet maker.
Returning to her Irish roots is something that excites Orla as she gets set for her latest position. She said “I am really thrilled to be joining the glór team as Director, and I am delighted to be returning to my Irish roots after nearly six years working in the arts in the UK. I also feel very lucky to have the chance to make this incredibly beautiful county my new home and to have the opportunity to collaborate with Clare’s rich and vibrant communities. I hope that my role in glór will enable the venue to continue to thrive as a cornerstone for the arts and creativity in the County, and as a significant and dynamic arts venue in the rich Irish arts ecology.
I look forward to steering glór into its next phase of growth and I relish the opportunity to make the very most of what this dynamic arts centre in the heart of the County can offer for all of the audiences, participants and artists it serves – in Clare and beyond”.
Helen Rackard, Chair of glór’s board, expressed her “delight to welcome Orla to glór, the board will support her in her new role and we look forward to working with her”.