Ireland still brims with creativity, from Kneecap to Haus of Wig. Here’s how to keep the artistry flowing
The housing crisis is artists’ biggest obstacle. Clear that hurdle and it will help keep Irish culture being felt around the world
What’s Next For..?
Terra dance artist Alessandra Azeviche: ‘What I connect with in Ireland is the oppression from the church within our bodies’
The Afro-Brazilian performer and teacher staged one of the hits of this year’s Dublin Fringe Festival. It’s part of a cultural journey
Brian Teeling: ‘Every time I see someone wearing one of my T-shirts, even one of the old ones, it makes me happy’
The multidisciplinary Dublin artist is part of the exhibition Skin/Deep: Perspectives on the Body, at Photo Museum Ireland and has designed three new T-shirts for Medical Aid for Palestinians
‘Dreadful government, lack of nightlife, lack of cultural spaces’: Dublin writer Thommas Kane Byrne on his home city
What’s Next For?: TKB, whose new play, It’s Always Your Bleedin’ Own, completes his St Mary’s Mansions trilogy, on the evolution of Ireland’s capital
Political art on the doorstep: ‘You’re going to find my work in surprising locations’
Collaborations between writer and historian Conor McCabe and artist Augustine O’Donoghue include a series of door mats with political messages and a new event called Counter-Culture Nights
Unit 44: Key Dublin creative space looks for new home after collective told to quit premises
The former Stoneybatter hair salon has hosted about 275 public events and more than 500 rehearsals in its three years on Prussia Street
Dublin singer Shiv: ‘Rent is so high. It’s hard to find places here creatives can go, hang out, meet each other, share ideas’
What’s Next For?: Ireland’s up-and-coming musicians need more help, says Siobhan McClean, who has just released her album The Defiance of a Sadgirl
Efé: ‘I was scared to go full force with the rock sound, but this year I thought, just do it’
The Dublin singer changed musical direction this year. But she still wants every song she records to come with its own entire world
An Irishman in Berlin: ‘Gentrification was creeping in but since the pandemic it’s really pronounced’
What’s Next For?: Liam Cagney, a musicologist based in the German capital, is writing a book about Berghain, the city’s fabled nightclub
‘I love that Base isn’t centred around alcohol. That’s a huge thing. You don’t have to spend money to be here’
What’s Next For?: Aisling Phelan and Viva Dean on their new Dublin arts space, which will focus on the creative use of technology
Irish fashion designer Richard Malone: ‘Enya is the absolute – do the best work you can do, quietly’
The Wexford artist has been feted by the fashion industry, but he’s much happier out of the spotlight, making the art that drives his creativity
Irish rapper Celaviedmai: ‘I always saw women on TV who were very slim. I never thought it could be me’
What’s Next For?: The Galway rapper could have been a biochemist but wanted to give music one more shot. The risk is paying off
The Ban: What did barring Sinn Féin voices from the airwaves do to political culture?
Roisin Agnew on her new film, which is being screened as part of the IFI Documentary Festival 2024
‘You can’t have a GAA kit and not have GAA trading cards’: Ahmed, With Love and the rise of Irish artist merch
Merchandise sales are not just a fun thing for independent artists but an important source of income
In 0800 Cupid, Emer Dineen has created a ‘camp catalyst for reconnection’ in a lonely world
Dineen’s show with Thisispopbaby will premiere at Dublin Theatre Festival this month
Girls Night photographer Eimear Lynch: ‘There’s a part of me as a teenager in the images, especially the shy-looking ones’
What’s Next For?: Lynch on photographing teenage girls on nights out, Fontaines DC and Irish dancing
Irish experimental film-making is booming. All it needs now is a home
What’s Next For?: Dissolutions moving-image festival will showcase work from across Ireland. A permanent base for its makers is long overdue
Balcony Project leader Louis Haugh: ‘It’s quite emotional to see queer people come together with timber and saws’
The artist is heading a project that incorporates plants, fermentation and a small, queer community of growers
Síofra Murdock of Throwing Shapes: ‘You need so much patience with ceramics. It draws in really sound people’
What’s Next For?: Dublin’s new community pottery studio already has 70 members, according to the artist who founded it
Skateboarder and artist Michael McMaster: ‘I’m not looking to blow up and be famous’
What’s Next For?: McMaster is one of many skateboarders in Ireland whose visual art is making an impact in a local, DIY, community-building scene
Cabaret artist SexyTadhg: ‘Irish speakers are very rebellious. So a queer Irish speaker is welcomed’
What’s Next For?: The musician, singer and performer is bringing their show Television to this year’s Dublin Fringe Festival
Vivienne Griffin: ‘I just went on a full art bender and never came back’
What’s Next For..?: The Dublin-born artist conjures something totally original alongside occasionally familiar objects
Film-maker Paul Rowley on exploring new creative territories: ‘Queer artists, we are queens of culture-jamming’
Rowley, one of Ireland’s most interesting film-makers, is in the middle of finishing two big projects: Gays Against Guns and Never Stop the Action
Poet Erin Fornoff: ‘I was feeling sick and blaming the boat for a long time, and then I was like, oh wait! I’m knocked up!’
The dynamic proponent of spoken and written poetry discusses finding her creative footing in Ireland and missing a Dublin that may not be there any more
Dublin rapper Curtisy: ‘I’m an emotional guy. I’m always trying to figure some stuff out’
Balancing anxiety with humour, and self-deprecation with braggadocio, Curtisy serves up an incredibly satisfying style
Kettama on his first big DJ set: ‘Within 10 minutes the whole place filled up. My jaw dropped’
What’s Next For?: The producer returns to his home city for a colossal show in the Big Top at Galway International Arts Festival
Aoife Cawley: ‘I hope to make a living from all this weird art about saints. It’s bold, bright, crazy, funny’
What’s Next For?: Being introduced to the work of Harry Clarke led her on to iconography. ‘It’s all very bling’
‘What we’re doing is different. It’s just who we are: we are black and Irish’
Young Irish artist Monjola is releasing music, throwing parties and developing a community built on positivity and camaraderie
Drop Everything: how a tiny arts festival parties for Ireland
Galwegian Mary Nally is the driving force of Drop Everything, which has taken place on the smallest of the Aran Islands since 2012
From farmhouse to arts house: ‘There are a lot with a bit of land ... We’re showing what’s possible’
Carl Giffney is turning a Kilkenny farmhouse into an artist-run space offering residencies and studios
Fighting mould monsters, running from Garda vans: Ireland’s housing crisis is now a video game
What’s Next For?: After Mega Dreoilín, Han Hogan and Donal Fullam plan Tenantgotchi and a Grand Canal Dock demolition derby
Osaro Azams: ‘I keep looking for a regular-shmegular job, but I keep getting a yes for a creative job’
What’s Next For ... the poet, singer, performer and one half of electro-beat duo 7of9?
‘We wanted to make the best underground electronic music club in Ireland’: Fernando Martin of District 8 on their big gamble
The Index nightclub promoters sold 20,000 tickets in 24 hours for District X, their new festival. Going big was a risk that looks to be paying off
Sloucho video artist Aisling Phelan: I’m very competitive, constantly in competition with myself’
The Irish artist capitalised on virtual-reality technology during the painstaking 18-month process
An Taobh Tuathail presenter Cian Ó Cíobháin: ‘You meet people who are very passionate about the show. That’s mind-blowing’
The DJ is celebrating 25 years’ broadcasting his alternative-music show on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, and recalls nerve-racking first show
Smut Press’s goal? To ‘champion work that might not get published elsewhere – maybe a bit risqué or provocative’
What’s Next For?: Jack Scollard and Jordan Hearns on their publications that showcase queer artists
Scoil Scairte: Manchán Magan and Kathy Scott’s home hedge school could plug you back into the Irish language
What’s Next For?: Pair’s new 22-hour course features Kneecap, Liam Ó Maonlaí, Úna-Minh Kavanagh, Ola Majekodunmi and Louis de Paor, among others
‘A lot of local leaders lost patience with Dublin’: Give Us The Night campaign renews the fight for a level playing field
A nighttime economy that has cultural worth is needed now more than ever, say advocates Sunil Sharpe and Robbie Kitt
Comic artist Debbie Jenkinson: ‘I like the idea that you’re looking over Dublin and could pick out anyone’s story’
What’s Next For?: The author of Ghosting and Midlands on the appeal, and value, of Irish comics, graphic novels and zines
Gig for Gaza’s Julie Fogarty: ‘You feel good you’re doing something, but it’s like a drop in the ocean’
Inspired by events in Ireland, the Berlin-based artist has been helping to organise benefit concerts. Germany’s Gaza response has been shocking, she says
‘It’s worth trying things. It’s worth trusting your gut. It’s worth going for it’
What’s next for Project Arts Centre artistic director Cian O’Brien who is leaving to set up a production, touring and consultancy company?
‘Samia is in Rafah. She says there’s thousands of kids living in tents. They’re all starving and freezing’
What’s Next For?: Street artist Emmalene Blake has been highlighting the suffering and hope of Palestinian people
Kerryming Sun: ‘When I think about the people who pour glass and colour, I picture them in wizard robes’
Kerryming Sun’s playful stained glass has been winning fans for the emerging Irish artist
Lil Nas X illustrator Aaron Fahy: Creating collages for pop stars in a Waterford boxroom
Dungarvan artist started creating low-fi fan art for albums he loved. Now he is getting commissions from his idols
‘The Vikings in Dublin had pet wolves. This isn’t fantasy’: A modern Irish scribe connecting the past to the present
The artist John Flynn on the Viking Dublin Dogs project, how his line in painted hurls took off, and the importance of embracing culture
Trad Rave: Expect to hear Lankum’s New York Trader blended with an industrial drone beat
This week they bring the event to the Róisín Dubh in Galway as part of the Tonnta festival
Fanvid: The former hair salon in Dublin now hosting boundary-busting film nights
DIY film-makers flock to Stoneybatter for a monthly showcase of new experimental films – and the audience is growing
‘I was buzzing. It’s the mecca of progressive politics in Ireland’: Spicebag on repainting Free Derry Corner
Adam Doyle likes to play with Irish imagery and iconography. His new Bogside design will be unveiled next weekend
‘It has just grown legs, put on heels, and ran from there’: The Dublin experimental drag party pushing boundaries
Donna Fella, Naomi Diamond and Shaqira Knightly are drawing big crowds to their Haus of WIG parties
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