Minister for Arts Catherine Martin has announced six new appointments to the Board of the Arts Council.

The new members are Aoife Granville, traditional flute-player and Lecturer in Folklore/Béaloideas at UCC; Linda Coogan Byrne, music industry consultant and founder of Good Seed PR and co-founder of the Why Not Her? campaign; Róise Goan; Artistic Director and Co-CEO of Artsadmin and former Director of the Dublin Fringe Festival; Andrew Clancy, Director of Clancy Moore Architects and Professor of Architecture at Kingston School of Art; Brian Lavery, Manager at Google, former chair of The Ark and former New York Times reporter; and Philomena Poole, former Chief Executive of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.

The Minister has also reappointed choreographer and dance artist Fearghus Ó Conchúir as Deputy Chair of the board.

The other current members of the Arts Council Board are writer Melatu Uchenna Okorie; Mark O’Kelly, Head of the Painting Department, School of Fine Art, at the National College of Art and Design; Dónall Curtin, founder of the accountancy practice Byrne Curtin Kelly and former President of Chambers Ireland; governance consultant Jillian Van Turnhout; and Teresa Buczkowska, Integration Manager at the Immigrant Council of Ireland. The Chair is Professor Kevin Rafter, Head of the School of Communications at DCU.

Commenting on the new appointments, Minister Martin said:

I am delighted to appoint six candidates of such high calibre and congratulate them on their appointments. The Board is central to the governance, oversight and strategic direction of the Arts Council and I thank all the Board Members for giving their time and playing a part in supporting the arts.

Visit www.artscouncil.ie.