Thanks everyone for following this blog over the past year… I’ve just made the final update to the jobs page, and wish all of you a wonderful holiday ahead! Until January…

Feliz Navidad y próspero Año Nuevo,

Emily

image from http://www.modernartdesserts.com/

Today marks the 8th birthday of www.artsmanagement.ie! Whoever would have thought I could keep the lights on for so long… 🙂

Thank you to everyone who has remained a reader — through the peaks and valleys of my own posting frequency! — and for the many, many kind emails over the years. I’m so pleased the blog has helped people find work, switch careers, conduct research, and stay updated with arts management and cultural policy news.

A few interesting tidbits, for the factoid fans:

• The Jobs section is the most popular page (unsurprisingly). And this is the most popular post of all time. I don’t really know why!
• The blog has grown from zero to more than 3,000 followers/subscribers. Most months it receives between 6-8,000 visitors, with just under 800,000 views since it began. Here’s a snapshot of where the top blog visitors have come from in 2015 so far (lone reader in Mozambique, I salute you):

• Yes, there really is just one person behind this (me!), and I don’t accept ads, payment or sponsorship of any kind (nor do I intend to — although I’m contacted often about this — because I think independence is important). I try to squeeze it in between teaching classes, giving lectures, doing research, writing articles, attending conferences, and keeping up with my 3 and 5 year old little boys — and unfortunately sometimes it slips a little down the list of priorities at busy times. I’ve seriously considered chucking it in quite a few times, but the volume of blog-related email I receive keeps me convinced it’s still of value. I certainly hope so, anyway!
• I always welcome thoughts & responses to how the blog can be more useful — so please don’t hesitate to get in touch, and I’ll see what I can do.

Thanks, y’all.

Drawsoc – UCD’s Visual Arts Society – during Fresher’s Week

The autumn is speeding by like a freight train – hard to believe we’re already in Week 5, here in bella Belfield. A few bits and pieces on this sunny Wednesday:

• Jobs have been recently refreshed, in case you’re looking!
• Very proud of the lovely folks over at UCD Drawsoc (our visual art student society) who signed up 400+ new members during Fresher’s Week, and also made this fab video showcasing their activities and those of the other student societies here at UCD. They are doing great work to promote arts practice & creative expression here on campus, and to be a welcoming community for all new students! They are amazing.
• UCD Art History is turning 50! To mark the founding of our programme (the first degree in art history on the island), we’re having a day of celebrations and a reunion, on the 28th of November, culminating with a keynote by Dr Brian Kennedy, director of the Toledo Museum of Art (Ohio). Registrations are now being taken for what’s going to be an epic day!
• The deadline for responses to the proposed National Cultural Policy 2025 has been extended to 31 October; there is also a series of regional consultations by the Department of Arts, Heritage & the Galetacht ongoing throughout October around the country – check the schedule if you’re interested in attending.
• Places are filling fast for the event ‘The Creative Museum: Extending Participation Through Collaboration’ — a wonderful two days in Belfast, highly subsidised for students, that will explore how creative arts practice is being integrated by museums. A wonderful chance also to sample the delights of the Belfast Festival and Belfast Open Studios! I’ll be bringing a group of around 20 from UCD — come join us and all the others from both north & south who will be attending.
• Along with a great list of speakers, I’ll be participating in the conference Designing Commemoration: Performance, Participation and Process, this Thursday/Friday, organised by Dr Kathryn Milligan and Dr Niamh NicGhabann.
• My colleague Dr Emilie Pine who coordinates the Memory Studies Network here at UCD has launched a new website – a great portal for anyone interested in research on this subject (including lots of podcasts, including one from me!)
• Many of us who work in the visual arts bid farewell yesterday to Jason Oakley, the Publications Manager for many years at Visual Artists Ireland (and tireless arts champion and enthusiast), who died a few days ago. He was my editor for a number of years, and a friend — and I hope he would have been chuffed by all the love expressed for him over the last week, and how much he will be missed.

  
Have just refreshed the jobs page one final time; I will be on annual leave from 27 July – 24 August, and won’t be updating the blog while I’m away. 

In the meantime, why not get browsing through the programme for Dublin Theatre Festival, just announced yesterday? Soooo many tasty options, already looking forward to autumn!

Chase away those rainy Monday blues… a bumper crop of jobs, internships & volunteer opportunities has just been listed here on the blog; quite a number have a closing date of this Friday, 10 July (including a research position working with me!) so time to dust off the CV…