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‘In New York we have close connections to the Irish community. It is a great place to raise a child too’

Wild Geese: Maedhbh McCullagh from Co Cavan has made a life in the arts in New York

Maedhbh Fiona McCullagh

Barbara McCarthy
Fri Aug 26 2022 - 05:00

Arts management professional and freelance creative producer Maedhbh McCullagh, based in Brooklyn, says New York city is a creative melting pot and a fertile ground for “all types of artists”.

McCullagh, from Cootehill, Co Cavan, is a twin and the youngest of 10 children and seven daughters. She says the arts are in her blood.

“My father was a singer with the showbands and there was lots of singing and music in our house. I participated in the arts from an early age, performing in school and community productions, volunteering at Cootehill Arts Festival, competing in debating championships as well as performing in regional singing competitions.”

McCullagh, the first person in her family to go to university, studied sociology, classics and history at Maynooth University in the 1990s before completing a postgraduate programme in communications and media production. While in college she became a member of the university choral society and chamber choir and, after graduation, joined the Bunratty Singers as a storyteller and performer at Knappogue Castle in Co Clare.

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Her first job after graduating was as a voiceover recording artist, floor manager and production assistant at the Kairos Communications Institute.

“I spent most of the late 1990s and early 2000s working in Dublin, first in the ‘little gem’ of the New Theatre, a hub for art, culture and new writing in Temple Bar.” In 2002 she joined Dublin Fringe Festival as part of a core team helping expand the festival and becoming its first programme director.

“It was an amazing time to be presenting contemporary Irish and international artists in Dublin,” she says.

I didn’t realise until I moved here that arts management roles were precious and seriously underfunded, and that subsidising income with other, better-paid work outside the arts was a necessity

The city was buzzing and the festival offered a platform for new, alternative and innovative approaches to the arts, attracting companies from all over the world. “The Fringe, through artist and director Vallejo Gantner, brought the first Spiegeltent to Dublin, a 19th-century German mirrored tent that became the cabaret and music venue and the central hub of the festival.”

McCullagh says the Fringe was a catalyst for many opportunities in her life. “It enabled me to make new and exciting entry points in the arts world, and my experiences at the Fringe changed my life. It’s where I met my future husband, Jonathan E Jacobs, the theatre director, children’s book writer and DJ (aka The Vintage DJ), whose theatre company was being presented as part of an avant-garde theatre programme in the 2002 festival.”

After meeting Jonathan, she visited New York frequently before finally leaving Ireland to live in the US full time in 2008.

She interned at the Public Theatre Under the Radar Festival but, despite her experience, finding full-time paid work in the arts was not easy. “I didn’t realise until I moved here that arts management roles were precious and seriously underfunded, and that subsidising income with other, better-paid work outside the arts was a necessity.

“I was young and wasn’t thinking of financial security so I toured and did freelance producing work in Scotland and the Netherlands. In New York, I rooted myself in the downtown arts scene, where I worked with the Foundry Theatre, Elevator Repair Service and The Civilians Theater companies.”

In 2015, McCullagh became managing director of the Abrons Arts Center, the OBIE Award-winning arts programme of the Henry Street Settlement, where she shepherded the artistic and logistical production needs of hundreds of artists.

We live in an apartment in Crown Heights in Brooklyn, which is a fantastic neighbourhood. I appreciate and value the diversity of people and the culture in New York as well as the commitment that the city has to providing access to art and culture for all New Yorkers

After juggling work and a young child for several years, she embraced the opportunity to take some time out to parent full time. In 2021, she took on the role of deputy director of Irish Screen America, which supports and guides contemporary Irish media-makers by showcasing their work and fostering partnerships in New York and Los Angeles.

“I love the creative way of life and appreciate being able now to somewhat sustain a living as an arts worker, though this is also changing as the cost of living in New York is so high and it may just be a matter of time before we are priced out of the city.

“In the early days, it was much harder and there were many unpaid volunteer positions. I’m proud to be from Ireland, where the arts have always been subsidised and supported in some way.”

McCullagh says the US has become very polarised, but New York is a great place to live.

“We live in an apartment in Crown Heights in Brooklyn, which is a fantastic neighbourhood. I appreciate and value the diversity of people and the culture in New York as well as the commitment that the city has to providing access to art and culture for all New Yorkers.”

The offering of arts is still thrilling and McCullagh says you can be entertained “any night of the week”.

“We are blessed with great friends and neighbours and close connections to members of the Irish community here. New York is a great place to raise a child, too. My son attends a great progressive school in the city, and we commute by subway daily. He is also very interested in the arts. There are so many incredible options for him there.”

Despite longing to be home during the lengthy travel ban imposed by Covid-19, she says she is very lucky to be in New York. “I am grateful every day for the opportunities that I have here, but it’s great to have the opportunity to go home again from time to time.”