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Dundalk Leader 2nd September 2026
LOUTH ARTS OFFICER, MOYA HODGERS By Paul Byrne EVERY county and city in Ireland has an Arts Officer supporting cultural life across the country. Without them there would be less festivals, no support for local artists and no opportunities They work to ensure that festivals happen, that artists are supported, and less opportunities for the local community to experience or take part in the arts. It’s a role that mixes creativity with practical problemsolving, long-term planning with day-to-day support. Moya Hodgers is the Arts Officer for Co. Louth and recently she sat down with the Dundalk Leader to give an insight into what the job entails. “I’m Dundalk born and bred,” states Moya. “I grew up on the Dublin Road. I first became involved in Arts through my mother, Marie Hearty, who set up a variety group in Glenmuir Youth Club for kids like myself who weren’t into sport and had nothing else to do in the winter evenings. That was my first introduction to stage. I think I first stepped on the Town Hall, now known as An Táin Arts Centre, when I was six years old. My mother loved music, she was a singer and used to play in the showbands. Her brother Jimmy Faulkner, was a trumpet player and he used to conduct Dundalk Brass Band. So music was always there as part of our lives. Unfortunately I was never blessed with training or learning a musical instrument, never had a talent for it but I always loved performing and that was through Mam. She was also involved in the Dundalk Musical Society and would have been involved with shows with them as well when I was growing up as was my sister Terese who now runs SONG (Stage One New Musical Group). She set up SONG and I’ve been involved with them since so I suppose the Town Hall has been my second home for most of my life. When I wanted to progress my career then I did my degree in Media Studies and Theatre in Coleraine back in the 90s and I suppose at that stage Arts was really only starting to become a possible permanent and financially viable option. But for various reasons I digressed and went into computers where the jobs were at the time. I did a course there
and worked in I.T for a number of years and then worked in the Banking Industry for a while. I was a kind of Jack of all trades and master of none laughs Moya. “about ten years ago I joined Louth County Council in a general admin role but would have always kept my hand in with the arts locally. And then about five years ago the opportunity came up to step into the Arts Role initially on a temporary basis and now permanent thankfully. I’ve grabbed the opportunity with both hands when I was thrown in at the deep end in 2021 and I have to say the last five years have flown by,” states Moya. Moya began in her new role as Arts Officer for County Louth in May 2021 just as the Covid restrictions were coming to an end. She says in some ways she walked into the job at a time when there was a very damaged Arts landscape which was trying to recover after a year of Covid restrictions. ARTS DURING COVID “It was a bit of a double edged sword for me starting around that time. In one way it was great as a lot of funding came out from government at the time like the Local Live Performance Scheme. A lot of money was given to the Arts which was great but the issue we had was having the resources to spend it. We were very reliant on a lot of local partners like the Spirit Store and McHughs in Drogheda who were very happy to say yeah we are happy to do stuff and put on shows. “We were trying to build the Arts scene back up and bring people back into venues and just get them back out in general to enjoy the Arts. People were nervous at the start to get back into their old routines and going out to shows and gigs. “It took probably until 2024 I would say for audiences to recover fully in terms of numbers. The flip side of that is that without the Arts during Covid people would have suffered a lot more and I think it became more valued during that time. People would have suffered a lot more at home. I think Arts diversified very well during Covid in the way we had a lot of stuff provided online. “I know An Tain Arts Centre did a couple of pieces where they did stuff online. When you look at literature we had
Louth County Council Arts Officer Moya Hodgers. the mobile library service who were able to deliver books to people who couldn’t leave their houses. We had to change the way we did things for that year and change things so that instead of people coming to us we would go to them. There has been a big shift in recent years to make arts accessible to everybody. It’s not just about bringing people into the venues but also to bring arts into our communities and that’s something what we continue to try and do be that bringing music into residential venues. Some of the projects we fund with Creative Ireland such as the Red Door Project take place in their facilities. We want to make arts available to everyone. WHAT EXACTLY IS ARTS? “I suppose the term Arts has expanded so much over the last number of years. When people hear the word arts they probably automatically think of painting or music but I’ve always looked at it in terms of art is in everything that we do and everything that we see. The car that you drive had to be designed by somebody. The phones that you use and the apps on it were created by a person with a creative mind to put all that together. It’s expanded to everything not just the tangible like the music. It can be architecture, it can be
graphic design, it’s all of those things. From the Local Authorities point of view and from the Arts office point of view, what we do I suppose under the Arts Act of 2003, we are required to provide support and implementing the development of art in their local areas. So that’s the remit that we have in the Arts Office. That can be anything from community arts, bringing arts out into facilities and communities or supporting artists through residencies or bursaries. “Arts is a huge remit what we have and really we are here to support it as best as we can whether that be financially or through information and advice. Collaboratively we do a lot of work with our library and community services. We have started working with the Louth Enterprise Office recently through the Creative Ireland Programme. We are running a project at the minute which provides training and mentoring for artists who work in the community arts in the county to help enhance their skills when they are working with community groups. ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE PROGRAMMES We support Artists in Residence Programmes with An Táin here in Dundalk and also there’s an Artist in Residence
Programme with Druid Arts Centre in Drogheda. We would provide financial support and we do that also with Creative Spark as well. This allows artists from anywhere in Ireland or anywhere in the world to work in that facility, they get access to studio space. As part of it they have to engage with local groups while they are here. It’s a really good way for us to bring artists of all calibre and different disciplines to the County. “For An Táin Arts Centre or Druid Arts Centre the Artist work within those settings to develop a new piece of work maybe or to work on a new skill and that could end in a solo exhibition maybe with An Táin Arts Centre. It can be artists of any discipline be that writers, musicians, visual artists. We’ve had artists from the UK, Spain, Mexico from all over really. It’s great to get artists over here to show what Louth can offer and promote the county. For a wee county we certainly punch really high when it comes to the arts. When you drill down into it we have been historically a very artistic county and it’s great to be able to harness and support as much of that as we can. THE CHALLENGES OF FINDING SPACE FOR ARTISTS “It’s a big challenge for every local authority. I am one of 31 local authority arts officers in the country and we would meet four or five times a year and every single arts officer is inundated with artists who can’t find space. We have done our best to try and support as many as we can. We are lucky we have Bó Studios through An Táin Arts Centre. In Drogheda we have 8 fold studios which we supported through the Creative Ireland programme when they were looking for space. But it certainly is something that we would have in our sights at some point in our future to try and source capital funding from somewhere where we can try and develop local authority led artist studios but availability of space is a major issue. Would you recommend steering your children into a career in Arts? “ I am a mother of three and I probably would have been nervous a long time ago but I can’t be now because my eldest daughter Ellen has just graduated from the Lir Academy in Dublin in Stage Management
and Technical Productionso she is working around the clock now at the minute and is booked out for the next six months at least. She is trying to find time to get holidays. She is doing a lot of work in lighting, lighting technician and also in Production Management so I didn’t really have much of a choice in that,” laughs Moya. “I suppose in comparison as to when I was graduating college in the 90’s the opportunities of working in the Arts nowadays are much greater now. We’ve been very blessed over the years to have seen the Arts lifted to a whole other level thanks to the contributions of the likes of Michael D Higgins and Catherine Martin who did a lot while in Government to support the Arts. “In terms of the future of the Arts we are always reliant on Government funding and local funding and I think at the moment it is very positive and has been for most of the last twenty years. I wouldn’t have any reservations encouraging any young person seeking employment in the Arts sector. I think the opportunities for young people now are so vast and I’m very envious of them in many ways but I think it’s fantastic. Going back to the example of my daughter when we were talking about potential career paths we knew there was a huge shortage of lighting technicians across the country and particularly women. The representation of females in the technical fields in theatre is low and there are great opportunities in this field especially for women. SUPPORT FROM LOUTH COUNTY COUNCIL We are very lucky here in the Local Authority in Louth with regards to support. In my five years here I’ve had very supportive line managers, I’ve had very supportive Chief Executives, senior management and Councillors who all recognise the value and contribution that arts can make to the Local Authority. The future for us in the short to medium term future is bright thanks to that great support we receive. Nationally I think in recent years we’ve been very lucky with the Government that we have had in terms of support of the Arts whether that be Creative Ireland or supports given through Covid. (Continued on next page)
Ancillary report funded by Coimisiún na Meán’s Local Democracy Reporting Scheme