Mayo arts centre announces Associate Artist for 2023

THE Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar has announced the appointment of artist Sarah O’Toole as Associate Artist for 2023.

An exciting initiative, the Associate Artist role is one which offers ongoing employment and financial stability to an artist in supporting their continuous creative work, while embracing artistic thinking and bringing energy into the culture of the organisation.

This is particularly fitting for theatre artist Sarah, who is originally from Tourmakeady and moved back to Co. Mayo just before the global lockdown in 2020.

Audiences may be familiar with her work as a collaborative dramaturg and performer in previous Linenhall Associate Artist Elaine Mears’ immersive site-specific work, If Walls Could Talk, or as a performer with jazz band Queen Street who performed in the Linenhall last summer as part of a fundraiser for OutWest - a social, support and advocacy group for LGBTQ+ people in Connaught.

Throughout 2023, Sarah proposes to develop these two projects further.

“We are excited to have Sarah come on board and look forward to seeing how her practice develops over the next year, with solid consistent employment and a space to work and develop her ideas,” commented Linenhall director Bernadette Greenan.

Sarah's role will concentrate on building relationships between the Linenhall and theatre artists in Mayo, discovering original playwriting voices, and creating the foundation for high quality professional theatre work to be created at the Linenhall, and disseminated from there to the rest of the country.

“Throughout my time with the Linenhall, my focus will be to reach out to fellow theatre artists in the county. I am very excited about finding fresh playwriting voices, and perspectives on what it means to live in Mayo today,” enthused Sarah.

A director and dramaturg, as well as an actor, playwright, singer and DJ, Sarah loves collaborating with other artists, often resulting in an amalgamation of mediums with an innovative result, which engages audiences while simultaneously not giving them exactly what they expect.

In 2021 and 2022, O’Toole was awarded a Bursary Award to explore incorporating cabaret and drag performance into her theatre practice, and an Agility Award to develop the first draft of a play, George, which explores these themes and performance styles.