Student profiles

Deborah Dignam

Deborah Dignam is an educator, creative, entrepreneur and also a passionate disruptor. Originally from Ireland, she has worked across the creative, corporate, educational and cultural sectors as a director, producer, lecturer and consultant. She operates in the space between ideas and creative outcomes where her dynamic energy has seen her successfully realise creative and artistic projects across diverse sectors. Her past entrepreneurial endeavours have seen her establish and develop theatre companies, production companies, an art gallery, theatrical club nights and a creative event management company.

Deborah began her career as an English and History Teacher but soon merged her interests in education and the arts to create inspiring large scale educational and creative events and a Creative Academy for students. As Artistic Director of Kinsale Arts Week, she programmed a multi-disciplinary international festival, devised large scale outdoor site specific works and commissioned artists such as Anya Gallaccio, Michael Landy and Alvin Curran, significantly developing the festival to become ‘Ireland’s boutique Arts Festival’.  She has worked and collaborated with diverse partners including; Coca Cola, Hewlett Packard, state departments of Education, Heritage and Foreign Affairs, state bodies of Arts and Tourism, cultural institutions and organisations, creatives and artists.

Her wide ranging interests include networking and social media, design, innovation in the cultural sector and social entrepreneurship. She is passionate about bringing ideas to life and thrives on creative energy. She holds a H-Dip in Development Studies and is currently exploring marrying her key areas of interest in an international collaboration of social and cultural  entrepreneurship.

She is currently working with the A-Frame programme at The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) and with the Creative Economy Unit at the British Council on the Young Creative Entrepreneurs Programme.

She was the recipient of the Arts Council of Ireland Professional Development Fund for 2008.

Deborah’s personal philosophy is ‘to make things happen’.