New Music Generation Galway City Development Officer and Administrator Appointed
Established in 2018, Music Generation Galway City are now entering the next five-year phase of support from the Music Generation and the Department of Education.
Autumn of 2021 saw the appointment of a new Music Development Officer and new Music Generation Administrator to continue to drive and develop the magnificent work happening across schools and youth services in Galway City.
Jen Hesnan – the new Music Generation Officer for Galway City – is an experienced national program manager in education with expertise in Youth Work, Music, STEAM learning (science, technology, engineering, arts and maths), 21st Century learning approaches and emerging technologies. A published author in peer reviewed journals, with a keen interest in social research and development. Jen has been the co-developer and lecturer on a wide range of creative and progressive community development projects to engage creative communities over the past 15 years across Scotland and Ireland. Including the level 8 in Digital Creativity Certificate with NUI Maynooth and a working as a member of the team that developed national digital youth work guidelines and best practice with European partners.
Elliot Cameron – the new Administrator for Galway City – is a performing writer from Sydney, Australia who has worked as an arts administrator and event organiser since 2015. He was the Education and Program Officer for Word Travels from 2018-2021, co-founding the Australian Poetry Slam Youth literary performance education programme. Elliot has performed his writing at Sydney Writers’ Festival, Sydney Fringe Festival, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and National Young Writers’ Festival, and was part of the 2020 Bankstown Grand Slam winning team “There And Back Again”. His poetry has been published in Baby Teeth Journal and Bareknuckle Poet.
“Re-developing and engaging our existing programme partners was a priority for me when I started,” explains the new Music Generation Development Officer. “The schools, youth services and parents that have been engaging in Music Generation Galway City Programmes, were all keen to get back to a sense of normality in September. Young people, now more than ever, need a safe space to engage in creative music making and be given the chance to have a positive experience with their peers.”
Since September of 2021 the team have been busy re-establishing existing programmes with the view to growing a sustainable and inclusive Music Generation programme for Galway City in 2022.
