New Board Members - Welcome to Draíocht

Shauna Harris, Jeff Murphy, Declan Power and Brigid Alice (Bee) Sparks have recently joined our Board. We are delighted to welcome their skills and experience and look forward to working with them and the wider Board in the coming months and years … they join existing Board Members Richard Dixon (Chair), David Branagan, Sarah Farrell, Dylan Coburn Gray (Carys D. Coburn), Councillor Howard Mahony, Councillor Mary McCamley and Maureen Penrose.


Shauna Harris
Shauna Harris (she/her) is a local biracial Irish-Jamaican actress, multidisciplinary performance artist, writer, and youth worker. Shauna has worked across both screen and theatre projects. Shauna is currently a 2023 Weft Studio Artist at Dublin Fringe Festival and last year performed in the award-winning Hot Brown Honey Production: Hive City Legacy Dublin Chapter at Dublin Fringe Festival 2022, which was awarded the Judges Choice Award and nominated for Best Ensemble. Shauna recently completed an artist residency at the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris as one of this year’s (2023) Romilly Walton Masters Award recipients, working on a collaborative experimental theatre piece. Shauna has also spent the last few years working within youth spaces through volunteering, the arts, advocacy, and community engagement work. She currently works as a Global Citizenship Education Programme Officer at the Irish Girl Guides encouraging and empowering young girls and women to become active global citizens of the world by engaging with current social justice issues to promote awareness and equity. Shauna is passionate about social justice and artistic work that shares a message, encourages connectivity and reflection within society and advocates for intersectional representation within creative spaces. Shauna recently graduated from University College Dublin in 2023 with a BSc degree in Politics, International Relations, and Social Justice. She uses her active engagement in social equality research and youth work to inspire her creative projects to amplify the voices of those who are often underrepresented in society. Shauna believes that artwork has the power to reach diverse audiences and explain important complexed social justice issues in an accessible and expressive way. Shauna is delighted to have Draíocht as part of her local community and to be on the Board!

Jeff Murphy
Jeff Murphy spent 37 years working for the HSE in mental health services including community and addiction services, and was a member of the Psychiatric Nurses Association, on the local union committee and on the National Executive. He has 30 years of experience dealing with issues of local and national importance liaising between staff and management. Jeff was also a member of the Fingal Public Participation Network for three years working with community groups in the Fingal and Blanchardstown areas. Since retirement, Jeff has been involved with 92.5 Phoenix FM Community Radio as a volunteer presenter covering issues relevant to Dublin 15 promoting equality, diversity and inclusion, particularly in the local community, regularly co-presenting on the D15 Today show which reports on community, local and national issues. He is currently a Board member of 92.5 Phoenix FM and also serves on the Board of CRAOL, the representative body for community radio in Ireland. Jeff has a keen interest in the arts and has been a member of Draíocht’s Friend Scheme for many years. He recognises the important part the arts play in developing local communities and is looking forward to bringing his experience and enthusiasm for the arts to his role on Draíocht’s Board.

Declan Power
Declan is a successful and experienced leader with a proven private sector record. He is a sales, marketing, and operations subject matter expert as well as a highly qualified program and project manager. As Fingal County Council Senior Executive Officer for Tourism & Cultural Development, Declan also brings a wealth of knowledge of the public sector and experience as a board member of a number of visitor attractions including Heritage Properties and Arts Centres.

Brigid Alice (Bee) Sparks
Bee Sparks (she/her) is Artistic Projects Manager at Dublin Fringe Festival since 2019. Bee is a programmer and producer, with a focus on supporting emerging artists to create bold, interdisciplinary and future focused work. She values radical kindness in her practise: with an emphasis on creating accessible, non-hierarchical working environments that champion unheard voices and value the collective alongside the individual. Prior to Fringe Bee was Programme and Participation Manager at Brighton Dome & Festival, having started there as Programming Coordinator, and Gilded Balloon, where she worked closely with artists bringing their work to Edinburgh Fringe. She has an MA and BA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia and has worked at various cultural organisations in Ireland, the UK and the US, working in each role to expand accessibility and support new voices.