Colourings - Lucy Hill

Helen O’Donoghue is an independent artist, curator, educator, researcher and inaugural Senior Curator and Head of Engagement & Learning Programmes, at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, IMMA. 

Helen was a Fulbright Scholar at MoMA (2019/20), an expert for the editorial panel for EPALE, the Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe); founder member of Encountering the Arts Ireland, (ETAI); a member of the Design Team for the National Teacher/Artists Partnership under the Arts in Education Charter and formerly a member of the Steering Group for the Arts in Education Portal. She is currently a board member of the Butler Gallery, Kilkenny and on the steering committee of Age & Opportunity’s Bealtaine festival on arts and ageing.

Helen’s work at IMMA has shaped an approach that places inclusivity, access, and social consciousness at the heart of museum practice. Her work bridges art and lived experience, exploring the museum not as a place of observation but as an active site of dialogue, learning, and transformation.

Her work at IMMA exemplified a participatory model of curatorial practice. Rather than viewing the museum as a static repository of art, she redefined it as a socially responsive space, where dialogue between artists and diverse communities takes precedence. Her programming often involved long-term collaborations with artists and local groups, exploring themes such as domestic violence, homelessness, and memory loss - issues embedded deeply in contemporary Irish life.

Before her curatorial tenure at IMMA, O’Donoghue worked as a freelance artist and educator. Her early experiences were pivotal in forming her collaborative and people-centered approach to art. She piloted creative projects in education and community settings, for the Arts Council and directed video productions (with City Vision Productions) on early childhood development and art, building skills in both creative practice and pedagogy. This foundation - rooted in collaboration, communication, and empathy - would later inform her philosophy that art should engage with all strata of society, not merely those already within cultural or academic circles.

Beyond her curatorial projects, O’Donoghue has been a driving force in education policy and arts research. Her publications and conference presentations reflect her broad intellectual engagement with the role of art in education. Examples include a co-authored and presented paper (with Professor Dervil Jordan, NCAD) on the evolution of Ireland’s Leaving Certificate art curriculum, challenging outdated educational models and promoting approaches that better prepare young people for creative thinking in contemporary contexts. A Space to Grow (1999) published by IMMA was a seminal document exploring partnerships with teachers at Primary level. Her advocacy has consistently pushed for the recognition of art as not merely extracurricular but essential to the formation of critical, empathetic, and reflective citizens.

Her approach aligns with what has been termed the “dialogical museum”, in which learning and social interaction are central to the meaning-making process. This is evident in projects where visitors, including children, are encouraged to respond to and discuss art without the mediation of formal instruction - a methodology explored in her essay Eavesdropping on Children in Galleries.

O’Donoghue firmly believes that learning through art is not confined to classrooms, but embedded in everyday encounters - with institutions, with communities, and with each other.