NUI Galway and Druid Theatre Company have agreed a 10-year strategic partnership building on the existing relationship between the university and the renowned theatre company.
NUIG will be Druid’s exclusive academic partner, with the company offering internship opportunities and working to strengthen and enhance the university’s Creative Arts programmes. There will also be an exhibition in 2025 to mark Druid’s 50th birthday and NUIG’s 180th anniversary.
In September 2020, Druid presented a performance from DruidGregory in the university quadrangle, and the theatre company plans to expand its impact on the campus in the future.
Druid and NUIG will also collaborate to further develop Galway’s international reputation and engage with, and integrate, diverse and new communities and cultures in the region. There will also be a focus on the NUIG alumni, partly through Druid’s international productions.
Druid will also help to create greater awareness of the NUIG undergraduate and postgraduate courses within the arts community, at home and abroad, through mutual enhancement of the Druid Academy, Druid Artist-in-Residence, and the Druid Archive, which is held by the university.
“For the past 10 years, the Druid Academy at NUI Galway has been a tremendous source of pride and inspiration for us as a company, working with students as they embark on their careers in theatre,” said Garry Hynes, co-founder and artistic director of Druid.
“We are delighted to announce the next stage of this academic partnership, deepening the relationship between ourselves, the students, and the wider academic community in NUI Galway, the place where Druid was founded in 1975.”
President of NUIG, Prof Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh, said: “Great things start at NUI Galway, and Druid is one of those. This partnership with Druid renews this relationship and is very much embedded in our values. When you ask why a student from Boston, Berlin, or Beijing would choose to study in Galway, one aspect is the unique opportunity they have to learn with our world class creative organisations, including Druid.”
To learn more about drama at NUIG, go to https://www.nuigalway.ie/drama/
