Co-directors of Anna Livia Creative, Nicole Rourke and Benjamin Dwyer, have over forty years' combined experience in arts provision and delivering education through the arts. Both are leading figures in the Irish cultural arena with international reputations as artists and cross-genre collaborators in theatre, music, literature, visual arts, dance, and a host of multimedia projects.

As someone who was deprived of arts education as a young person, Benjamin is passionate about access to culture and arts education for all, regardless of social demographics. As an artist with a profound hearing disability, Nicole is acutely aware of the importance of the arts for those dealing with the challenges that disabilities bring. 

Benjamin Dwyer has an exceptional track record as an educator through music.  He was part of the National Concert Hall’s Education & Outreach team for five years working with disadvantaged communities; and for six years he provided adult education in music at the People’s College (Dublin). As Director of MUSIC21 for nineteen years, he devised and delivered the first teacher-training courses and innovative student workshops for the Leaving Certificate music curriculum incorporating live performances of the prescribed works.

Nicole Rourke is passionate about art as a tool for enhancing well-being and as an aspirational force in people's lives, and her track record of providing expertise in these areas is exceptional. She has worked as artist-in-residence for St Patrick's University Hospital, Wheatfield Prison, the NUI Galway Voices Project, the DCU Recovery Programme, Concern Ireland, the RADE Recovery Programme, Shine Ireland, and the Gary Kelly Cancer Support Centre. 

Benjamin's commitment to education spans all levels. As Professor of Music at Middlesex University (London) for twelve years, he taught undergraduate and postgraduate students. In that time, he supervised fifteen PhD and Master degree candidates including distinguished figures such as Irish harpist Siobhán Armstrong, violist-composer Garth Knox, and the founder of Classic FM Radio UK and Chief Executive of Arts Council England, Darren Hanley OBE. He additionally organized dozens of conferences; and he founded New Pathways in Improvisation@MDX, which enjoyed global reach. For over a decade, he taught composition and classical guitar at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin.

Nicole designs and delivers creativity workshops and coaching for a variety of cultural and educational institutions including the Irish Writers' Centre, Temple Bar Cultural Trust, NUI Maynooth, the Gaiety School of Acting, and Ballyfermot College, among others. She was co-founder of one of Ireland's leading creative writing institutes, Big Smoke Writing Factory, which she co-directed for fifteen years; and she teaches 3rd-level creative writing for the Ireland-based Champlain and Capa American Colleges. Nicole was recently appointed to the Artists & Creative Facilitators Panel for the Dublin City Council Culture Company.

Benjamin has published four books on Irish composers and their music, classical guitar performance, improvisation, and the cultural significance of music; and his many academic papers, articles and reviews have appeared in major international journals including The Musical Times and Literature & Music. He continues to act as an education and artistic consultant for numerous institutions such as the Royal Academy of Music (London) and the Irish Composition Summer School, of which he was Guest Director in 2021.  

Together, Nicole Rourke and Benjamin Dwyer have the proven track records, the technical and administrative knowhow, and the passionate commitment to deliver exceptional art projects and effective arts education.