Bill is a member of the boards of Berklee College of Music in Boston, University of Limerick,
Crash Ensemble and Music Generation, the newly established music education body for Ireland. He
has completed a co-teaching course with Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, Paul Muldoon at Princeton
University and was recently appointed Adjunct Professor to Trinity College Dublin’s School of Drama,
Film and Music. Bill Whelan is a Fellow of the Royal College of Music and is the recipient of many
international awards including the Spirit of Ireland Award in New York.
MOYA DOHERTY’s (Producer) career includes theatre, radio and television journalism and an
award-winning track record in television production, both in Ireland and the U.K. Moya was the
Commissioning Producer and originator of Riverdance for the Eurovision Song Contest of 1994; she
is a founding director of Tyrone Productions, Ireland’s leading independent television production
company, whose many credits include Beckett on Film and the Opening Ceremony of the Special
Olympics World Summer Games (Dublin, June 2003), and drama credits including Ros na Rún, now in
its 18th season, for TG4 and Quirke, a major co-production with the BBC, starring Gabriel Byrne.
Moya is Chair of RTÉ, Ireland’s national public broadcasting service. She is a writer and broadcaster
and has co-presented a number of radio arts documentaries on George Bernard Shaw, John
McCormack and Paddy Kavanagh, amongst others. She is a founding Director of Today FM radio
station. She has sat on a number of arts-related boards, including Chair of the Dublin International
Theatre Festival for seven years, The Ark Children’s Theatre in Dublin, Business to Arts and the Board
of the Abbey Theatre. Moya is the producer of the new music and dance stage spectacular Heartbeat
of Home which had its world premiere in Dublin and has played in Beijing and Shanghai and North
America as part of its global tour. Awards and honours include: Veuve Clicquot Business Woman
of the Year, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, and honorary doctorates from the University
of Ulster and the National University of Ireland in recognition of her success and her ongoing
commitment to the arts in Ireland.
JOHN McCOLGAN’s (Director) career as a multi-award-winning producer and director began in
the mid-seventies at RTÉ Television where he went on to become Head of Entertainment. While in
RTÉ he produced and directed a wide range of programming from light entertainment to drama to
documentary. He was awarded a Jacob’s Television Award in 1980 for ‘the consistently high quality
of his entertainment programming.’ He was also head of Weekend Entertainment at TVAM – ITV’s
breakfast television service.
John played a key role in the evolution of Riverdance from the original seven minute dance number
and went on to direct the full stage-show spectacular. John has been closely involved with the
Abbey Theatre – he was on the Board of the theatre for fi ve years, served as Chairman of the Abbey
Centenary Committee and directed a critically-acclaimed production of Dion Boucicault’s 19th century
melodrama The Shaughraun. In May 2011, he produced a major theatrical event marking the historic
State visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Ireland. John is the director of the new music and dance stage
spectacular Heartbeat of Home which had its world premiere in Dublin and has played to universal
acclaim in Beijing and Shanghai and North America, as part of its global tour. John has received many
awards during his career, including an Honorary Doctorate of Law from the National University of
Ireland, in recognition of his services to the arts and entertainment industry.
46 CENTERBILL • JANUARY 2018