An internationally renowned actor, Belfast born Stephen Rea has appeared in films such as V for Vendetta, Michael Collins, Interview with the Vampire, Breakfast On Pluto and Neli Jordan’s The Crying Game – for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. Ranked by the Irish Times as one of the top twenty Irish film actors of all time, he has also enjoyed a distinguished career on stage and television and has had a long relationship with TradFest.

A former Irish Fianna Fáil politician, Noel Dempsey has served as Chairman of The Temple Bar Company since 2014. TD for the Meath and Meath West constituencies from 1987 to 2011, he served as Minister for Environment and Local Government, Minister for Education and Science, Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources and Minister for Transport.

One of Ireland’s most respected tenor banjo players in Irish traditional music, over the years Kieran Hanrahan has helped to found a number of bands such as Inchiquin, Stockton’s Wing and The Templehouse Ceili Band. He presents RTE Radio’s traditional Irish music show Ceili House, works as an advisor to Ceolthas, is Artistic Director of Scoil Eigse (part of Fleadh Ceoil Na h ‘Eireann) and was recently appointed Chair of Chair of Culture Ireland Expert Advisory Committee.

Claudine Murray has over 20 years’ experience in marketing with a strong focus on Festivals and event management, working on a number of events with the Temple Bar Company including TradFest Temple Bar, Festival of Politics, Temple Bar Tailgates, Blooms Day, Croke Park Classics and the Temple Bar Summer Night Market.

Sinead O’Doherty has two decades of experience working at the highest level of arts and entertainment PR in Ireland. After completing her BA in Communications at DCU where she focused on public relations, cultural studies, research methods, marketing, creative writing and photography, she went to work with Gerry Lundberg PR. While there she led on many of the major PR strategies including Dublin Theatre Festival, Galway International Arts Festival, Kilkenny Arts Festival, Wexford Festival Opera, Dublin Book Festival, Cinemagic, TradFest and MusicTown.

Ainsley Kavanagh recently graduated with a MSc. in Marketing Practice from UCD Smurfit School and is also an alumnus of BIMM Dublin. Passionate about live music, events and culture she joined the Temple Bar Company in 2021 as part of the digital marketing and social media team.

Dr. Aileen Dillane is Senior Lecturer in Music at the Irish World Academy at the University of Limerick where she teaches traditional, folk, world and popular musics. A traditional musician, she is also PI on the FestiVersities research project examining European Music Festivals including TradFest Temple Bar.

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Emma Grove is a postgraduate researcher who joined the Temple Bar Company in 2021. She received her M.A. with first class honours in music at the University of Glasgow and her masters with first class honours in Music and Culture from University College Dublin. Her role is to research issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion for TradFest Temple Bar and aid in policy making for future events.

Since moving to Ireland from the UK in 2000, Phil Udell has worked across a variety of aspects of the domestic music industry. He was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of State Magazine, the physical and digital publication that went onto redefine the cultural landscape and give early coverage to a number of the key Irish acts of the last decade. As a director of the Word Up Collective, he has helped develop the burgeoning hip-hop and spoken word scenes and presents a weekly show Music For The Masses on 8Radio.