Melarkey and Downey join Culture team

Culture Company 2013, the body tasked with delivering Derry~Londonderry's City of Culture year, has made two appointments to its management team. Martin Melarkey, the Director of the Nerve Centre, has been appointed Senior Cultural Programmer for Communities and Education. The writer and broadcaster, Garbhan Downey, is the new Director of Communications and Marketing. Both men are natives of the city and will take up their new posts in the coming weeks. They join new Chief Executive Shona McCarthy, the former Director of the British Council in Northern Ireland, who took up office recently.

Martin Melarkey, Director of the award-winning Nerve Centre, has been appointed Senior Cultural Programmer for Derry~Londonderry's City of Culture year. He will take up his position in July.
Mr Melarkey will have special responsibility for delivering educational and community-based programmes, including the Unlocking Creativity programme, the Creative Classroom and the City as a Creative Campus. A second Senior Programmer, for Partnerships, and who will commission core events for the 2013 programme, is to join the CoC management team later in the summer.

A founder member of the North West Musicians' Collective in 1988 which evolved into the Nerve Centre, Mr Melarkey is also a successful film and multimedia producer. His projects include the King's Wake, which won Best Animated Film at the Celtic Film Festival in 2001, and the Virtual Museum of Colm Cille.
He has a special interest in promoting creativity in education. Since 2003, he has served as CCEA's Chief Examiner of Moving Image Arts GCE, which is currently being taught in over 80 schools in Northern Ireland and England. And he has also been involved in establishing Creative Learning Centres in Derry~Londonderry and Belfast.

Mr Melarkey said: "This city is already playing a leading role in pioneering new creative approaches to education that put culture and artistic practice into the driving seat of learning. 2013 presents us with the opportunity to do this on an international stage.
"I am excited about working alongside all those in the city who would like to see the birth of a new culture of learning that connects the classroom, the community and the home."
The Chief Executive of Culture Company 2013, Shona McCarthy, has welcomed Mr Melarkey's appointment: "Martin's extensive experience in delivering innovative community and educational programmes, both in Derry~Londonderry and further afield, will be invaluable to the City of Culture project.
"We have a real chance to establish this city - which is already world-renowned as a city of saints, scholars and peace-makers - as an international centre of artistic excellence. And it is a legacy we hope will endure for generations to come."

The writer and broadcaster Garbhan Downey has been appointed Director of Communications and Marketing for Culture Company 2013, the organisation tasked with delivering Derry~Londonderry's City of Culture year. He will take up the position in mid-June.
Mr Downey is a former BBC news producer and editor of the Derry News. A seasoned commentator on the arts, he edited Verbal: the Northern Ireland Literary Review and is a columnist with Culture Northern Ireland. He has also published six novels and is co-author of two anthologies: City of Music -Derry's Music Heritage; and Creggan-More than a History.

Mr Downey said he was very much looking forward to the challenge of his new role: "2013 gives us a unique opportunity to showcase the huge cultural wealth of our city on a national and international stage. I am delighted to be playing my part in it."

Culture Company chief executive Shona McCarthy welcomed the addition of Mr Downey to the management team: "Garbhan has spent his career working as both a media professional and artist in the city, and will bring valuable experience in both disciplines to the City of Culture project.
"We have a real chance to establish Derry~Londonderry - which is already world-renowned as a city of saints, scholars and peace-makers - as an international centre of artistic excellence. And it is a legacy we hope will endure for generations to come."

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