Post show discussion: Are you ready for Change?

A panel discussion following the Friday performance of Change by Croí Glan reflecting on the power of performance for inspiring climate action.

Join us for a 30-minute post-show discussion to reflect on the power of Change for igniting climate action after the Friday 14 March performance of Change. Take a moment to learn more about the artistic journey of Change including its inspiration from activists and scientists, and imagine how we can work together with policymakers to embrace the arts for climate risk communication, engagement and action across all-of-society.

Panel

Moderator: Lydia Cumiskey, EU Climate Pact Ambassador and Senior Postdoctoral Researcher, MaREI Centre, Environment Research Institute, University College Cork

Panellists: Tara Brandel, Choreographer of Change and Artistic Director of Croí Glan | Bobbi Byrne, Associate Artist with Croí Glan and performer in Change, and Lord Mayor of Cork City, Cllr. Dan Boyle.

About the speakers

Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr. Dan Boyle was born in Chicago, Illinois, to emigrant Irish parents. He has lived in his mother’s native city of Cork since he was eight years of age, in the Turners Cross area of the city. In 1991, he won election to Cork City Council, the first Green Party candidate to do so. At the 2002 general election, he was elected to Dáil Éireann for the Cork South Central Constituency. He then resigned his seat on Cork City Council. His voluntary commitments include environmental, arts and heritage and social justice organisations. He is currently a board member of the Irish Council for Social Housing.

Lydia Cumiskey is a senior postdoctoral researcher at MaREI, the Research Ireland Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine in the Environmental Research Institute at University College Cork. In 2025 Lydia was selected as a EU Climate Pact Ambassador for Ireland to inform, inspire and support climate policy and action within her research and community networks. Over the past 10 years Lydia has worked in applied research and consultancy projects in the areas of risk communication, integrated flood risk management, climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction. Creativity and interactivity inspire her work, as well as enabling multi-stakeholder collaboration, co-creation and partnership. She is passionate about bridging science, policy and practice, and exploring the role of the arts to enhance climate and disaster risk communication.

Tara Brandel is an award-winning choreographer, director, contemporary dancer, and aerialist originally from West Cork. She has been making work extensively since 1990 in London, Berlin, San Francisco and Ireland. Tara holds a Masters in Interdisciplinary Performance from UC Davis. Tara is Artistic Director of Croí Glan Integrated Dance. Her integrated work has been commissioned by the Unlimited Festival/Cultural Olympiad London Southbank 2012; D-CAF Cairo; David Teevan/Junction Festival; and Propeller Integrated Dance Company in Ottawa, Canada. For Croí Glan, Tara has most recently created TILT an integrated aerial dance show which has toured to Cork Midsummer, Tipperary Dance Festival and Dancer from the Dance Festival; In Place a site specific performance made at IMMA; and Unseen a multidisciplinary performance about plankton and enduring love. Tara is currently developing an Environmental Dance training programme in conjunction with the Environmental Research Institute at UCC.

Bobbi Byrne is a disabled, transfeminine dance artist based in Dublin, Ireland. Since 1996, she has worked as a performer and facilitator in a variety of settings, always with a focus on inclusion and accessibility. She was one of the first professional disabled dancers in the country and was a core member of Counterbalance, Ireland’s first Inclusive dance company, for over a decade. She has worked closely with the SMARTlab inclusive design laboratory, co-devising and touring in various award winning shows at events such as the Special Olympics and World summit of Innovation. Bobbi also spent several years in Spain working with inclusive dance companies Dan Zass and Meet Share Dance. She is currently an associate dance artist with Croi Glan. As a facilitator and educator Bobbi has worked with the ENFO environmental agency and the NIID, now the TCIID, at Trinity college. She was also the Community Outreach Facilitator at the Firkin Crane for several years where she ran workshops with local disability organisations, the elderly and the unhoused.

From top left: Lydia Cumiskey, Bobbi Byrne, Tara Brandel and Lord Mayor of Cork City, Cllr. Dan Boyle.