Mia Gallagher

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Mia Gallagher is a fiction writer and theatre-maker based in Dublin. Her short fiction has been published in the UK, US and Ireland; it has won the START Chapbook award and been shortlisted for the Fish and Hennessy Awards. Her debut novel HellFire (Penguin Ireland, 2006) was widely critically acclaimed and received the Irish Tatler Literature Award. Between 2009-2010 she was Writer in Residence with IADT and dlr Arts Office and in 2010 four of her translations appeared in The Irish Catullus (ed. Ronan Sheehan). She has recently completed her second novel.

Since 1999, Mia has run writing and drama workshops with many different groups, from secondary school students to people in treatment centres.

This summer she worked on a sound installation project with Depaul Ireland for Electric Picnic, along with her regular collaborative partner theatre director Ciaran Taylor and sound artist Jack Cawley. The installation was based on material shared and created by service users during a series of storytelling workshops in Sundial House.

Aoife Desmond

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Aoife Desmond is an artist who works with photography, film, drawing, sculpture, installation and performance. She is committed to making art works that question how we live in the urban environment and natures role in the city. Wasteland areas and derelict sites are often the focus of her enquiry. She has exhibited frequently both in Ireland and abroad. Recent exhibitions include 'En Dessous du Visible' Galerie Fin Avril, Paris, 'Holding Together' Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, 'On the Edge' Tulca 2010, Galway and 'Matters' EV+A 2010 Limerick. She has participated in several artist residency programmes including the Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris, The Land Foundation, Thailand and The Curfew Tower, Co.Antrim. She has received numerous awards from The Arts Council. She has a Masters in Visual Arts Practice from IADT.

For LNPOTS, Aoife worked with a group of formerly homeless men to create a series of photographs and text that explore abandoned urban spaces that are frequently used by homeless people to sleep and hang out in. The photographs documented sites that had been previously frequented by the participants. The photographs documented the uninhabited sites as well as portraits of the men at these sites. The text resulted from collecting stories about these sites, how it is to sleep rough, particularities of place etc. She intended to present the reality of sleeping rough in Dublin. She wanted to juxtapose this by exploring the potential links to romantic ideas of living with nature, living simply and close to the elements. Analogue photography skills were developed through this project including darkroom skills.

Pearse McGloughlin

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Pearse McGloughlin is a songwriter from Sligo.  In 2009 he released his debut album 'Busy Whisper' to much critical acclaim. Since then he has toured widely, won an IMTV award, performed numerous sessions on national radio and released the 'Twine EP'. He is currently working on his second album.

'by the time his next album comes round expect many more to be kept spellbound by his songs' ...The Irish Times

Pearse's workshop offered participants the opportunity to engage with the process of songwriting. Workshop participants collaborated with the him in the composition of an original song. The workshop focused on lyric writing and song structure as well as a discussion of the creative process. By the end of the series of workshops, through a collaborative effort, the groups in both Sundail House and Orchid House sucessfully wrote the lyrics and recorded their own songs.

Susan Leen

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Susan Leen has an MA in Performance Design and has worked in London, Italy, France, Slovenia and Brazil. Much of Susan's work is collaborative in nature and there is often an element of interacting with and mobilizing people in her work. She works in a variety of mediums: drawing, object making and installation. Previous collaborations include work with VEC Adult Refugee Programme, Festival of World Cultures, City Fusion for St Patrick's Festival, the National Youth Council of Ireland, Spirasi and Action for Social Integration London.

Susan's LNPOTS project was an outdoor installation, a collaborative piece made up of a large number of pillows. The pillows represented dreams and aspirations and were created from stitched paper that was painted, printed and written on during workshops. In workshops, service users learned techniques such as mono printing and etching and used these to create imagery on the pillows. The pillows were each decorated with particular words or images of personal significance to the participants, sharing stories and personal experiences with the public.

Throughout the workshops she encouraged the participants to communicate their struggles alongside their wishes for the future.

Colm Keegan

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Colm Keegan is a Dublin poet and co-organiser of the monthly Nighthawks event at the Cobalt Café.

He is a writer of poetry, short stories and screenplays. He has been shortlisted three times for the Hennessy New Irish Writing Award for both poetry and fiction. And his work was shortlisted for the International Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Competition. As a performer he is growing in stature as well (both in Dublin and beyond) and he recently cemented that status as All Ireland Slam Poetry champion 2011. He is currently working on his first novel and a collection of poems.

Colm's workshops explored the techinques of storytelling and poetry writing and challenged participants to look beyond their homelessness by writing on the topics of hopes and dreams.

This Is Collective

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This Is Collective are a group of five artists, Aine Kavanagh, Dee Gavigan, Susan Walsh, Camilla Kane and Meadhbh Cooke, who work collaboratively with the public and different communities to make art. They work through conversation and quality engagement with people to collectively create art that is exciting, playful and interactive. This Is Collective come from diverse artistic backgrounds including textile design, sound art, painting, video art, graphic design and photography. They recently worked with traders in the Liberties area of Dublin to create a 'pop-up shop' where they exhibited artwork that was created in collaboration with each trader.

For LNPOTS, This Is Collective worked with participants on a project that focuses on weather and the positive and negative effects it has on people. They did this by working with umbrellas and exploring their function and form. They created new panels for large golf umbrellas from a wide range of materials, from fabric to industrial materials, and create a design for each panel using techniques such as spray painting, stencilling, embroidery, painting, etc. They wanted the participants panels to reflect their own personalities and also their ideas on weather and security.

• Back Lane

• Community Befriending

• Tus Nua

• Castlehill

• Mater Dei

•  Sundial House

• Cloverhill

• Orchid House

• Clancy