About Us

Border Crossings was established in 2019 to create new intercultural, multi-media theatre in response to the contemporary globalised world. The company works across the borders between cultures and art forms, and between nations and peoples.

Border Crossings advocates for a universally accessible approach to cultural work, with particular stress on:
• Social Integration. Border Crossings works with artists and international cultural partners to make theatre and other cultural outputs that reflect the increasingly multicultural and international nature of Irish society. The company’s approach embraces the international dimension of Irish life occasioned by the arrival of new citizens, and offers a space where people of different backgrounds can encounter one another’s cultures on an equal footing.
• International Collaboration. Border Crossings works with partners across the European Union and beyond to develop innovative new approaches to theatrical and cultural creation, participation and learning. By collaborating with international artists and cultural operators of high professional standing, Border Crossings aims to enhance the cultural offer in the Irish Republic, and generate international opportunities for Irish artists.
• Participation and Education. Border Crossings works closely with the diverse communities of contemporary Ireland, both within the education system and at a grassroots community level, to enable wide and varied participation in cultural activities, regardless of ethnic and cultural identity, religious beliefs, and socio-economic background. Border Crossings’ education and community work relates directly to the company’s professional projects, ensuring an ongoing dialogue between artistic production and the development of community participation.
Border Crossings is a registered charity, and an Organisational Member of Youth Theatre Ireland.

Border Crossings is the Irish sister company of an organisation of the same name, based in the UK, which was established in 1995, and has twenty-five years of experience in intercultural performance, curation and community work. www.bordercrossings.org.uk

In 2011, Border Crossings was part of the Platform for Intercultural Europe’s delegation to Belfast, where we engaged in discussions around the role of culture in peace-building and community regeneration across the island of Ireland, in a European context. In 2016, Border Crossings worked closely with Tallaght Community Arts and the Chester Beatty Library on the EU’s Voices of Culture Report on the Role of Culture in the Integration of Refugees.  

Our Artistic Director

Artistic Director of Border Crossings, Michael Walling studied post-graduate courses in Irish Theatre and Acting at Trinity College, Dublin in the late 1980s, where he co-directed Denis Johnston’s THE OLD LADY SAYS NO! at the Samuel Beckett Studio. He has since directed many Irish plays, including a second production of Johnston’s play, Stewart Parker’s SPOKESONG, WB Yeats’ A FULL MOON IN MARCH and THE DREAMING OF THE BONES. He has taught Irish Theatre at Royal Holloway, University of London.  Michael has a long track record of engagement in European cultural projects and policy-making. In 2017, he was a panel speaker at the European Culture Forum in Milan.

Our Staff and Board

Lucy Dunkerley (Associate Director) has worked extensively with communities and disfranchised young people who are traditionally under-represented in theatre. Lucy worked for 8 years at London's Royal Court, leading playwriting projects for young people. Lucy founded a theatre company for adults with learning disabilities at Trinity Arts Centre in Gainsborough. She has directed numerous professional plays and readings, youth theatre productions and community performances. She has also worked all over Italy, writing, devising and directing shows for young people, as well as being involved in projects in other parts of the world, including China and many European countries.
Natalie Ng Milavič (Marketing Manager) is a freelance Marketing & Social Media Manager whose work strongly focuses on amplifying underrepresented voices. With a background in film and media production, she specialises in exploring identity, cultural heritage and environmental themes through digital storytelling.  
Board of Directors 
Justyna Cwojdzinska is Artistic Director of the Polish Arts Festival. She is arts manager and facilitator as well as a theatre maker and performer. A native of Poland, Justyna made Limerick her home in 2005. She is a former Chairperson of the Irish Polish Cultural & Business Association, a Board Member of The Hunt Museum, and an ordinary member of Forum Polonia. 
Niall Henry is Artistic Director of Blue Raincoat, the theatre ensemble he founded in Sligo in 1991, after training in Paris. He has also directed for Ireland's National Theatre: Playboy of the Western World in 2002, and more recently Colm Toibin's Beauty in a Broken Place for abbey one hundred.
Conall Morrison is a theatre director and playwright. He has directed shows for Dublin's Abbey Theatre; the Lyric Theatre, Belfast; Royal Shakespeare Co,; the Globe Theatre; English National Opera; Irish National Opera; Blue Raincoat TC; Fishamble TC; Cameron Mackintosh Productions. He is the author of several plays and adaptations.
Catriona Sinclair is an experienced fundraiser with a background in science and has worked for several charities including the Science Museum Group, RSPB, the Royal Institution of Great Britain and FRAME (The Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments).
Jatinder Verma (Chair) founded Tara Arts in 1977, serving as its first Artistic Director until 2019. During his four decades, he developed a distinctive approach to theatre – adapting Asian dramaturgical principles to European drama - which he has termed “Binglish”. The approach characterised an eclectic range of productions, including Moliere’s Tartuffe at the UK National Theatre in 1990, where Jatinder was the first-ever non-white director. Awarded an MBE for services to diversity in the arts in January 2017, Jatinder has, since stepping down from Tara, formed his formed his own company, JVProductions, to pursue projects in Britain and overseas.  
Peter Sellars, the internationally renowned director of theatre, opera and festivals, is Patron of Border Crossings.
Click here to access our most recent annual report.
We are in compliance with the Charities SORP and the Charities Governance Code
Border Crossings is a member of INAR (The Irish Network Against Racism).

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