Interviews

Name: Pauline Turley
Qualifications: BA (1996)
Title: Vice Chair, Irish Arts Center, New York

About: I came to New York for six months in 1997 after graduation, discovered Irish Arts Center and never left. My mum likes to say that the past twenty years have been the longest six months of her life.

I started as an intern, and became the Executive Director. After ten years as Executive Director I joined the Board of Directors and have focused on growing company revenues and capital fundraising for a new Irish Arts Center.

What is your fondest Trinity memory?
There are so many. I was studying drama and I joined Players the first day I arrived. I was on the Players committee for three years, becoming Chair in my final year. So my favourite memories have to be the many hours spent in the Samuel Beckett Theatre watching shows come to life both in the Drama Department and Players. Choosing between productions is often like trying to choose your favourite child, so I best not pick a favourite.

What led to your move to the US?
My sister always wanted to live in the US so she applied for every green card lottery that became available. She put my name in just once and I got it first time. I loved Dublin and the theatre scene and had no intention of leaving for good. I thought I would go to prove to myself that the US wasn't for me and then I wouldn't feel guilty about not using the green card my sister and others coveted so much. She has blonde hair and blue eyes and we look nothing alike. Had we been more similar she might have taken identity theft to a whole new level!

How has the Trinity network assisted you?
In so many ways, both professionally and personally. Our current immigration lawyers Barbara McCormick (Law 1995) and Rosemary Dooley (Law 1996) are both Trinity alumni and close friends. Two of my fellow Irish Arts Center Board members are graduates Shane Naughton and John Daly. We have hosted Trinity alumni events at Irish Arts Center, and I love the annual NY Trinity Ball for making new friends, and reconnecting with old ones.

What do you enjoy most about your work?
I love all the variety, and the great artists and supporters we get to work with every day, such as our Honorary Chairs Gabriel Byrne and Liam Neeson who are two of the most genuine and lovely men you could hope to meet; and other amazing people like poet Paul Muldoon who curates a monthly series with us; writers like Trinity graduate Belinda McKeon, Angus Woods and Nick Laird who curate our annual PoetryFest; theatre makers Jim Culleton, Sonya Kelly whom I first met in Trinity; incredibly strong female performers like Camille O'Sullivan and Julie Feeney; and traditional musicians like Martin Hayes and Denis Cahill. I produced Joseph O'Connor’s first New York play almost 20 years ago and we remain friends to this day, and we just produced a collaboration with Liam O'Maonlai and Jazz legend Cassandra Wilson, and to get to work with them both was so wonderful. So it has to be all the many and varied friendships that I've made. It is such an embarrassment of riches and I feel very, very fortunate.

What has been your greatest professional achievement to date?
Working with our deeply committed and talented Executive Director Aidan Connolly, Honorary Chairs Gabriel and Liam, and fellow Board Members. I am very proud to say we have raised 90% ($57.5 million) of the funding needed to build a new Irish Arts Center, and we will be breaking ground in the spring of 2018. The official opening is anticipated for 2020. It is not every day you get to build a building in New York, and we are all thrilled to be breaking ground on this much needed new state-of-the-art performing arts center to celebrate Irish and Irish American artists and their work, which will most importantly incorporate our current theatre, which has so much history here in Hell’s Kitchen.

What advice would you offer new graduates arriving to New York City?
Join the Trinity Alumni group. Email other graduates and have coffee. New Yorkers expect you to be straightforward and proactive, so say what you mean, mean what you say, and get out there and meet people.

What are your favourite things about living in New York City?
There is so much to do and see. Even after 20 years, I still feel like I have so much exploring to do. I also love the people. So many different nationalities working and living side by side, there is always a character or two to meet on your daily travels.