Our Team

Emer Yip is an arts manager and freelance project manager based in Cork City. A graduate of NUIG and UCC, Emer worked as an archaeologist and site photographer in Co. Clare before relocating to San Francisco, California where she co-founded an artist collective and cultural venue on the edge of the city’s Mission District whilst working as a printer in the commercial photography industry.  Returning to Ireland in 2007, Emer has held venue management and creative producer roles with many notable Irish arts organisations including Cork International Film Festival, Circus Factory, Clonmel Junction Festival and Sounds From a Safe Harbour. She was a core member of the management team behind the Kerrygold Ballymaloe Literary Festival of Food & Wine and is currently an advisor to Cork International Film Festival on their culinary cinema strand.

Kevin O’ Keeffe is an arts professional and artist with over a decade of experience supporting contemporary art practitioners. He holds a BA in Fine Art Painting from Limerick School of Art and Design and a Level 9 Certificate in Creative & Cultural Entrepreneurship from Trinity College Dublin. He was Co-Founder and Director of Occupy Space (2009-12) in Limerick City, delivering the exhibitions and workshops of over 200 artists. In 2012, he became Co-Director of Faber Studios, a Limerick-based studio group and exhibition space and was Exhibition Manager and a Technician for the 2012/14 editions of EVA International Biennial. He was awarded a three-year Limerick City & County Council Residency in the Artist's Apartments in 2014 and the following year, became a lecturer in Sculpture & Combined Media in Limerick School of Art and Design, during which time he also coordinated the Visual Art Ecology Limerick Conference.  Sample-Studios welcomed Kevin O' Keeffe to the team in the role of Facilities Coordinator in January 2022.

Sinéad is a Cork-based visual artist and the Programme Coordinator of Sample-Studios' exhibitions and education programmes. She holds a BA Hons in Fine Art from Crawford College of Art and Design and brings over twenty years experience of working in project management roles in the Education, Arts and Business Sinéad formerly worked in Munster Institute of Technology (now MTU) where she supported the establishment of educational initiatives such as Girls into Science and Technology and Electronic Engineering Transition Year module. In 2014 she returned to education to study Fine Art, graduating from Crawford College of Art and Design in 2019 when she was awarded the CIT Presidents Prize for outstanding studentship and received a Crawford College of Art and Design Graduate Residency award 2019/2020. She was also awarded the Sample-Studios Graduate Curatorial Residency Award 2019/2020. In 2021, Sinéad received The Arts Council of Irelands Visual Arts Project Award to curate a present a series of site specific exhibitions and residencies in The Lord Mayor's Pavilion and on Spike Island. She was also invited to join The Arts Council of Ireland's Peer Panel. She is very active in her own artistic practice, having secured numerous exhibition opportunities since graduating. Her work is held in both public and private collections. As Programme Coordinator, Sinéad supports Sample-Studios multidisciplinary Education Programme, including the 'Cork Creative Careers Programme' with local primary and secondary schools and the 'Cork Young Critics and Curators Programme' with young people. Sinéad also works with our graduate residents and artists who are exhibiting in our Exhibition Programme each year.

Aoibhie McCarthy is an arts manager, curator & arts educator and, since August 2020, Artistic Director of Sample-Studios. After graduating with a B.A in Art History, Architectural History&English Literature from TCD, she worked in the National Gallery of Ireland, the Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin Contemporary and Whyte’s Auctioneers before securing the Shinnors Curatorial Scholarship, M.A tracking PhD research scholarship and becoming Education Curator of Limerick City Gallery of Art and eva International. She led visual arts programming at Galway Fringe Festival and Make a Move Festival before undertaking project management roles as part of regional and national initiatives such as Limerick City of Culture 2014, The Year of Irish Design 2015 and National Adult Learners’ Festival 2016. From 2016-2018, Aoibhie McCarthy was Visual Arts and Outreach Manager of Garter Lane Arts Centre in Waterford, where she is currently on the board of Waterford Youth Arts. From 2018-2020, she was Marketing and Development Manager of Cork International Film Festival and the Business to Arts Fundraising Fellow.

Kim-Ling Morris is UK born and lived in Europe, Africa and South-East Asia before settling in Cork, Ireland. She trained and worked as a Biochemical Engineer, creating her art practice in parallel. Beginning with sculpture in Leamington Spa, UK, she continued at the École Duperré, Paris, France, also exhibiting in France. Kim-Ling Morris recieved her Fine Art Textiles Special Purpose Award at CIT Crawford College of Art & Design and has exhibited nationally. She is a member and Treasurer of the Cork Textiles Network. In 2011, she became one of three co-founding directors of Sample-Studios and now holds the role of Financial Manager. She is a studio-based member of Sample-Studios and has received an Arts Council of Ireland Agility Award 2021 in support of her artistic practice. In 2021, she was appointed to the Board of Directors of The Design and Crafts Council of Ireland.