Aoibhie McCarthy is an arts manager, curator & arts educator and, since August 2020, Artistic Director of Sample-Studios.
She holds a B.A in Art History, Architectural History and English Literature from Trinity College Dublin and an M.A in Curatorial Studies from Limerick School of Art and Design, which was funded through the Shinnors Curatorial Scholarship. During this research scholarship from 2012-2014, she was Education Curator of Limerick City Gallery of Art and eva International. She has worked in the National Gallery of Ireland, the Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin Contemporary and Whyte’s Auctioneers. 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 was Visual Arts and Outreach Manager of Garter Lane Arts Centre in Waterford. From 2018-2020, she was Marketing and Development Manager of Cork International Film Festival and the Business to Arts Fundraising Fellow.
She is on the Board of Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre and Waterford Youth Arts. She is an assessment panelist for Culture Ireland and Create Ireland. She mentors as part of the Minding Creative Minds initiative.