Kilkenny County Council, in association with Age & Opportunity and Tyrone Guthrie Centre, is pleased to announce that the recipient for the week-long residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre this year is Poet Frances Moore.
The aim of the residency opportunity is to support a professional artist of 50+ to develop their practice, by creating time and space to think and reflect on their work and to bolster their peer network. The residency will take place at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in County Monaghan, offering a peaceful and inspiring setting for research and the development of new work.
Dr. Tara Byrne, Arts Programme Manager at Age & Opportunity, said: “Creating meaningful opportunities for artists in later career stages is a key priority for Age & Opportunity. We are delighted to help bring this residency to life as one of its founding partners.”
Kilkenny County Council Arts Officer Mary Butler commented: “The Age & Opportunity Tyrone Guthrie Bursary is a significant support for mature artists, providing them with the time and space needed to nurture and develop their practice”
Frances Moore
Frances Moore is a Kilkenny-based poet and creative writing facilitator. A past recipient of the Annie Deeny Prize at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, her poetry and essays have been broadcast nationally on RTÉ Radio 1 (Arena, Sunday Miscellany) and published in print and digital journals, including THE SHOp, Eunoia Review, and the Kilkenny Poetry Broadsheet. Twice, she has been a finalist for the Poetry Collection Competition at Listowel Writers’ Week under adjudicators Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill and Mark Roper. She founded and edited the weekly poetry newsletter Retiring Type on Substack, March 2024 – September 2025. Committed to her local arts community, Frances is a core member of the AfterWords multimedia collective.
Frances’s response on receiving the bursary: “I am so grateful to Age & Opportunity, Kilkenny Arts Office, and Tyrone Guthrie Centre for this bursary. The opportunity to work at Annaghmakerrig House, alongside a community of fellow artists, is invaluable. This dedicated time will allow me to shift my creative focus towards curating and finalising my debut poetry manuscript.”
About Age & Opportunity
Age & Opportunity is the national organisation working to enhance wellbeing for older people through participation in sport and physical activity, arts and creative engagement, personal development, community collaboration and active citizenship. We envision a society where all older people can be active, visible, creative, connected and confident about ageing.
Age & Opportunity Arts is a dedicated programme which supports the participation and representation of all older people in cultural and creative life in Ireland. We do this work by supporting and resourcing artists, arts audiences and arts organisations and encouraging involvement in arts activities by people all over Ireland. We also aim to raise the standard, knowledge-base and visibility of the arts and older people sector.
About the Tyrone Guthrie Centre
Based in rural County Monaghan, The Tyrone Guthrie Centre is a cross-border organisation that offers time away, space to work, and opportunities for collaboration and networking for artists and ‘other like persons’ that facilitates the development of their practice across all art forms. Annaghmakerrig House, otherwise known as the ‘Big House’, is situated in the quiet countryside of County Monaghan, and together with the self-catering cottages, studios and performance spaces, as well as the lake and forests, gardens, and fields, The Tyrone Guthrie Centre is a place where creativity flourishes amid the many pressures and distractions of contemporary life.
