Dominic Campbell
Games, Creative Aging & Festivals
A conversation with Dominic Campbell from Creative Aging International
Part of PlayAway Conversations
A series of conversations with people working outside of the games industry about games, creativity and the crossovers between real-world and online environments.
Dominic Campbell is an Artistic Director, Producer and Creative, and is the co-founder and director of Creative Aging International.
As Bealtaine Festival’s Director he steered the festivals growth and expansion over eight years. Formerly an Artistic Director of Ireland’s national celebration, St Patrick’s Festival, he transformed its three shows into ninety within four years growing production and managerial teams alongside the financial support required. Within two years the festival generated €80 million for Dublin City’s economy in audience spend on consumables while using cultural tourism to support social cohesion.
Dominic went on to design and produce national celebrations marking the expansion of European Union in 2004 and the Centenary celebrations for James Joyce. For “The Day Of Welcomes” which marked EU expansion, he devised and produced 12 simultaneous festivals pairing EU expansion countries with Irish towns and cities engaging 2500 artists from 32 countries. It was delivered from conception in six months.
He joined Bealtaine in 2005 recognizing that the festival was a “sleeping giant” and led Bealtaine’s success. From 2007 he tripled the scale of the festival while deepening its engagement and achievement. He has maintained local ownership and goodwill while overseeing its international engagements.
He mentored festivals in Wales (Gwanwynn), Scotland (Luminate), and has developed projects with partners in Australia and The Netherlands. In 2012 he established the first global conference on Creativity In Older Age opened by Irish President Michael D Higgins.
In 2016 he became an inaugural Atlantic Fellow for Equity and Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute a project between Trinity College Dublin and University College Southern California an ambitious worldwide program seeking social and public health solutions to reduce the scale and adverse impact of dementia.
Recognized by The Irish Times as one of the top ten key cultural influencers in Ireland he is seeking strategic and business partners to establish Bealtaine festival type programs in the US.
Linked In: Dominic Campbell
Website: www.creativeageinginternational.com
