our team
Programme Manager
Paola Bernardelli
Paola Bernardelli is an Italian artist and cultural operator who has made Derry her home since 2002. A professional photographer and lens-based artist with over twenty-year experience in art exhibitions and contemporary art gallery settings, specialising in the areas of exhibition documentation, set up, curation, archiving and invigilation. Co-founder of Art Arcadia, she designed, developed and expanded the organisation drawing on her firsthand experience of taking part in international artist residencies and exhibitions. She established a dynamic and on-going programme of bespoke international artist residencies with associated exhibitions and public programmes that is firmly rooted in the local geographical and socio-cultural context.
Chair
John McDaid
Former Director of Derry Print Workshop for two years, John McDaid is currently Creative Director and co-owner of children’s media company Dog Ears. Previously he ran his own design company, STILL, (working in print, digital and film) after working as designer at the Verbal Arts Centre for four years. His photography was selected for the “Horse” exhibition at Void gallery, curated by Mark Wallinger. John was also selected for an individual artist award in City of Culture year, creating a selection of films called “First Words” which focussed on the earliest stories we remember. His work in Dog Ears includes day-to-day management of the company and projects, including liaising with broadcasters, funders and partners. John is also producer on Puffin Rock, which now broadcasts in almost every country in the world, and creator and co-director of Saturday Club, an animated series all about empathy.
Secretary
Matthew McDevitt
Matthew Mc Devitt is a Derry based writer, primarily working for TV and Radio. In 2016 he created Let’s Get Quizzical, a live satirical game-show that took a jaundiced eye to the realities of Northern Irish life. The show was invited to perform as part of Bob Slayer’s Heroes of The Fringe Edinburgh 2016 as well as the Belfast Comedy Festival 2016 and 2017. His first radio commission was the Greasy Apple, for Resonance FM, a mockumentary positing the theory that all forms of popular music had their origins in Derry. September 2018 saw the broadcast of Lock In, starring Conleth Hill, on Radio Ulster and Radio Scotland. He has written for both series of BBC NI comedy Soft Border Patrol. Matthew is currently ignoring the pain in his foot as the gatekeepers of TV and Radio land realise their initial mistake and close the door on him.
Social Media Associate
Joseph Carlin
Joseph Carlin is from Derry and has a background in communications and events management. He is a keen practitioner in various disciplines within the arts. He cut his teeth at VOID Derry, starting as a volunteer and eventually moving into employment and studies there. He enjoys travel, he spent his Covid lockdown learning how to cook on the app Tiktok and attributes his involvement in the Visual Arts to some of the most bizarre moments of his life (Once singing Don McLean’s “Vincent” to Mark Wallinger in the smoking garden of a pub). Joseph feels it is an honour to play a part in the beautiful story of Art Arcadia.
Treasurer
Claudia Rampelli
Claudia Rampelli is a London based freelance curator and translator. Since 2014 she has been assisting Italian artist Elisabetta Benassi with a variety of tasks and projects, nationally and internationally. A practiced proof-reader and editor with an innate attention to detail, she contributed to the translation and editing of art-related texts for several artists and art critics. Over the years she deepened her passion for art by attending a number of courses in the public programmes at Chelsea School of Art and Design, The Royal Drawing School and City Lit, in London.
Board Member
Colomba Damiani
Colomba is a project and relations manager based in Central Italy working in international development cooperation. She is involved with high social impact programs, dealing with culture and new communities outreach, migration, global citizenship education, gender parity and equity. She has a diverse and multi-sectorial experience ranging from CRM to marketing and communication to AV production. Colomba has lived and worked in Ireland, Southern India, the Gulf Peninsula and West Africa. She has attended a number of international seminars and workshops on audio-visual production, distribution and emerging technologies both in Europe and USA. She has co-produced the multi award winning BBC feature length documentary Paradiso, directed by Alessandro Negrini with executive producer Margo Harkin. More recently she has managed and coordinated the first edition of UmbriaMiCo, an itinerant cultural festival in 8 cities and 3 regions in Italy, funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), under the Education for Global Citizenship award.