Blog » Chance to make History with Navan Fort

Chance to make History with Navan Fort

22nd October 2014

ARMAGH is on the hunt for a creative artistic director or producer with the passion to transform the historic Navan Fort into a world class visitor destination.
Armagh City and District Council wants the new artistic director/producer to play a central role in developing an innovative experiential interpretation of one of Ireland’s most impressive legendary landmarks.
A budget of up to £400,000 has been set aside for the full development and delivery of a new visitor experience at the fort, based in Co Armagh.
Navan Fort is currently being considered for a UNESECO World Heritage Site designation which, if approved, will make it Northern Ireland’s second official UNESCO site after the Giant’s Causeway. Sharon O’Gorman, director of regeneration and development at Armagh City & District Council, said: “Creativity, ambition and fresh, compelling ideas are at the heart of this tender appointment and we are confident that by partnering with an independent, talented creative, artistic profession-al, we can together deliver a unique experience which will allow us to ensure that this famous, historical site can realise its full visitor potential.” Director and executive producer of Belfast’s Lyric Theatre, Jimmy Fay, who is assisting the board in this process, said: “The successful tenderer will play a central, pivotal role in the development of one of the most important, historical and mythical sites and attractions in the UK and Ireland and I’m delighted to be part of the team tasked to make that choice.”

Navan occupies a unique place in Ireland’s ancient sites. For thousands of years it’s been a place of worship and political power. A site deeply linked with legend and Ireland’s greatest stories, this mythical place has all the significance and enchantment Camelot has for medieval Britain, except unlike Camelot, Navan is real, identified by scholars as the site central to the Ulster Cycle — one of the four great cycles of Irish mythology.
Its myths and stories have inspired writers and artists for centuries including Yeats, Synge, Tolkien and Heaney.

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