Our History & Ethos

Presenting Christianity
Resourcing the Church
Supporting Christians in the Arts

New Irish Arts works in partnership with the Irish Church to present Christianity through the Arts. The group was started as the New Irish Choir and Orchestra in 1994 by Irish hymn-writer Keith Getty. We now have a network of several hundred volunteer musicians, working alongside a small group of actors and visual artists to produce a wide range of events throughout Ireland each year.

We produce large events in the major Irish concert halls each year, but we also enjoy collaborating with other musicians. Over the years we’ve worked with many great people – including the Rend Collective Experiment, Clannad’s Moya Brennan, Matt Redman, Stuart Townend, Yazz, Bluetree and of course Keith and Kristyn Getty. We also broadcast regularly on BBC and RTE radio and TV.

In addition to these high profile events, our ministry also involves working on many smaller community projects, where the Arts can help us to build bridges with people who would probably not choose to attend a Christian concert. We believe it is good to bless communities with God’s love, simply by sharing the talents He has given us.

Wherever possible, we work in partnership with local churches. Occasionally this means facilitating public events, or sometimes it leads to us providing training and resources. Whatever the case, we aim to serve the wider church with excellent quality Arts resources.

Over the years we have built a large network of volunteers for whom we aim to provide support in their artistic endeavours. Often this happens naturally within the group as people make connections while preparing for events, but we also aim to provide some strategic resources to connect those who benefit from sharing ideas about the use of the Arts in a Christian context, and also in the wider world.
For those who like to know the formalities, we are a non-denominational charitable company run by a Board of Directors. Our Creative Chief Executive works alongside an Events Manager/Administrator in our Newtownards office.

Our People

Jonathan Rea
(Creative Chief Executive)