In Donegal, creativity has always been part of how we live and work, from craft and design to music, making and storytelling. But talent alone is not enough. If our creative work is to endure, it must also be sustainable.
Hosted by the Donegal Women in Business Network, and in partnership with Creative Connections, the Business of Being Creative is an event for Donegal’s creatives.
A celebration of what makes us unique and a space to ask the practical questions about pricing, growth, visibility and resilience, this event will gather creatives from across the county for meaningful networking, a fireside conversation with local voices navigating the realities of creative enterprise here in the North West, and a keynote from Tara Prendergast, founder of The Biscuit Factory and a powerful advocate for Ireland’s creative sector.
Tara will speak to what she has learned about building creative ecosystems, commercial clarity, and the courage required to take creative work seriously as an enterprise. If you are making, building, experimenting or growing — and want to do it sustainably — this event is for you.
This is a conversation about backing your creative business in a place that values community, independence and originality and about building a business that can stand strong, here at home.
Keynote Speaker – Tara Prendergast
Tara Prendergast is a serial entrepreneur, community builder and outspoken champion for creative businesses in Ireland, known for her TEDx talk The Creative Revolution and for founding The Biscuit Factory, an online community and incubator supporting thousands of makers and designers to sell and be seen.
Drawing on three decades of starting, growing and selling businesses and her work designing creative entrepreneurship programmes with Trinity’s Tangent and Local Enterprise Offices, she speaks frankly about the realities of building a business that can weather economic shocks, shifting trends and the rise of AI without losing your soul or your sanity.
Fireside Chats with local creatives
Mari Therese McCallion
Mari Therese McCallion is a Brand Designer from Inishowen, Donegal. With over 20 years of experience in design her experience spans agency, publishing, and an in-house corporate team, where she also spent two years as a Creative Team Manager. She spent a half of her career between Cork and Dublin before making the journey back to the northwest in 2022 to set up her own boutique branding agency, Studio.Marbar.
Laura Buchanan
Laura Buchanan is an award-winning printmaker and a graphic designer from Co. Donegal. She creates prints and products, and has co-created two books, Wild Things and Leap, with collaborators she deeply admires. Laura also delivers hands-on printmaking workshops for children and adults. Creativity, nostalgia, play, and joy are at the heart of everything Laura does.
Isla McGuckin
Isla McGuckin is an award-winning writer and workshop / community events’ facilitator. Her children’s books have received critical acclaim for tackling some of the complex social challenges that contemporary children face. She works with children, young people and adults on initiatives to promote literacy and creativity.
Dorothy Duffy
Dorothy Duffy is an Irish actress known for her best performance as Rose/Patricia in The Magdalene Sisters. She has won Best Actress at the Strabane and Enniskillen Drama Festivals and Best Supporting Actress at the Castleblaney Drama Festival.
She also won Most Promising Young Actress at the Portadown Drama Festival and Best moment in Theatre at the Enniskillen Drama Festival.
