Elizabeth Mohen worked with Poetry Ireland for 8 years. She is now Director of Festival in a Van.

In a recent 2024 interview, she tells The Tara Building about their work:

“My name is Elizabeth Mohen, and I’m the Director of Festival in a Van (FIAV). We’re a mobile performance venue funded by Creative Ireland and the Arts Council, which aims to democratise access to the arts.

We’ve delivered free music, poetry, and theatre performances in care homes, schools, seaside piers, housing estates, countryside castles, and the car park of just about every type of setting you can imagine – Direct Provision centres, emergency accommodation, civic offices, anywhere and everywhere across Ireland. Our goal is to use the arts as a tool to build bridges across communities, and to combat key social issues such loneliness, isolation, and discrimination.

I grew up in the NY tri-state area and moved to Ireland when I was 17 to study English Literature and World Religions at Trinity. I’ve worked in the arts for nearly a decade, starting my career with Poetry Ireland as Programme Manager. What I love about FIAV is we meet people wherever they’re at – we will literally drive directly into their estate. In doing so, we are able to break down so many of those different barriers that can exist to arts access, whether that be cost, rural living, illness, disability, or anything else.

I’m really passionate about the fact that the arts are for everyone. You don’t need a formal education to engage with an arts experience in a way that is meaningful, insightful, and at its best, transformative. The arts are about making meaning together, through a two-way conversation between creator/performer and audience, and every human being has something unique to offer into that exchange."