Jo is the founder and Artistic Director of Lyra. Originally trained as a director at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, she works in theatre, dance and design, with a passion for performing arts made with and for children and teenagers.
For Lyra, Jo has created and directed Once Upon A Snowstorm, We Are All Just Little Creatures (in association with Curious Seed and Lung Ha) Wild Heart, This Way Up, Helen’s Letters, Lone Wolf, Sampler, Pigeon, Hush and Rebecca’s Midnight and has worked as a collaborating artist on Take Up Space and That Feeling When.
Jo works regularly with Dublin based dance-theatre company Junk Ensemble as a collaborator/dramaturg (Dolores, The Cold Sings, The Veiled Ones), co-creator/director (Bird with Boy), designer (Sometimes we break, Tate Britain commission) and director (The Rain Party). Jo has also directed for Kopergietery (Belgium) and Catherine Wheels (Scotland) and is former Director in Residence with Imaginate and National Theatre of Scotland. She was a Fresh Tracks Europe choreographer (Austria) and is the recipient of a Winston Churchill Fellowship (UK) and a Dewar Arts Award (Scotland).