By Violet Brown
THE newly appointed managing director of the Portico of Ards in Portaferry has landed his dream job of curating in a ‘world class space’ which attracts a ‘world class audience’.
Benjamin Gould is joining the hub at an exciting time as the peninsula’s arts and heritage centre enters its’ second decade of existence.
Drawing on his wealth of experience in Northern Ireland, London and beyond, Benjamin hopes to build on the excellent work already undertaken at Portico while bringing fresh offerings to the local audience.
Benjamin’s love of the arts was stoked as a child when at the age of nine he joined the
Rainbow Factory school of performing arts – a cross-community organisation aimed at
bringing together young people between the ages of nine and 25 from Belfast and beyond.
Up until his GCSE’s Benjamin was a pupil of the Royal Belfast Academical Institution but
transferred to Methodist College so he could study drama at A-level.
“By the age of 16 I was pretty sure that’s what I wanted to do.” he said.
After obtaining a first class honours degree in drama at Liverpool Hope University. Benjamin then moved to London where he obtained a masters degree with distinction in professional acting.
He worked as an actor in London for three- and-a-half years and directed and produced his first show there. While living in London Benjamin set up his own theatre company in 2014, Commedia of Errors, and brought it to Belfast when he moved back home.
Benjamin has produced plays across Northern Ireland, including with the Lyric Theatre in Belfast staging productions such as The Gap Year and Rose + Bud.
He has also worked as a director internationally with SITI Company, New York and the Goodman Theatre, Chicago amongst others. His innovative Virtual Reality programme, Dementia: Changing Perspectives, is currently being researched by University of Ulster and will be showcased by the Arts Council later in 2026.
Benjamin has helped to deliver Plays Aloud the leading flagship outreach programme which brings connection and creativity to older people across Northern Ireland through high quality arts experiences.
“We visited care homes and dementia units to deliver a workshop programme offering different types of performance – song, percussion and dancing,” he explained.
“I have always had the ambition of being able to curate and run a building alongside a programme of events,”
Benjamin continued. “As managing director of Portico I will be focusing on the needs of others and drive what is best for everyone else.”
He sees his role of bringing the creative vision of others together in a cohesive production to meet the needs of audiences in the community.
“There is a lot of creative output out there and I will try to marry it together with this impressive venue,” Benjamin said, adding the chance to do this was ‘really exciting’ for him.
He has heard ‘so many great things’ about Portico from ‘so many people’.
“It is such a wonderful space with such a vibrant audience who are engaged with what is
happening there and that is why people love it so much”, Benjamin said. “It is really exciting to be part of it all.”
Initially, he will be spending time connecting with the community and delving into what the
audience wants.
“I also want to offer them different types of arts which maybe they haven’t been exposed to before and share with them some of the things I know and love as well as bringing elements to the programme which everybody loves,” Benjamin said.
“Maybe I can bring literary elements as well as theatre and dance and broaden the output of what audiences here can avail of.”
“Portico is a world-class space with a world-class audience and I am looking forward to the
world-class work which has been staged there”.
