The Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts (RHA) is delighted to award the RHA Gold Medal for 2024 to Niall Gaffney, Chief Executive, IPUT Real Estate Dublin.

Since 1994, the RHA has awarded the Gold Medal annually to persons who have made significant contributions to the Academy and to the arts in Ireland.

This year’s RHA Gold Medal award acknowledges Niall Gaffney’s commitment to incorporate art and artists into all major IPUT building projects at an early planning stage; under his leadership, he has firmly combined art and architecture as co-contributors to the enriched experience of the built environment in Dublin.

Previous recipients of this prestigious award include philanthropists Sir Alfred Beit, Lewis and Loretta Glucksman, Arts activist Anthony Cronin, and actor Gabriel Byrne.

On receiving the RHA Gold Medal for 2024, Niall Gaffney said:

On behalf of the team at IPUT, I am very honoured to accept this prestigious award from our neighbours in the RHA. As developers of large-scale building projects, we work to create a space for culture in our capital city and we value the areas in and around our developments. We recognise that the essence of any place is truly enhanced when art, superior design, and creativity combine to shape a building and its environment.

RHA COLLABORATIONS

In 2019, IPUT partnered with the RHA to offer the Wilton Park Studios Programme providing a number of fully subsidised studio residencies that have accommodated 15 artists over the past five years. Later this year, IPUT and RHA will offer 5 new fully subsidised studios in a brand-new facility at Wilton Park, Dublin 2.

IPUT has also collaborated on the RHA Kids Programme with 3 inner city schools; an exciting Augmented Reality exhibition of the work of Eilis O’Connell RHA; and IPUT’s Living Canvas, Europe’s largest digital screen exclusively showing artworks has been fully supported by the RHA.

Most recently, IPUT funded the research by Cristin Leach for her book, Ten ‘til Dusk, to celebrate the RHA Bicentennial.