Jennifer McMahon announced as NAVIGATOR Artist in Residence at Ballina Arts Centre for August 2026

IMC’s Navigator Jazz Residency programme was established in 2021. Since then, 31 musicians have undertaken bespoke residencies with venue partners including Ballina Arts Centre, The Source Arts Centre (Thurles), An Grianán Theatre (Letterkenny), Riverbank Arts Centre (Newbridge), Courthouse Arts Centre (Tinahely), Garter Lane Arts Centre (Waterford) and Crescent Arts Centre (Belfast). For the 2026 edition, NAVIGATOR expands to include Triskel Arts Centre, Co. Cork as a new residency partner.

NAVIGATOR offers jazz and improvising musicians professionally remunerated time and space to develop and perform work, while building creative and professional relationships in new locations.

Jennifer McMahon is a Dublin-based vocalist, songwriter, producer, performer, and educator whose work centres on emotional honesty and human connection. She holds a Master of Music in Contemporary Performance (Production Concentration) from Berklee College of Music and a BA (Hons) in Jazz Performance from Newpark Music Centre, and has studied with vocalists Marie Séférian, Lauren Kinsella, Jenna Harris and Olga Roman as well as saxophonists Perico Sambeat and Javier Vercher.

Her music explores themes of love, loss, belonging, sensuality, and compassion, driven by a deep interest in human behaviour and shared experience. Her debut album, Part of the Whole, was written during a period of personal loss and transformation, following the death of her father and the end of a long-term relationship. Recorded at Berklee’s Ann Kreis Scoring Stage, the album became both a healing process and a means of connecting with others, offering a message of hope and resilience, finding light in darkness and strength in vulnerability. Two tracks from the album were performed at the “Voices of Love” concert in Valencia, where she arranged for and performed with full orchestra and choir.

Alongside her music, Jennifer is a multidisciplinary artist and resident at The Back Loft at La Cathedral Studios in Dublin, where she explores jewellery and clothing design. This broad creative practice informs her work as a producer, balancing detail with a strong artistic vision. Her self-produced single “Love Making” (2021) received national radio play and reflects her commitment to authenticity and intuition.

Ahead of her Navigator residency, Jennifer said:

“I am really excited to be a Navigator artist in residence at Ballina Art Centre this August. Having the time and space to focus solely on completing this body of work will genuinely shift the focus of the next phase in my career. I will primarily be working on material I have gathered over the years, songs and stories about people close to me and personal experiences with the hope of producing a new album. I am also keen to explore new ways of working and sharing music. As we see hyper-perfection and AI generated music gaining more and more listenership, I am more confident that as artists we should embrace the very human aspects, even flaws in our work. I also believe that the survival of independent musicians lies in their community. I will take time during the residency to consider a more sustainable workflow as I move forward. I'm grateful to IMC and Paul at Ballina Art Centre for affording me this opportunity and I'm looking forward to my time in Mayo this summer.”

Paul Cunningham, Artistic Director at the Ballina Arts Centre, said:

“The annual NAVIGATOR residency between Ballina Arts Centre and IMC has been a hugely successful partnership since its inception in 2021. It has given us an opportunity to work with some amazing artists and to bring them into contact with our audiences and communities. Most importantly, it has allowed artists time and space to develop their own practice. We are thrilled to announce Jennifer McMahon as this year's NAVIGATOR Musician in Residence. She will join us over a two week period in August and we are really looking forward to welcoming her to Ballina.”

The NAVIGATOR residency programme is part of IMC's commitment to further develop the national scene for jazz and improvised music, improve artist touring mobility, develop audiences nationwide, and develop creative opportunities and fruitful new relationships for musicians.

Further NAVIGATOR artist residencies will be announced in due course.

Jennifer McMahon: jennifermcmahon.ie
Ballina Arts Centre: ballinaartscentre.com