Chameleon bringing life back into Cork

Johnny Hanrahan, founder of Chameleon, a creative projects company which aims to stimulate Corkonians.

Johnny Hanrahan, who ran Meridian Theatre in Cork for 20 years until its Arts Council funding was axed in 2011, says he never again wants to be in a position where he is dependent on a large lump sum of money from a national organisation. Having taken time out to write and adapt for the stage Sebastian Barry’s novel, The Secret Scripture, as well as to reassess his career direction, he reflects that Meridian’s demise “was in many ways a tremendous stimulus to creativity.”

Hanrahan has set up Chameleon, a creative projects company that works within the arts, entertainment, education, tourism and community building. The company is currently staging a city-wide pilot project called ‘Acts of Random Beauty.’