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AI in Creative Arts: Opening new doors into imaginative realms

Shauna Kelly
Published - December 8, 2025



How can the creative industries spark real transformation, and what positive role can AI play in the sector? At UCD, Professor PJ Mathews, Director of the UCD Creative Futures Academy, is pioneering bold new approaches that invite artists and performers to experiment at the frontier where creativity meets emerging technology. As AI tools evolve at remarkable speed, our community is exploring how practitioners in the creative and performing arts can meaningfully engage with these innovations, expanding their capacity to imagine, design, and craft the cultural experiences of the future.

Through initiatives within UCD College of Arts and Humanities and UCD Creative Futures Academy, our experts are developing new pedagogies that nurture critical thinking, deepen interdisciplinary collaboration, and strengthen connections with the wider creative sector. Central to this work are initiatives such as the development of an AI toolbox to offer practical, accessible resources that empower creatives to unlock new modes of expression and push open doors to new imaginative realms.

AI in Creative Arts: Opening new doors into imaginative realms


UCD CFA: Building innovative careers in the creative sector

Prof PJ Mathews is a founding member of the Creative Futures Academy – a groundbreaking partnership with NCAD and IADT Dun Laoghaire. He is Director of the CFA at University College Dublin, where he is a Professor of Irish Literature, Drama and Culture. He leads the Engaged Creativity research strand for UCD College of Arts and Humanities, and is Chair of the UCD Council of Creative Fellows.

UCD Creative Futures Academy is helping to evolve the creative industries through innovation, collaboration, partnership with industry and experimental spaces including the Trapdoor theatre and the Creative Arts Research Lab (CARL). The Trapdoor provides a flexible, technology-enabled environment where performers and digital creatives can prototype new forms of storytelling and collaborate across disciplines in real time. Meanwhile, the CARL acts as an incubator for practice-based research, supporting projects that push artistic boundaries and generate new methodologies for creative production and social engagement.

Learn more at creativefuturesacademy.ie.

Beyond its physical infrastructure, UCD Creative Futures Academy seeks to forge deep partnerships with the creative sector, giving students and researchers access to leading creative organisations and cultural institutions. These collaborations will help shape future-focused curricula, open pathways for co-designed projects, and ensure graduates are equipped with the skills and mindsets needed to thrive in rapidly evolving creative fields.

Through this blend of innovation, interdisciplinary learning, industry engagement, and experimental practice, UCD CFA is not just responding to changes in the creative industries but it is actively helping to drive them, in collaboration with our partners in IADT and NCAD.


Supporting climate transition through narrative and culture

UCD CFA is a partner in Europe’s biggest and leading climate innovation programme, Climate KIC, whose work in Ireland to support the argi-food sector’s emissions reduction targets is supported by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Climate KIC orchestrates place-based transformations that ground climate action at the local level, using a deep demonstration methodology to affect meaningful, sustainable transition in Irish agriculture. Prof Mathews led a project to explore narratives around agriculture and food systems and how they can help build support to accelerate the climate transition – using culture to drive culture change.

Find out more about Climate KIC in Ireland. Read the article ‘Finding common ground: how do we make the case for climate action in agriculture?’

RDS Vision 300


PJ Mathews recognised as Thought Leader in RDS Vision 300 series

As it approaches its 300th anniversary, the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) has created a series to give Irish and international thought leaders 300 seconds to inspire change, recognising opportunities in their individual area of expertise addressing the climate change challenge of the next decade and beyond.

With the insight of Prof PJ Mathews, specifically in his role within Climate KIC, this video explores the deep-rooted connection between culture and agriculture, examining how this historic relationship can serve as a powerful case study for Ireland’s role in addressing climate change.

Watch the Climate KIC webinar: Reframing Food Futures; agriculture and climate transition in Ireland

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