A founder member of Red Kettle in 1985, Ben has been active in arts since 1979 when he began working with the Waterford Arts for All Project, a community arts group that ran until Red Kettle was born six years later.
The Arts for All initiative aimed to bring art into places it normally wouldn’t be seen and one of it’s campaigns was for an Arts Centre for Waterford which eventually came to pass with the opening of Garter Lane.
Ben was studying Art at the former Waterford Regional Technical College when he and his sister, Noreen, and brother, Tony, founded Red Kettle. In Red Kettle’s first ever show The Gods are Angry Miss Kerr, Ben worked along side fellow past pupil Jim Nolan. The play was staged in the Theatre Royal and became a huge success.
However, it was Ben’s involvement with Little Red Kettle in particular since 1991, that brought him into close contact with the youth of the city, which would later net him the honour of the Garda Don Dorgan Commemorative Award in June 2000.
This is an award which aims to recognise people who have dedicated themselves to hepling the youth of the city in the same spirit as the late Garda Dorgan, who was well known for his special links with the young people of Waterford.
Ben Hennessy’s contribution over the years to the city through drama and art has been enormous and wide ranging. In Little Red Kettle alone, he has worked with up to 100 children, for some productions as a writer, director and designer. He has also been very involved with children’s art and has been running art workshops for children on and off for 20 years.
In addition to studying at WRTC, Ben trained in the National College of Art and Design, graduating with a first class honours B.A. He spent a year in San Francisco on an Arts Council Scholarship in 1986 and has exhibited paintings in galleries throughtout Ireland, London and New York.
He took over as Artistic Director of Red Kettle from Jim Nolan in 2000.