Simon O’Connor

Simon O’Connor is a cultural leader, curator and composer specialising in innovative museum practice, public engagement and the creation of interdisciplinary cultural experiences. He was the founding director of the Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI), a pioneering literary art space whose distinctive curatorial approach has transformed the relationship between literature, heritage and diverse audiences.

Under Simon’s leadership, MoLI received widespread international recognition, including the Business to Arts Best Philanthropic Support of the Arts Award (2021), the IDEA Exhibition Design Gold Award (2021), a shortlist nomination for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award (2022), and a longlisting for the European Museum of the Year Awards (2022). In 2023, MoLI received the European Heritage Awards Grand Prix for its contribution to citizen engagement and awareness-raising, recognising its innovative approach to cultural participation.

Previously, Simon was the founding curator of the Little Museum of Dublin, an institution he developed from its creation in 2011 into an award-winning museum recognised as a European Heritage Awards/Europa Nostra Awards winner in 2016. Across both institutions, he has championed museums as inclusive spaces for storytelling, community connection and shared cultural memory.

Alongside his museum work, Simon is a composer with a background in contemporary music. A founding member of the influential Irish rock group The Jimmy Cake, he studied composition with internationally renowned composers Donnacha Dennehy and Kevin Volans, and his work has been released through the Ergodos label. His current creative projects explore connections between sound, sensory experience and cultural expression, including collaborations on queer club culture with visual artist Padraig Spillane and research into the relationship between scent and musical composition.