Yvonne has been a freelance Theatre Director, Creative Producer and Creative Practitioner and Consultant since 1992, working across the UK and Internationally. In 2008, Yvonne founded Omidaze Productions and in 2013 was awarded an Arts Council of Wales Clore Fellowship and was mentored by Jude Kelly. For her Clore secondment, Yvonne was Strategic Lead for the national arts and cultural movement – What Next?  

Yvonne has been an Associate Artist of Wales Millennium Centre, Theatre Iolo and Artis Community and a board member of Chapter Arts Centre and Awen Cultural Trust and was an elected councillor for Penarth Town Council from 2019 to 2022 and stood as a Parliamentary Candidate in the 2019 general election. 

Yvonne was named one of Wales’ 100 Changemakers by the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales in 2022 and one of Wales most influential women in theatre in 2016. Yvonne strives to make work that empowers, informs, entertains new audiences, challenges the status quo and inspires positive social change. Yvonne works across the cultural and creative, democracy and corporate sectors and is particularly interested in the intersection between cultural and democratic participation, access and engagement, alternative economic and business models and creative learning. 

Yvonne is the creator of The Democracy Box and The Talking Shop, two creative solutions to our current democratic deficit. 

Bridging the gap between the people and the power – The Talking Shop and The Democracy Box

The Democracy Box is finding new creative ways to share The Story of our UK Democracy That Every Citizen Should Know so that everyone can understand our UK democracy and can take part in it. 

The Talking Shop  is a a democratic and cultural information centre and is one of The Democracy Box prototypes. A shop which sells nothing and where ideas, information and conversation are free. And so is the tea. 

The Talking Shop is developing the use of creative approaches to information, conversation and deliberation. The trials to date have evidenced the Talking Shop’s potential to increase both cultural and democratic participation and help us tackle some of society’s most pressing issues including isolation and loneliness; mental health and well-being and inter-generational connection; community cohesion, polarisation and urban regeneration. 

Omidaze (Oh My Days!) Productions 

A partnership organisation run by two freelancers Yvonne Murphy & Dick Johns and was founded in 2008. Our mission is to use theatre, the arts and creativity to empower, inform & entertain new audiences & inspire positive social change. We are arts activists & strive to create a fairer, more equal & just society as well as creating ground-breaking & inspirational theatre and creative live and digital projects. We are passionate about the intersection between democratic and cultural participation and creative/artistic centred approaches to problem solving and systems change.