Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the Origin 1st Irish Theatre Fest, which ran during the month of January, welcomed all those with a love of the Irish arts scene to attend any of its seven productions and nine special events over its three-week run. Among the featured productions was playwright and producer Turlough McConnell’s Ulster atRead more..
On February 23, 2017, Turlough McConnell, a producer and writer of the Irish-American story, was announced as the 26th recipient of the St. Patrick’s Committee of Holyoke’s Ambassador Award. The Ambassador Award is given every year in Massachusetts to a worthy individual committed to promoting Irish heritage and relationships with the Republic of Ireland. “IRead more..
Since 1991, the Burns Visiting Scholar in Irish Studies program at Boston College has invited various academics and experts in Irish Studies to live on campus, where they teach, confer, and conduct research for their own projects. Every year, the scholars credit the program as beneficial and crucial in the development of their work. AsRead more..
Leading historians reveal the American story behind Ireland’s 1916 Easter Rising with new books and exhibitions that explore America’s role in the Rising. ℘℘℘ “No people ever believed more deeply in the cause of Irish freedom than the people of the United States.” —President John F. Kennedy, Leinster House Dublin, June 1963 On April 24,Read more..
The new exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, Ireland: Crossroads of Art and Design, 1690 – 1840, is a legacy tribute to the last Knight of Glin. Popularly known as the “long 18th century,” beginning with the ascendancy of William and Mary over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1689 and culminating atRead more..
For 38 years, Stone Mountain Park, northeast of Atlanta, Georgia, fills with the sounds of bagpipes, fiddles and harps during the third weekend in October for the Stone Mountain Highland Games and Scottish Festival. Expect thousands of Scots to don their family tartans for this year’s festival October 16-18. Last year the Ulster Scots wereRead more..
The London art world was taken by surprise at its annual auctions this spring when the Irish rich, clamoring for Irish art, replaced the usual art buyers. Even the experts were impressed. Grant Ford, director of Sotheby’s contemporary art worldwide, said: “Perhaps the biggest difference was the influx of new wealth from moguls of theRead more..
One Irishman’s Dream Becomes Another’s Reality Joe Dowling stands in the amber glass ninth-floor lobby of the Dowling Studio in the gleaming new Guthrie Theater in downtown Minneapolis. Outside the mighty Mississippi runs alongside the cobalt building designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel. This architectural marvel, which cost $125 million, is instantly impressive, itsRead more..
History, Hope and the Port of Belfast In the lives of cities, boldness and vision rarely follow catastrophe,” wrote architectural critic Paul Goldberger. The city of Belfast in Northern Ireland may be the exception that proves the rule. After a generation of Troubles, the citizens of the great port city have grown accustomed to peaceRead more..