Irish Cultural Center at Elms College Celebrates 10th Anniversary

-

The Irish Cultural Center at Elms College in Chicopee, Massachusetts is celebrating its ten year anniversary on October 9-10-11, 2009 with a variety of events that accentuate the Center’s cultural and literary mission.

The activities kick off Friday evening, October 9, with an art exhibit by Irish painter Vincent Crotty, entitled Recent Paintings: Images of the Blasket Island, Ireland and Beyond. The exhibit takes place from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. at the Borgia Gallery at the Dooley Campus Center. The exhibit runs through October 26.

Following the opening a group of local musicians are leading a traditional music session in the Dooley Center Dining Hall Annex. Dancers from the McDermott School of Irish Dance are performing.

On Saturday, October 10, the Center hosts all-day workshops at Berchman’s Hall. They include dance workshops with Maureen McDermott of the McDermott Academy of Irish Dance; genealogy with Judy Lucey of the New England Historic Genealogical Society; bodhrain and bones playing with Steve Brown of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann; Irish language with Mary McShane, Boston Irish Language Society; and Gaelic games with Mike Carney of Springfield.

Also, Irish films are being shown, including Give Up Yer Aul Sins and New Kid; On Another Man's Wound; JFK in Ireland; The Story of the Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem. And Odyssey Books will display books for sale from Irish and Irish-American authors, plus titles about Ireland.

On Saturday evening Irish folksingers Makem and Spain Brothers perform at the Wherehouse in Holyoke. Tickets are $35, which include admission plus a corned beef sandwich. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. and the concert starts at 7:30 p.m.

On Sunday, October 11, Monsignor Christopher Connelly says mass at 10:30 a.m. in Our Lady’s Chapel, with readings in Irish.

Following mass, noted New York essayist and novelist Peter Quinn is the guest speaker at a brunch in the Dooley Campus Center. His topic: Unremembered and Unforgotten: Irish America and the Great Hunger. Tickets are $15 for members and $20 for non-members. The three founders of the Irish Cultural Center will be honored at the brunch: Sr. Kathleen Keating, Tom Moriarty and Sean Cahillane.


For more details, contact the Center at 413 265-2537 or email irishcenter@elms.edu.


irish-cairde.org

irishmassachusetts.com


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Blazing the Trail" depicts early Irish filmmaking, showing on November 23 in Brookline

-
Image
The Boston Irish Film Festival is presenting a fresh new look at early Irish filmmaking with the presentation of Blazing the Trail: The Story of the Kalem Film Company in Ireland. The multimedia event takes place on Monday, November 23, 2009, at the historic Coolidge Corner Theater at 290 Harvard Street in Brookline, MA, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. The project was created by film scholar and director Peter Flynn, founder of the Boston Irish Film Festival , and produced by Dawn Morrissey. They will show a selection of rarely-seen films from the early 20th century, as well as several short films that put the historical film in retrospect and modern context. Live music will be interspersed between the films to create an old-time Nickelodeon atmosphere. Musicians are pianist Peter Freisinger and vocalists Victoria Hayes and Liz Hayes. There is also a chance to win free tickets to this premier event through the Boston Irish Tourism Association . Tickets to the show are $9.75 and are availa
Read more

General Edward L. Logan, Namesake of Boston's Logan International Airport

-
Image
General Edward L. Logan (1875-1939), namesake of Boston’s Logan International Airport , died on July 6 1939 from a sudden 'heart ailment.'  His brother, Reverend Leo J. Logan, presided over the funeral mass at the Gate of Heaven Church in South Boston, with tributes by leading politicians like Senator David I. Walsh , former Massachusetts Governor and Boston Mayor James M. Curley and former Mayor John F. Fitzgerald .  Logan is buried at the Calvary Cemetery in West Roxbury.  A first generation Irish-American, military leader, civic leader and municipal judge with family roots in Galway and South Boston,  Edward was the oldest of nine children of Lawrence and Catherine (O’Connor), according to Michael Cummings of Milton, an expert on the Logan Family. Edward’s father Lawrence immigrated to Boston from Ballygar, County Galway, in 1858, and became a successful businessman at a young age when he became president of the Boston Brewing Company in South Boston.  The family resided a
Read more

Damian McGinty, former Celtic Thunder Star, Performs in Hartford and Providence this Fall

-
Image
Damian McGinty , the young singing star from Derry, Northern Ireland who performed with Celtic Thunder , is returning to New England in October as part of a national tour with  Ethan Bortnick . They will be performing in Hartford, CT on October 5, followed by two shows in Providence, RI on October 12, 2014. Find details here. McGinty was part of the original Celtic Thunder ensemble for several years, and left the band in 2012 when he won a coveted spot on the television show Glee .  Since then he has embarked on a solo career that has taken him around the world.  In 2013 McGinty was Cultural Ambassador for his home city of Derry, Northern Ireland . Find year round details on Celtic and Irish cultural activities at IrishMassachusetts.com .
Read more