Ireland America: The Ties That Bind

Presented by the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, in collaboration with Glucksman Ireland House NYU, the Irish Film Institute, and Culture Ireland as part of Imagine Ireland: a year-long season of contemporary Irish arts in the US in 2011, an initiative of Culture Ireland.

Irish music and theater have carried the cultural markers of identity across an ocean and down two centuries. Songs, tunes, dances, plays, and dramatic roles from the past resonate in the present. From the enduring melodies of Thomas Moore to the infectious percussion of Riverdance, Irish art continues to appeal to American audiences.

In the United States, tradition and popular culture are twin strands that determine Irish musical and theatrical expression. Both are deeply embedded in the Irish-American Diaspora. This exhibition, entitled "Ireland America: The Ties That Bind," explores aspects of Irish American performance history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, particularly those that illuminate the nexus between public and private, culture and subculture. It explores the home as the incubator of cultural identity and the stage as the platform for ethnic creativity and transmission. The exhibition runs through August 13, 2011.

Free public programs throughout the NYPL branches will offer insights into contemporary Irish life as well as Irish America through poetry readings, musical performances, staged readings, panel discussions, and "Hidden Ireland: A Celebration of Ireland in Documentary Film" series. All events are listed on the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts's events page.

For more information, please see the New York Public Library’s exhibit page, or the event brochure.

Exhibition Curator: Professor Marion R. Casey, Clinical Professor of Irish Studies and Senior Archivist, Archives of Irish America, at NYU

Free and open to the public.

With support from: 

Memories of the New York City Saint Patrick’s Day Parade, an audio documentary

Produced as a feature for Ireland America: The Ties That Bind, this audio documentary is now available online.

Glucksman Ireland House interviews dozens of Irish Americans every year as part of the Oral History of Irish America project, and the parade invariably emerges as a subject and a fond memory in many of those interviews. This year, which sees the 250th parade, seemed an appropriate time to collect some of those memories and share them with a wider audience. The documentary includes excerpts from interviews with 10 Irish and Irish American New Yorkers all with different experiences and relationships to the parade from Police Commissioner and former parade Grand Marshall Ray Kelly to parade participant Joan Dolan to parade historian John Ridge.

Listen to the documentary.

PBS Thirteen Segment

Watch PBS Thirteen's segment on the exhibit: