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On Saturday, March 13, 2010, the IAHC holds its St. Patrick’s Festival following the downtown Chicago St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
This large-scale, family-oriented annual event includes traditional and contemporary Irish music, dance, food and children’s activities. The festivities begin at 1pm and end at midnight with live entertainment by Chicago Irish music groups as well as performers on tour from Ireland.
Confirmed musicians performers include The Sullivan Brothers, Anish, The Mickey Finns, Tim O’Shea and Patrick Buckley, The Dooley Brothers, The Shannon Rovers, The Mulhern School of Irish Dance, The Trinity Academy of Irish Dance, The Mullane Healy O'Brien Irish Dance Academy, The Wiggleworms, Mulligan Stew, The Trinity Academy of Irish Dance, The Mullane Healy O'Brien Irish Dance Academy, The O'Hare School of Irish Dance and The Sheila Tully Academy of Irish Dance.
Tickets are $15 for adults, or $12 for advance purchase if bought by the end of the day on March 11. Children 12 and under are free with a paying adult. Click below to purchase.
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The IAHC presents a group art exhibit, A Touch of the Poet this spring at the IAHC. Artist Laura Coyle is the curator of the exhibit.
As many as 40 artists will create and display their art based on the work of an Irish writer. The art will be mixed media, including paintings, sculptures and photography. Keeping with the literary theme, the artists’ artwork will incorporate a verse or passage of the writer they choose.
Writers whose work will be featured by the artists include: William Butler Yeats, James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Jonathan Swift, Darrell Figgis, Seamus Heaney, Oscar Wilde, C.S. Lewis and Katharine Tynan.
Some of the artists participating in the exhibit are: Gena Pepich Andreasen, Catherine Crane Bath, Bart Bjorneberg, Sharon Bladholm, Alan Brunettin, Ray Cavanaugh, Laura Coyle, Frank Crowley, Barbara Robertson Domino, Ken Gold, Saren Thorne Hauser, Fletcher Hayes, Tim Hurley, Virginia Hurley, Layne Jackson, Karen Jacobsen, Robert Kamezcura, Donna June Katz, Kathy Kelly, Pauline Kochanski, Deborah Maris Lader, Kim Laurel, James Mesple, BettyAnn Mocek, Megan Murphy, Dennis O’Malley, Laurin D. Notheisen, Mary K. O’Shaughnessy, Joyce Owens, Joel Pace, Corinne D. Peterson, Judy Robins, Tom Robinson, Beth Shadur, Keith J. Taylor, Charlie B. Thorne, Loralyn Kumlin Tornheim, George Weissler, Charles Van Guilder and Jill Zylke.
A Touch of the Poet is Friday, March 5 through Saturday, April 3, 2010. There will be a free opening night reception on March 5 from 6-9pm. Gallery hours are Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 pm or by appointment. To make an appointment, call Frank Crowley at 773-612-6584. |
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The Irish Heritage Library Lectures have been a staple of the IAHC's cultural programming for 25 years and the 2010 lecture is no exception.
This March, the lectures will feature two authors, Patricia Falvey and Patrick Tracey.
Patricia Falvey makes her literary debut with The Yellow House, a tale of love set during the war for Irish independence. She will present a lecture, In Loving Memory: An Emigrant's Search For Home, a look at Falvey’s own journey in writing the book, her search for home and the theme of home that runs through her life and the novel.
The Yellow House depicts a family's future in the hands of a young Irishwoman in this novel set between World War I and the growing violence of the Irish war of independence. Eileen O'Neill inherits a lifetime of struggle and heartbreak when her family is ripped apart by war, disease, mental illness and greed.
Falvey was born in Newry, County Down, Northern Ireland. She was raised in Northern Ireland and England before immigrating alone to the United States at the age of twenty. Until recently, she served as a Managing Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLC, where she led a national tax consulting practice. The Yellow House is her first novel.
Author Patrick Tracey will discuss his new book, Stalking Irish Madness: Searching for the Roots of My Family's Schizophrenia. In Tracey’s powerful story, he journeys to Ireland to track the origin and solve the mystery of his Irish-American family's multigenerational struggle with schizophrenia.
Filled with history, science, and lore, Stalking Irish Madness is an unforgettable chronicle of one man's attempt to make sense of his family's past and to find hope for the future of schizophrenic patients.
The IAHC Library Lectures are Sunday, March 7 at 2pm. Tickets for the lecture are $8 and a reception follows. Tickets can be purchased at the door, For more information, call the IAHC at 773-282-7035.
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On Wednesday, March 17, 2010 the IAHC will hold its annual St. Patrick’s Day party in the Center’s Fifth Province Lounge.
The day-long event runs from noon until midnight. A St. Patrick’s Day Mass will be held at 11:30am.
Activities include Irish dancing, traditional and modern Irish music and food. Confirmed performers include Tim O’Shea and Patrick Buckley and The Chancey Brothers and more. The cost is $10 for adults and children 12 and under are free with a paying adult.
Tickets can be purchased at the door. |
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March is practically St. Patrick’s Month at the IAHC. What better way to kick it off in style with the fourth annual Wearing of the Green Dinner Dance.
Festivities include dancing and music by Joe McShane and the SilverBridge Band, a sit-down dinner, catered by Harrington’s Catering, spot prizes and a raffle. The menu will include corned beef and cabbage, chicken entrees and more. There will be a cash bar available. This year, Cardinal Francis George will attend the event and bless the building and give remarks.
Reservations are necessary and must be made by February 28, as the last three years have been SOLD OUT! Tickets will not be sold at the door.
The dance is Sunday, March 7, 2010 from 5 to 10pm and tickets are $40. Reservations must be made by calling the IAHC Center office at 773-282-7035. |
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Kick off five St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in eight days with a large-scale Irish step dance concert, Irish Dance Chicago on Friday, March 12, 2010 at 7pm.
The annual concert showcases the talents of some of Chicago’s finest Irish dancers, all on one stage. There will be as many as 200 dancers performing in one night, from the ages of 4-18.
The concert presents the talents of local dance schools in the Chicagoland area. The line up will be: The O’Hare School of Irish Dance, The Mullane Healy O'Brien Irish Dance Academy, The Trinity Academy of Irish Dance, The World Academy of Irish Dancing and The Sheila Tully Academy of Irish Dance. They’ll be joined by the music group, The Academy of Irish Music.
Tickets are $10 for adults and children under 12 are free with a paying adult. Tickets can be purchased at the door.
The 2010 St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations are from March 12-March 20 and we expect as many as 10,000 people to visit the IAHC for the celebrations.
For more information, call the IAHC at 773-282-7035. |
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