How it’s New York: Irish Arts Center is one of the best performing arts venues in the city, and a home away from home for lots of us. IAC often 
collaborates with other ethnic groups, in true melting pot/NY fashion. AND, what could be more NY than channel 13? Channel 13, after all, even got a shout-out in a Billy Joel song.
How it’s Irish: Irish Arts Center is Irish of course, as are so many of the artists that come through there.
We cover the Irish Arts Center very often here (though New York Irish Arts is not affiliated, the two shared words notwithstanding) and have mixed feelings about the rest of the wide world knowing about it. It’s great for the center for more people to know about it, especially as they go into the process of building their new home around the corner. But it was also fun having a little insidery-knowledge. We like to feel in the know.
Well, after tonight, more people should be there too. Irish Arts Center is featured on tonight’s episode of NYC-ARTS on Thirteen. If you miss it tonight at 8, you can catch it again on Sunday, May 26, at noon, and the entire episode can be watched as well on the NYC-ARTS website.
Irish Arts Center is on 51st, between 10th and 11th (closer to 11th), just around the corner from The Daily Show. It was founded in 1972. Affiliated starry types include film director Jim Sheridan and honorary board chairs Gabriel Byrne (Vikings, anyone? listen to our podcast with Gabriel and with Jim Sheridan, here) and Liam Neeson. The center has three core areas: performance, visual and cultural exhibitions that tell the evolving Irish story, and education.
Want to learn bodhán? Go to IAC. Step-dancing? Ditto. See a new play (like These Halcyon Days by Deirdre Kinahan, running through June2)? Check.
The NYC-ARTS segment includes an interview with Executive Director Aidan Connolly, and spotlights the “Masters in Collaboration” project, which brings together people from different disciplines or areas to see what happens. The latest one was Aoife O’Donovan and Karan Casey (read our review here). The segment also includes Julie Feeney, talking about her month-long residency with New York-based musicians at IAC in 2012 (our review of that was here; and here’s Julie talking on an earlier podcast).
Julie’s new CD Clocks is out, and she is performing at Joe’s Pub on June 12.
