Overview
Leas Cathaoirleach Cllr. Peter Conlon, Olga McConnon, Director of Finance, Housing and Culture and Darren McCreesh, Manager of the Patrick Kavanagh Centre formed the delegation that travelled to New York as part of the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. The trip provided a great opportunity for the delegation to meet with Enterprise Ireland and various representatives from the construction sector, the Project Children team, various cultural facilities in New York and to attend the Yonker’s St Patrick’s Day parade. Denis Mulcahy, Founder of Project Children was honoured as Grand Marshall of the parade.
Project Children has forged a cultural partnership with Monaghan County council. The partnership will see the preservation of the charity’s memorabilia and archives at the Peace Campus in Monaghan town. The official opening of this exhibition is scheduled for 8th October 2025.
Itinerary
Thursday 20th March
Enterprise Ireland
Aidan McKenna (Enterprise Ireland (EI), Regional Director, Americas) hosted a meeting (of c.40 people including NY Deputy Consul General (Gareth Hargadon), a number of NY construction company owners, Gareth Sherry (Regional director for Irish Wood and Interior network (IWIN)), representation from some Monaghan based IWIN companies (Truwood and Mullan Lighting), Pamela Kerr and Eilin Connolly (LEO).
The group explored the opportunities for possible additional exports from Ireland to USA. Aidan McKenna emphasised his role as supporter to businesses. One of the key roles of EI is to win export sales to global markets.
The MCC delegation also met ‘The Ireland Funds America’ development associate (Claudia Cotter). They fund projects in Ireland that demonstrate four key pillars – Peace and Reconciliation, Community development, Arts and Culture and Education.
Gluxman house – Centre for Irish and Irish American studies
Later that day, the group met with Caroline Heafey (Assistant Director Glucksman House) and Dr Kevin Kenny (Director of Glucksman Ireland House). Glucksman Ireland is part of NYU Campus specializing in Irish Studies. Darren McCreesh gave an overview of Patrick Kavanagh, his poetry, his time in New York, the PKC and his legacy. Presentation was very well received. A possible outcome of this meeting was a suggestion for a guest lecture on Kavanagh in NYU in 2026. GIH were also interested in bringing student groups to centre.
Friday 21st March
Aisling Irish Community Centre, Yonkers
On Thursday 21st March, the delegation was given a tour of the Aisling Irish Community Centre in Yonkers. The Aisling Irish Community and Cultural Centre hosts a number of classes based on Irish heritage, wellness and popular subjects. Crochet lessons, cinema screenings, dance lessons, book clubs, foroige, yoga, pilates, bingo and senior groups are all held in the centre.
Irish Repertory Theatre
Darren McCreesh met with Ciaran O’Reilly, Director of the Irish Repertory Theatre, based in Manhattan. Irish Rep have a 150 seat theatre space at the heart of NY and focus on contemporary Irish Theatre production. Darren provided a brief overview of the Patrick Kavanagh Centre, its cultural and arts programme and future plans, and Kavanagh in the context of NYC. Ciaran expressed his admiration of previous productions of Kavanagh including Tarry Flynn and The Great Hunger and acknowledged the significance of these works in the context of Irish Theatre over the last 50 years. Ciaran also asked that Darren keep him abreast of any developments with PKC programme of work planned for NY and stateside audiences.
Monaghan Society meeting
Later that day, the delegation met with Denis Mulcahy followed by a meeting of the Monaghan society in Eileens Kitchen, Yonkers. This provided a great opportunity to meet with expatriates, a lot of who work in the construction industry and support Irish migrants. A number are also supporters of Project Children and will travel to Monaghan in October to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the initiative and the official opening of the archive in the Peace Campus.
Saturday 22nd March
St Patrick’s Day parade, Yonkers
On Saturday 22nd March, the delegation participated in the Yonkers St. Patrick’s Day parade in support of Denis Mulcahy, the Grand Marshall of the parade. After a breakfast in the Heritage pub and mass in St Barnabas church, the Monaghan County Council group marched in the parade with the Monaghan society. This was followed by a reception in St Barnabas’ hall. Again, the delegation had the opportunity to network with a number of Monaghan expatriates all of whom still have strong links to Monaghan.
Monday 24th March
New York Irish Centre
On Monday 24th March, the delegation met with George Heslin, Executive Director of the New York Irish Centre. The NY Irish Centre is based in Queens and hosts a regular programme of events and community led activities. After a brief presentation about the Kavanagh Centre and future plans, the group were treated to a very worthwhile session. George was invaluable in terms of providing an overview of NY Irish Arts Community and provided sound advice on how we should progress our proposed programme of work. He is also deeply connected to a variety of community groups, having worked and operated stateside for decades. He asked that Darren keep him in the loop with respect to future developments and plans. This will be beneficial in terms of driving engagement for any programme delivered by the Patrick Kavanagh Centre in New York.
Irish Arts Centre
Finally, the delegation met Rachel Gilkey, Director of Programming and Education at the Irish Arts Centre, based in Manhattan. Again, Darren McCreesh led the discussion with a brief overview about the Patrick Kavanagh Centre, its culture and arts programme and thoughts on a bespoke NYC programme for 2026. Darren expressed his thoughts on a potential collaboration between the PKC and IAC focussing initially on a celebration of the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award in 2026, as part of IAC’s Poetry Festival, which takes place early December annually. This could be the beginning of a longer term engagement with other Kavanagh focussed events potentially hosted at the IAC. This includes Ceol Connected stage performance for young audiences ‘The Land of a Hundred Little Hills’, based on Kavanagh’s beloved poem ‘A Christmas Childhood’. Rachel said she would open up the conversation with the Poetry Festival curator Vona Groarke and feedback. She also gave the delegation a tour of the IAC facilities including their 170 capacity (seating) performance space.