As a complement to the festival, "Island: Arts from Ireland," Irish Studies Associate Director Robert Savage is coordinating an interdisciplinary conference to explore the Irish experience at home and abroad. Titled "Ireland: Politics, Culture and Identity," the conference will take place from May 14-17 in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
According to Savage, the event will bring together leading artists, scholars and writers from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean to examine such themes as cultural change in contemporary Ireland, Republicanism and Nationalism in the new millennium, the Irish Diaspora and the representation of Ireland in film. Assoc. Prof. Kevin Kenny (History) will be among several representatives from Irish Studies programs at American and Irish universities presenting keynote addresses.
More information on the festival and conference is available at http://kennedy-center.org/irishfestival/.
-Sean Smith