Biden, Kenny for D.C. opening of IRELAND 100

Enda Kenny is on his way to Washington, D.C.

By Irish Echo Staff

Vice President Joe Biden and Taoiseach Enda Kenny are expected to attend tomorrow night’s opening of IRELAND 100 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

The center is hosting an opening performance for “IRELAND 100: “Celebrating a Century of Irish Arts & Culture.”

Festival Artist-in-Residence, Fiona Shaw, will direct a performance featuring artists from Ireland and the United States and who will be joined on stage by the National Symphony Orchestra.

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Kenny and Biden are both going to speak at the opening and, according to a release, their remarks will be live streamed at www.whitehouse.gov.

Running from May 17 to June 5, the festival will be highlighting Irish culture and its relationship to America.

IRELAND 100 is the centerpiece in the United States of the global commemoration of the 1916 Easter Rising, a historic event that led to Ireland’s independence, said the release.

Curated by Alicia Adams, Vice President of International Programming and Dance, the three week-long festival includes dozens of performances from some of Ireland’s best contemporary musicians, dancers, and theater companies, as well as free Millennium Stage performances, a literature series, documentary film screenings, educational activities, culinary events, installations, and an outdoor green space for picnicking, performances, and more.

Over the course of the three weeks various events will take place in venues throughout the building that will highlight Irish culture and its relationship to America.

Tara Erraught and Anthony Kearns, Fiona Shaw, and Enda Walsh are among the artists scheduled to participate.

The festival also includes film screenings, culinary events, and three weeks of free performances on the Millennium Stage.

In addition, the festival will highlight Irish literature, regarded for its strength and quality throughout the world, with a series of panel discussions featuring more than twenty authors, playwrights, and poets.

More information about the festival at kennedy-center.org/ireland100.

The John F. Kennedy for the Performing Arts is America’s national cultural center as well as a living memorial to President Kennedy.

 

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