The street in front of the New York Irish Center in Long Island City is called Jackson Avenue, but it won’t be for long. On this Saturday, Feb. 7, beginning at 1 p.m., City Council Member Julie Won will celebrate the renaming of the street in front of 10-40 Jackson Ave. as New York Irish Center Place.
Former Executive Director of the New York Irish Center Paul Finnegan, who served from 2009 until 2020, remarked, “It is fitting that this section of Jackson Avenue will now be called the New York Irish Center Place because it is home to an inclusive, caring community in a building built lovingly with the hands of its past and present generations.”
Though it seems like only yesterday that the center first opened its doors, for 21 years a the NY Irish Center has served as the beating heart of the city’s Irish community. The idea for the center was conceived by Belfast native Fr. Colm Campbell who saw a need for a place for the Irish community to gather. The priest’s good friend, legendary Cavan singer Paddy Reilly, suggested to him that owning a building would give the Center the permanence it needed. Soon after, community leaders raised an impressive amount of cash and purchased the Long Island City property in 2003. Following a land and hard structural renovation by its early members, and generous gifts from local Irish building contractors, the Center opened its doors to all in 2005.
It is amazing how many different organizations find a home in the Irish Center. Last year alone a mind-boggling 25,000 came to the center, attending a huge variety of events staged by a diversity of groups. Forty-three different organizations use the center for Irish dance classes, Gaelic events, and literature, but the center’s outreach also includes groups that are not Irish, but serve the larger community including suicide prevention services, Alcoholic Anonymous meetings, immigration counseling and an ever-expanding list of others.
Many people are surprised to learn how many different activities the center hosts and that the center welcomes people of all races, ethnic backgrounds and faiths. Last year, for example, 18 Indian American events took place at the center. The center also teamed with Council Member Won to raise more than $14,000 in a Christmas toy drive for underprivileged children.
The man who keeps this dynamic center running is Limerick’s George Heslin, who is in his fifth year of leadership of multi-purpose community center. Prior to his appointment, George served as founding Artistic Director of off-Broadway’s Origin Theatre Company for 19 years. Though the warm, personable and capable Heslin is a modest man, he is rightfully proud of the social work the center does, noting, “No other Irish organization does what the New York Irish Center does.”
Though it is active in many other areas, Heslin said that first and foremost the center is a social service organization. He believes that the center radiates a typically Irish quality of welcoming people. The executive director himself exudes love for people, especially many of the Irish senior citizens for whom the center is a social lifeline. He describes his work helping Irish seniors living out their lives oversees as a “privilege,” and said the center plans to create more programs to cater to the needs of older Irish people including new programs in grief counseling and befriending seniors. Many of these seniors now have no living relatives in Ireland and the center is their only true connection to the land of their birth. Dozens of these Irish seniors look forward to the lunch the center serves them each Wednesday.
Heslin and his staff have worked tirelessly to expand the amazing cultural offerings the center stages including traditional Irish music, dance and theater. Last year the center staged 160 events, which paid some 400 artists who performed at them. Heslin and his staff have seen box office receipts rise an impressive 800% in the last five years.
Stageandcinema.com described the vibe at performances there, “Walking into the New York Irish Center in Long Island City for the first time to see a show feels a bit like stumbling into a well-kept secret; it’s an intimate gathering place and an unassuming, cozy, cultural enclave.”
Every year, the center hosts three annual programs. In March they stage 40 Shades of Green, a Saint Patrick’s Day cultural marathon celebrating Ireland’s patron saint. Along with Culture Lab LIC & McManus Irish Dance the center presents the Queens Irish Heritage Festival and they also stage Crossroads Concerts, an exciting new world music series that blends and juxtaposes Irish folk traditions with music from many other cultures.
The center faces funding challenges as fewer young Irish people come to New York and many former generous supporters have passed away, but Heslin is nothing if not optimistic and energetic.
All are welcome to the NYIC from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. (which is just a 3-minute subway ride from Grand Central to the Vernon-Jackson Avenue stop on the 7 train) to celebrate this amazing institution that serves our community in so many ways.
