Catskills Irish Arts Week – The Interview

The Catskills Irish Arts week in East Durham, New York, recently finished it’s 16th year, and IDM’s got the lowdown with the man everyone wants to speak to – organiser Paul Keating! The festival, which this year ran from the 11th – 17th July, has enjoyed huge success since it first began in 1996, and is growing year on year. But just what inspired the creation of the arts week? Paul explains: ‘The upstate New York hamlet was a destination for many Irish immigrants from New York to Boston for the depression era up to the 1970s when jet airplanes made travel to Ireland faster and more affordable.
The area needed a strong economic boost so the idea of creating a Willie Clancy type summer school there for a week seemed to try given the rising popularity of traditional music and set dancing.’ The festival has certainly tapped into a demand for a celebration of Irish culture in New York, with over 500 students signing up to register for a class. 65 teachers were on hand to deal with the demand for the classes, which included jewelry design, stone and wood carving, oil painting, and plenty of Irish dance classes, including step dancing, sean nos dancing and country set dancing. Additionally, music and dance performances are available throughout the festival, filling the streets with the sound of fiddles, flutes and accordians. According to Paul, the evening concerts in the open air pavilion on the Quill Festival grounds are the most popular ‘without question. We have crowds of 500 or more assembled in one place to listen!’ Impressive stuff, and it’s great to know that the Irish spirit is still alive and kicking in New York! But then, with such an incredible spectrum of fantastic activities, it’s no wonder the Catskills Irish Arts week has proven so popular. We want to go!!!