We are delighted to announce our special event as part of
Culture Night Galway 2013. The Archives and Special Collections Service of the
Hardiman Library, NUI Galway have been showcasing some of our collections and treasures on Culture Night on
past years and this year we are delighted to be hosting Staging Ireland: Irish Culture at Home and Abroad - from An
Tóstal to the Gathering.
An Tóstal, first staged in 1953, was a showcase for
Irishness, Irish culture and identity. Its events were steeped in spiritual,
mythological and national symbolism. It was initiated as a means of attracting
visitors and the Irish diaspora to Ireland during the Easter period, as well as
giving a platform to Irish culture in a new fledgling Republic.
Author, Felicity Hayes-McCoy is the special guest speaker
for this Culture Night event, and has been writing specifically on The
Gathering and on Irish culture at home and abroad. Felicity is the daughter of
Professor Gerard Anthony Hayes-McCoy, former Chair of History at NUI Galway and
an advisor and script-writer for the Tóstals of the 1950's. As part of this
Culture Night event, there will be a special showcase of digitised archival
material from the Hayes-McCoy archive, which is held at the James Hardiman
Library.
John Cox, University Librarian at NUI Galway comments: “We
are delighted once again to take the opportunity offered by Culture Night to
engage the public with our archives and in particular to host such a
distinguished speaker as Felicity Hayes-McCoy. This event will be a unique
opportunity to explore the tradition of Irish culture, its imagery, symbolism
and connection to the world, as well as the past connection of NUI Galway to
this staging of Ireland, through the Hayes-McCoy archive.”
Felicity Hayes-McCoy said: “As a writer with a lifelong
interest in mythology and folklore, I am drawn to the imagery, symbolism and
ritual invoked in these festivals. And because I come from a background of
theatre and broadcast, I am fascinated by the differences and similarities between
An Tóstal and The Gathering – not just in terms of the messages they chose to
send out, but by the collaborative, and sometimes contentious, process of
conceiving and conveying them.”
The event will take place in the new Arts, Humanities and
Social Science Research Building, adjacent to the James Hardiman Library, with
doors opening at 5.30pm. The event is free but booking is essential.
For further information, contact
barry.houlihan@nuigalway.ie /
aisling.keane@nuigalway.ie or phone 091 493476.
No comments:
Post a Comment