Join our team: Volunteer at ICONS

CONNECTIONS

The name ICONS was adopted in 2007 as a contraction of Irish Connections which is the essence of the Festival. And it is in exploring and celebrating those connections between various branches of Irish culture that we take most delight.

For a whole variety of reasons most of which were tragic, Ireland's population has spread far and wide around the globe and the influences that Diaspora has brought to bear on other music and art and literature, are what we celebrate over the weekend. That is why you wont be surprised to see Appalachian clogging alongside old style Irish dancing; you will hear songs sung in bluegrass style that trace their origins to Antrim or Armagh; you will hear Irish-America writers read from their work, and listen to fiddles from Quebec that share the spirit of a kitchen party in Cork or Cape Breton. These are the connections.

ICONS also recognizes the new systems of communication that have given us such connectivity in recent years, and embraces warmly the technology that allows an accordion player in Sydney, Australia to share a tune with a young player in Springfield, MA, or a native Gaelic speaker on Inish Mor on the Aran Islands to help hone the language skills of a young learner in Indianapolis.

This Global village allows us to share our cultural heritage in ways we never thought possible. So get involved with us by any means you feel comfortable. MySpace, Facebook, Beebo, whatever. We are INTO it!

And bring your camera phone, camcorder or whatever to the festival. (Professional equipment for obvious reasons, prohibited.) Share your memories and highlights, or just blog about them. The conversation has just begun!

Be sure to sign up for e-mail updates. We will send out additions to the line up, access to audio-video samples etc, and special offers you might be interested in.