REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE DINNER CELEBRATING THE GALA OPENING
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE DINNER CELEBRATING THE GALA OPENING OF THE ‘ISLAND: ARTS FROM IRELAND’ FESTIVAL
Tá lúcháir mhór orm bheith libh tráthnóna ag an tionól seo de Ghaeil agus de chairde na hÉireann.
I am delighted to be here for the opening of the Arts from Ireland Festival at this magnificent venue which serves as a living memorial to one of the most beloved sons of Irish heritage, John F. Kennedy. This is a fitting venue for this project which combines two subjects dear to the heart of President Kennedy: Ireland and the arts.
The Kennedy Center has played host to numerous memorable performances from all corners of the globe and I am sure that this unprecedented celebration of arts from Ireland, North and South, will add significantly to that illustrious canon.
Even the briefest glance at the program for the Festival indicates the quality of the material that has been brought together for this celebration of our culture and heritage. It is a truly unique and extraordinary event that encompasses the entire scope of Irish arts. As a native of Ulster, I particularly welcome the inclusive all-island dimension to the Festival.
We gather at an auspicious time when the hopes of moving far beyond the politics of distrust and conflict into an uncharted era of consensus and partnership may at last be realised. If they are, and we fervently pray they will be, the artificial barriers which have prevented generations of Catholic and Protestant, Unionist and Nationalist in Ireland from recognising their shared cultural heritage and enjoying their different cultural expressions, will soon, Please God, come tumbling down. Perhaps appropriately in this forum, we can begin that exciting adventure in shared and respectful cultural curiosity which will be the hallmark of this Millennial Ireland of peace and at peace.
The story of Ireland cannot be told without the story of America. The story of America cannot be told without the story of Ireland. Neither story can be told without the stories of England, Scotland and Wales. Like a rope made up of many and multicoloured strands twisted together - unwind the separate strands and they cannot be straightened for each bears the imprint the shape of the other and of the twisting process which first bound them to each other. There has been unhappiness and hate, hope and friendship in that twisting process of history. They have been unevenly distributed and the relationship between each of the coloured strands has been very different. But a new generation has been given the gift of change and the opportunity to transcend yesterday’s old blindspots and taboos to enter an altogether different dimension.
It is a new atmosphere offering great cultural potential yet to be realised, but captured in spirit in the closing lines of the poem ‘Dathanna’ by the Donegal poet Cathal O’Searcaigh:
“Anois tá an t-aer ar bharr amháin creatha, Mothaim tarraingteacha aisteacha in mo bheatha:
A! i ngach ceann de na ceithre hairde Tá mo chuid dathanna ag déanamh cairde.”
Gabriel Rosenstock translates those lovely Irish verses into English, thus:
“Now the air is all a-tremble,
My life is filled with strange attractions:
Ah! From here to where the world ends,
All my colours are making friends.”
And so if we have much to look forward to in a yet unscripted future we also have much to celebrate in this amazing showcase of music and dance, theatre, film, literature and visual arts from Ireland, the biggest ever been assembled in one venue.
It is absolutely right that the Festival should begin with a celebration of the links between Irish and American music. Few stories exemplify better the debt each owes to the other, the intricate web of borrowing and stealing, of developing and experimenting, of copying and mutating which links American culture to Irish culture and vice versa.
For several centuries now Irish music has been on the move, carried in the hands and voices of Irish people, shared with the new peoples and cultures they encountered, enriched and refreshened by new ideas and skills it encountered from strangers on the way.
Impoverished emigrants brought little baggage of value with them, but music like education is lightly carried and it was one of the few comforts they knew. It meant something far beyond mere entertainment, something infinitely more profound and satisfying. Once in America, Irish music opened itself to the rich mixture of emigrant dreams, new world optimism and the cultural diversity that was all around. It spun a web that linked it to a host of diverse traditions in its new home, from Bluegrass to Country to Folk and Rock. Tonight’s Gala opening concert and the other outstanding musical events of the Festival, will provide impressive evidence of the rich evolution of Irish music in its American home.
Ireland’s literary and theatrical genius has long been a source of both national pride and inspiration. Every generation takes seriously its debt to that historic tradition and each in turn has made its own distinctive mark. The three plays produced during the Festival are among the best of contemporary Irish theatre and they will be complemented by two programs of literary works, which reflect the magnificent depth and diversity of contemporary Irish literature.
The visual arts element of the Festival spans the broad range of art, from the traditional to the contemporary. The diverse traditions and narratives of modern Ireland are beautifully reflected in the program of contemporary Irish film which includes documentary, animation, short and feature films by gifted and successful film makers from both parts of the island.
I particularly welcome the major educational and outreach dimensions to the Festival which will link Irish and American schools through the study of each country’s culture and art. Through these projects and the imaginative use of Internet broadcasts and online performances, the Kennedy Center will continue to provoke and provide access for interest in Irish culture long after the Festival concludes.
I warmly commend those who have made this Festival possible and, in particular, wish to thank Jim Johnson, the Chairman of the Kennedy Center, and Lawrence Wilker, its President for their personal commitment to this project. The fact that the Center chose to honour the lasting contribution of Irish arts to world culture, and especially to American art forms, is high praise for the many artists and performers whose work features in the Festival.
I pay a particular tribute to my former neighbour in the Phoenix Park in Dublin, Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith. Her exceptional interest in and affection for Ireland have clearly not diminished since her time as a very distinguished US Ambassador to Ireland. Without her vision, imagination, determination and resourcefulness we would not be here this evening for this unprecedented celebration of the rich cultural heritage which binds both of our countries. None of us can claim sole rights of ownership over this treasury but we are its joint beneficiaries, its co-stewards and we are privileged to be such in these times of remarkable and realisable hope.
It is particularly resonant and moving that we are gathered here at the living memorial to the man who personally symbolised the depth, warmth and energy of the relationship between Ireland and America. The music he made with his thoughts, the dreams he painted with his words, these things endure not in aspic but in action. Here we are some 40 years later, his sister, brother, family and colleagues continuing to build, expand and to sustain the great love affair between our two countries.
Gura fada buan an chairdeas idir oileán na hÉireann agus na Stáit Aontaithe. Go raibh maith agaibh.