The Imagine Ireland monthly newsletter for May shone its spotlight on the Cultural Ambassador for Ireland. The message says: “Forward to a friend”, so here it is in its entirety, with an image provided by us!

From Imagine Ireland:

In 2010, the Irish Government created the new position of Cultural Ambassador for Ireland, and during his visit to Washington DC for St Patrick’s Day, the Taoiseach announced award-winning actor Gabriel Byrne as the first appointee to this innovative role. Mr Byrne has been centrally involved in the development of Imagine Ireland, and we want to take this opportunity to introduce you to some of the projects he has been closely working on.

Gabriel is a wonderful interviewee and has been featured recently in some top-shelf press. To gain insight into his highly acclaimed acting work as well as his role as Cultural Ambassador, you can read interviews in the current issue of Film Ireland, The Guardian and Irish America. In the coming weeks he will also be featured in Time Out New York and interviewed on NPR’s Leonard Lopate Show on Friday May 20th at 12 noon EST.

Last month, Gabriel was the guest of honour at the prestigious Archaeological Institute of America’s Annual Gala, which took place on April 26th. Ireland was selected as the focus country for 2011 and to mark the occasion, Dr. Pat Wallace (Director, National Museum) gave a special address to a packed house, in an evening which included poetry, dance and a Gaelic feast created by native Dubliner and acclaimed Chef, Cathal Armstrong.  Read an interesting article about the food here.

Revisiting the Quiet Man: Ireland on Film is a season of films, curated by Gabriel Byrne in association with the Irish Film Institute and New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). The three-week programme, presented at MOMA takes The Quiet Man as its point of departure, drawing from a broad sweep of Irish and Irish American feature films. Revisiting The Quiet Man: Ireland on Film runs at MoMA from May 20-30. More details here.

Over here in Ireland, we are excited about the Dublin launch of Imagine Ireland, when Gabriel will be in attendance. We’re busy finalising even more events across the US in the second half of 2011 and already we have confirmed national tours by The Gate Theatre and an extensive tour by The National Chamber Choir of Ireland, who recently performed for President Obama at the White House.

Ireland America: The Ties that Bind, curated with the assistance of Gabriel, continues at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at the Lincoln Center until August 13th. This fascinating multi-media series exploring Irish culture and heritage is being celebrated with over 100 events connected to Imagine Ireland, in collaboration with The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, New York University’s Glucksman Ireland House and the Irish Film Institute.

For more news on Gabriel mark your diaries: on Friday May 27th, Gabriel will be interviewed live on the Late Late Show – the world’s longest running chat show by the same broadcaster – on RTÉ 1, at 9.30pm GMT. It can be viewed online here.

Copyright © Imagine Ireland 2011. All rights reserved.
Imagine Ireland is an initiative of Culture Ireland and is funded by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
Learn more about Culture Ireland.

2 Comments

    • I can imagine lots of things listening to his voice, not just Ireland LOL.
      I could listen to him talk until the cows come home, put on their pj’s and go on off to bed.

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