The Ireland Fund honored Colin Quinn as their Irish Spirit Honoree. During his speech, he had the crowd’s attention immediately and filled the room with laughter.
Following Colin Quinn’s speech was an auction that was fundraising money for a new Irish Arts Center which will contain a purpose-built, state-of-the- art contemporary performance space for music, dance, and theatre seating up to 160. There will also be a second, intimate performance space – the renovated historic Irish Arts Center theatre – optimized for live music, literature, film, talks, large classes and special events. Classrooms and a studio space will be built for community education programs in Irish music, dance, language, history, the humanities, and for master classes and workshops by visiting and resident artists. It will also include technology capability to project the Irish Arts Center experience on the digital platform, an avenue-facing café lobby to engage with the neighborhood and provide a social setting for conversation and interaction between artists and audiences. A beautiful new courtyard entrance on 51st Street will also be built where the historic Irish Arts Center building and the new facility meet. The auction included items given by special guest two time Super Bowl champion NY Giants player, David Diehl. Other VIP guests included: Dean Winters, Jared Jeffries, John Duddy, Colin Broderick, and Paul Costsbile.
Following the auction, guests gathered on the dance floor to dance the night away while The Dane Wright Band, put on an energizing and fun performance!
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