From September through December, Irish Arts Center (IAC) will present its Fall 2025 season at both its 11th Avenue home and its newly renovated original space on West 51st Street. The season includes programming in theater, music, visual art, literature and more, focused on Irish and Irish-American culture in the heart of New York City.
This marks the first time the Center will operate both venues simultaneously, part of a long-term expansion. The fall season continues the Irish Arts Center’s work as a link between Ireland and New York, bringing together various artists while expanding the organization’s footprint in the city.
Programming
The season’s theater program is led by Endgame, presented by Galway’s Druid Theatre in honor of its 50th anniversary. Directed by Tony Award winner Garry Hynes and starring fellow Tony winner Marie Mullen, the production brings Beckett’s take on isolation and absurdity back to New York.
Music highlights include Irish folk legend Andy Irvine, who returns for two solo shows on October 4 and 5. Known for his influential work since the 1960s with groups like Planxty, Irvine blends traditional Irish folk with Balkan influences and original songwriting. Later in the season, the Center’s annual Spirit of Ireland Gala on November 7 will feature a performance by BIIRD, an all-female traditional supergroup, at Pier 60.
Visual art programming includes Irish Gothic, a retrospective exhibition from Patricia Hurl, presented in partnership with the Irish Museum of Modern Art. The show spans four decades of Hurl’s work, addressing themes of violence, womanhood, and political memory.
The Café Concert Series, typically set within IAC’s Devlin Café, this season begins with a performance from Joshua Burnside, which, due to popular demand, has been moved to the JL Greene Theatre (November 10). Burnside recently won the Northern Ireland Music Prize for Best Album, and was dubbed, on SIRIUSXM, “the best thing about modern folk music.” Praises The Line of Best Fit, “Burnside’s stories are shrewd in their realisations… through traditional folk to college rock grandeur. He’s darkly funny and mundanely heartbreaking.”
In the Devlin Café, the season features two additional series: Traditional Irish Sessions (September 19, October 17, December 12), led by IAC fiddle teacher James Cleveland; and Big City Folk Song Club hosted by Irish songwriter Niall Connolly. The latter includes engagements with Thursday, September 18 Claire Wellin (Youth in a Roman Field) (September 18), John Cathal O’Brien (October 2), and Megan Burtt (November 17).
In a season illuminating the vast potential of IAC’s partnerships with other influential organizations (with non-musical collaborations bringing the institution together with Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) and Luail) IAC teams with Irish Traditional Music Archive (ITMA) to present a screening of The Fireman Fiddler of the Coombe, a film portrait of composer and fiddler Tommie Potts (October 7).
Fall 2025 Music Programming Details and Schedule
Traditional Irish Sessions
Friday, September 19 Slow session // 6pm–8pm, Traditional session // 8pm–11pm
Friday, October 17 Slow session // 6pm–8pm, Traditional session // 8pm–11pm
Friday, December 12 Slow session // 6pm–8pm, Traditional session // 8pm–11pm
Irish Arts Center hosts local traditional musicians and audience members alike at our popular session nights! Admission is free, and select events will kick off with a slow session for beginners led by IAC fiddle teacher James Cleveland.
Slow Session // This session is aimed at musicians who are developing their repertoire and are new to participating in traditional Irish sessions, enabling them to learn the customs and etiquette of a typical session.
Traditional Session // This session is aimed at practiced musicians who have developed their repertoire and are comfortable playing with other musicians.
Big City Folk Song Club
Thursday, September 18 – Claire Wellin (Youth in a Roman Field) 7-10pm
Thursday, October 2 John Cathal O’Brien, 7-10pm
Monday, November 17 Megan Burtt, 7-10pm
Hosted by critically acclaimed Irish songwriter Niall Connolly, Big City Folk Song Club is one of the best places in NYC to hear new music, counting Lana Del Rey, Anaïs Mitchell, Lucius, Mundy, Mick Flannery, Susan O’Neill, and hundreds more among its past performers. All are welcome, and admission is free.
An Evening with Andy Irvine, October 4–5, 7:30-9pm
“[Irvine’s] contribution and influence will be long lauded when the rest of us are long gone” — RTE
From Sweeney’s Men in the ’60s and Planxty in the ’70s, to his famed duo with Paul Brady and work with Patrick Street, Mozaik, LAPD and Usher’s Island, Andy Irvine has been a world music pioneer and icon of traditional music. The “often copied, never equalled” (The Irish Times) legend performs two solo shows on his first U.S. tour in nearly a decade.
Tommie Potts The Fireman Fiddler of the Coombe Co-presented with the Irish Traditional Music Archive (ITMA) Tuesday, October 7
A film portrait of the enigmatic Dubliner Tommie Potts, one of the most significant musical artists of the twentieth century— his 1972 Claddagh Records album The Liffey Banks is still sought-after worldwide today—and a working firefighter for most of his life. The screening will be followed by a discussion with filmmaker and singer Macdara Yeates, author and uilleann piper Seán Potts, retired FDNY battalion chief Eddie Boles, and RTÉ broadcaster Aoife Nic Cormaic, the evening’s moderator.
This occasion marks the U.S. launch of Tommie Potts: The Sorrowful and the Great, a publication by ITMA charting the life and artistic process of the extraordinary musician.
Cafe Concert Series Joshua Burnside Monday, November 10 7-8pm
Due to demand, we are moving this season’s Café Concert Series with Joshua Burnside to the JL Greene Theatre. Join the Belfast folk singer-songwriter and veteran of SXSW, Glastonbury, and Electric Picnic for a night of alternative Irish folk.
The season also features cross-Atlantic collaborations, family-friendly events and ongoing efforts to connect Irish culture with New York’s arts scene through diverse programming. To get a detailed schedule visit the IAC website.
To find more events in NYC, browse our NYC Metro section.
Watch below a video from the Irish Arts Center.
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