The New York Irish Center has announced major “winter-spring” highlights for its 2025/26 season, including its annual St. Patrick’s Day festival “40 Shades of Green” and the return of the “Crossroads Concerts” series, which blends traditional Irish music with music from around the world.
NY Irish Center, located at 10-40 Jackson Ave., will also host the fifth annual Queens Irish Heritage Festival this spring in addition to America’s first-ever Irish-language film festival in February.
The ongoing 2025/26 season, the 21st since the foundation of the NY Irish Center in 2002, will also see the return of the annual “Women of Ireland – a New York Celebration,” recognizing the achievements of women in fields such as business, community engagement and the arts. The Blarney Star, a huge Irish trad series that has been ongoing for the past 32 years, will also take place on three separate dates across winter and spring.
The second half of the season will kick off with the start of the Crossroads Concert series on Jan. 29, curated by Irish musician Colin Harte. The first concert in the series will see a fusion of Irish folk music and Southern Italian-Sicilian music.
Other concerts in the series include a fusion of Irish and Turkish music (Feb. 26), Irish and Sene-Gambian music (March 26), traditional Irish music and Moroccan Gnawa (April 16) and a blend of Irish music and Puerto Rican Bomba on May 28. The series will conclude with a fusion of Irish and Albanian music on June 11.
NY Irish Center Executive Director George Heslin said the series, first launched in October 2024, will help create new friendships and collaborations celebrating the cultural richness of New York.
“Once again we are delighted to open our doors wide for our neighbors in Queens and across New York,” Heslin said in a statement.
In the meantime, the center will host its Women of Ireland celebration on at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 2, which corresponds with Ireland’s St. Brigid’s Day public holiday. The holiday, officially launched in 2023, recognizes St. Brigid as a symbol of Irish women.
Journalist Sadhbh Walshe will give a presentation on St. Brigid at the invitation-only event, while Forbes contributor Gemma Allen will moderate a guest panel represented by women in the business, arts and community sector.
From Feb. 19-21, the Irish Center will host “Fís Nua” (Irish for New Vision), an Irish-language film festival featuring seven feature-length and short films. The festival will open with a panel talk and reception at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 19, with Irish-language radio contributor Caoimhe Nic Giollarnáith hosting an opening panel discussion. Festival passes start at $40, with day passes starting at $10.
NY Irish Center will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on March 17 with “40 Shades of Green,” a six-hour cultural marathon featuring a cavalcade of more than 50 performers from New York and further afield. Day passes are now on sale for $40, while entry is free for children aged 12 and under.
The Queens Irish Heritage Festival, meanwhile, is set to return to Culture Lab LIC at a date yet to be announced. Now in its fifth year, the festival features five continuous hours of performances, including singers, musicians, dance groups and other performances celebrating Irish heritage and global cultures.
The event will take place rain-or-shine at Culture Lab’s outdoor venue, with the 2025 event taking place on June 14.
The Blarney Star, a series of Irish trad music concerts running since the early 1990s, will also take place on three separate dates during the winter-spring season, including dates on Feb. 13, March 6 and April 17.
