Promoting Irish-American Culture
and Preserving Local Histories
Through Year-Round Programs

The 2020 Irish-American Crossroads Festival

The Irish-American Crossroads Festival is a literary, musical, and cultural event that takes place every year in the San Francisco Bay Area during the month of March. It is a celebrated annual festival inviting the public to come together around inspired, creative, and relevant events regarding Irish and Irish-American history and culture.

FESTIVAL CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC OUTBREAK MARCH 2020

Scheduled Festival events

Sunday, March 1st. Telling the Untold: Uncovering and Healing in Irish/Irish-American Writing

1pm–3pm. Koret Auditorium, San Francisco Public Library, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco. | Uncovering the hidden, traumatic or denied past is a recurring theme in Irish and Irish-American writing focused on family histories. Éanlaí Cronin, Emer Martin and Linda Norton will share their work and join in conversation about the importance of exploring and sharing untold experiences. Admission free. more

Sunday, March 15th. Crossroads Salon

2-5pm. Private Residence in San Francisco. | Share and/or enjoy creative work inspired by Irish-American life in a comfortable and congenial Salon experience. A forum for writers and artists who have Irish or Irish-American heritages or are interested in exploring Irish-American themes, as well as for readers and viewers who want to participate in this exploration. This Salon will be hosted at a gracious residence in San Francisco with sweeping city views. Address available upon RSVP

Saturday and Sunday, March 21st and 22nd. The O’Kalem Film Collection.

Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum, 37417 Niles Boulevard, Fremont. | Times tba. The O’Kalem film collection contains a lot of firsts: the first fiction movie made in Ireland, the first film made on two continents and the origins of American film abroad. Between the years of 1910 and 1915, the Kalem company produced almost 30 Irish-themed films and as a result, were given the O’Kalem nickname. more

Saturday, March 28th. Patrick Ourceau & Richard Mandel

9pm. The Plough and the Stars, San Francisco. | Join us for an evening of Irish music featuring virtuoso fiddler Patrick Ourceau and renowned guitar player, Richard Mandel. Patrick Ourceau, a Franco-American fiddle player, has performed for over twenty-five years in various duets, trios and bands all over North America and Europe, including with the legendary Tulla Ceili Band and with the trio Chulrua. Local legend, Richard Mandel, is a member of Three Mile Stone, and has played with a variety of Irish musicians such as Gerry O’Connor, Paddy Keenan, Paddy O’Brien, along with many others. $20 at door.

Saturday, April 4th. Oral Histories of the Irish in San Francisco

1pm-3pm. United Irish Cultural Center, 2700 45th Avenue, San Francisco. | Join us for this 10th annual beloved event honoring the life histories of participants in The Irish Oral History Archive of the San Francisco Bay Area, a project of Crossroads Irish-American Festival. Bring the whole family. Admission free.

Saturday, April 4th. Borderlands

3.30pm-5.30pm. United Irish Cultural Center, 2700 45th Avenue, San Francisco. | In 2020, the 100th anniversary of the Government of Ireland Act, we reflect on the Irish border and engage in an exploration of the concept of borderlands and other borders.
Participants include:
Michelle Wallace, a writer of Mexican and Irish heritage, who is preoccupied with borders – the physical, geographical ones and the intangible, internal ones – and ways to heal and supersede them. Her work-in-progress, Aztlán, is a collection of short stories that blend Aztec and Catholic mythology, family lore and current events, and was inspired from this obsession.
Nadya Tannous, a passionate community organizer born and raised in the Bay Area (occupied Ohlone territories). She is a member of the Palestinian Youth Movement – USA and serves on staff at Eyewitness Palestine as the Education & Advocacy Coordinator.