The 2021 Irish-American Crossroads Festival

Saturday, March 6th. 1-3pm. Remembering Hillary

Hillary Flynn passed away in November 2020 following a courageous battle with cancer. Hillary was the guiding force behind the launch of the Irish-American Crossroads Festival in 2004. She held a vision for the Festival and worked tirelessly to see it come to fruition.

The March 6th memorial is open to the community, offering everyone an opportunity to share memories and reflections on Hillary’s continuing impact on us as individuals and as a community. Please join us as we pay homage to our dear friend. event has passed

Eamonn Flynn and Dr. Laura Kelley will lead us on this exploration of New Orleans, focusing on various waves of emigration from Ireland to the second biggest port in America at that time, and on how by the mid-19th century, 25% of the population of New Orleans was born in Ireland. We’ll look at how Irish culture influenced New Orleans in terms of language, neighborhoods, food, sport, music, dance, religion, politics, race, rituals around death, and parades.
Event Link

Saturday, March 20th, 1pm. Borderlands

In Borderlands, participants will focus on how living in or around borders impacts culture and identity, with a special focus on the Irish Border, the U.S./Mexico border as well as the Israel/Palestine border.  The event will feature Muiris MacGiollabhui, Postdoctoral Fellow at Notre Dame, Nadya Tannous, community organizer, member of the Palestinian Youth Movement – USA, and Education & Advocacy Coordinator at Eyewitness Palestine, and Michelle Wallace, an arts journalist who is preoccupied with borders–the physical, geographical ones and the intangible, internal ones–and ways to heal and supersede them.

Register in advance to attend this meeting. Registration

Saturday, April 3rd, 1pm. Crossroads Salon

Join us to share or enjoy creative work inspired by Irish-American life in this online meeting of the Crossroads Salon. The Crossroads Salon is 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.

Register in advance to attend this meeting. Registration

Sunday, April 11th, 1pm. Oral Histories of the Irish in San Francisco

Ever the vehicle to launch us through portals in time and space, join us for our 10th annual event honoring the life histories of participants in the Irish Oral History Archive of the San Francisco Bay Area.

This year participants from the archive will be Elizabeth Shaughnessy and Geraldine Finn who will tell their stories.
Elizabeth is founder of the Berkeley Chess School and regularly represents the Irish national team at the Chess Olympiad. Geraldine is the Senior Director, People Strategy & Innovation at Twitter.

Register in advance to attend this meeting. Registration