25th Annual Spirit of Ireland Gala

IRISH ARTS CENTER TO HONOR MERYL STREEP, 3-TIME ACADEMY AWARD WINNER AND 21-TIME NOMINEE, AT 25^th ANNUAL SPIRIT OF IRELAND GALA

Irish Arts Center is thrilled to announce the iconic screen legend Meryl Streep, a three-time Academy Award winner and 21-time nominee, as the honoree of our 25^th Annual Spirit of Ireland Gala on Friday, November 15th, at Pier Sixty, Chelsea Piers in New York City. 

As we approach the end of our third full calendar year of programming in our landmark new home in Hell's Kitchen, this year’s Gala will also include a musical performance by the award-winning Declan O'Rourke, the much beloved, chart-topping Irish singer-songwriter and frequent visiting artist to Irish Arts Center.

Meryl Streep’s countless transformations have consistently brought boundless humanity and complexity to her characters, earning her the frequent title of “best actress of her generation”—as well as record numbers of Oscar (21) and Golden Globe (33) nominations. 

Ms. Streep, whose maternal great-great-grandmother Grace Strain left Horn Head, Co. Donegal for New York in 1864, has been praised for her performance as Kate Mundy in the Co. Donegal-set 1930's period drama Dancing at Lughnasa. The New York Times wrote of this performance, “Meryl Streep has made many a grand acting gesture in her career, but the way she simply peers out a window in Dancing at Lughnasa ranks with the best. Everything the viewer need know about Kate Mundy, the woman she plays here, is written on that prim, lonely face and its flabbergasted gaze.”

In accepting the invitation to be honored, Meryl Streep said, “I am thrilled and delighted to join my Irish friends on the night in support of this extraordinary Center and its dedicated staff and associated writers, performers, and artisans. I know the craic will be good!!”

Our Spirit of Ireland Gala supports our extraordinary multidisciplinary artistic programming and community education, allowing us to present hundreds of Irish artists and first-rate cultural experiences at an accessible cost to tens of thousands of audiences of all backgrounds, in an environment of great Irish hospitality.

For information on tickets, reservations, and VIP packages, please click here, or contact Laney Granito at laney.granito@irishartscenter.org.