10/13/2026
Exciting and important news for Irish Arts Center, and also some personal news from our longtime executive director, Aidan Connolly. We’ve raised $40 million to complete our Phase Two/51st Street redevelopment, for which design is complete, and construction will commence early next year. Having opened Phase One in 2021, this completes the capital fundraising for our two-phase $100 million transformation. We’re also announcing that, after twenty years, Aidan Connolly is planning to conclude his tenure as Executive Director next summer. As part of a long-planned transition, he will remain as a senior advisor to the board through the 51st Street construction, while serving as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Galway in 2027-2028, distilling and sharing lessons from two decades of cultural entrepreneurship. “We couldn’t be prouder of Aidan Connolly’s transformative twenty-year tenure of leadership at Irish Arts Center,” said Board Chair John Martin, on Connolly’s decision to conclude his time as executive director next summer. “Much as we wish he would remain, we are grateful he will stay on as an advisor to the board to help transition new leadership and see through our 51st Street construction.”
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