Donate to win a week in Ireland on the Dingle Peninsula. Drawing 11/21. Click to Enter!
Halla Cairde: Honoring Our Past, Celebrating Our Future
Celtic Fair
Kick off your Holiday shopping at our annual Celtic Fair, a beloved holiday tradition featuring local artisans, food, baked goods, the Stillson Dancers, and more! Part of the State Street Stroll on November 9th, from 9:00 – 3:00. Come early to get the best selections. Volunteers needed.
Maine Irish Reads
“My Father’s House”
Next Meeting 11/14 at 7:30 PM
“My Father’s House” by Joseph O’Connor is a gripping historical novel set during World War II. It follows the story of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, a real-life Irish priest in the Vatican who organizes an underground network to help Jews and Allied soldiers escape from Nazi-occupied Rome. The novel combines suspense, heroism, and moral complexity, painting a vivid picture of wartime bravery and the fight against oppression.
Meet Deklin Fitzgerald, the first Mitchell Scholar to benefit from the fellowship-funding partnership between the Maine Irish Heritage Center and the Mitchell Institute. Our scholarship honors the memory of Eddie Murphy, and supports Mitchell Scholars who pursue fellowship opportunities in Ireland.
Join us for the Volunteer Appreciation Evening at MIHC
Join us this Wednesday evening for our Volunteer Appreciation evening. We’ll treat you to light refreshments, good conversation, building tours, and a refresher on (or introduction to) volunteering at the Center! You’ll also have the chance to meet our new Events and Marketing coordinator! Please RSVP to let us know if you plan on joining us.
Rent Our Space
The perfect venue for any occasion!
Host your event in the heart of Portland at the Maine Irish Heritage Center, one of the most magnificent buildings in Maine. It’s the ideal venue for weddings, music, theater productions, film screenings, workshops, business meetings, club gatherings, lectures, luncheons, parties, reunions, funerals, and life celebrations.
This Lughnasadh 2024 celebrates two great Irish artists, Paul Kelly and John O’Donnell. They approach their painting differently, but both are respected and collected artists, housing their art in museums and collections throughout Ireland and here in the U.S. Paul Kelly has donated a painting to the John F. Kennedy Centre in 2000, and John O’Donnell is a renowned curator himself who has directed the Dublin Simon Community Exhibit and auction for the unhoused in Ireland over the past two years. Last year, I had the honor of exhibiting with him in this exhibit at the Gormley Gallery in Dublin, with over 140 artists and Ireland’s top musical acts: Glen Hansard, Imelda May, Hozier and Bono were all performing. John’s work has been instrumental in creating an art world in Ireland committed to social and economic justice, and Paul is regarded as one of Ireland’s best traditional oil painters. Together they demonstrate the power of art to bridge the past and the contemporary, to bridge the artistic and the activist, and to bridge Irish and Irish American art with the various communities where they have worked, curated, exhibited, and drawn inspiration. We are honored to exhibit their work this Lughnasadh at Carrickahowley Gallery, and we invite all of you to take time to admire and reflect upon their creative practice.
–Robin Savage and Chris Gray
The Maine Irish Heritage Center Hours
Library and Self-Guided Genealogy Research
Thursdays 10:00 – 2:00
Genealogy Consultations by Appointment
Fridays 10:00 – 2:00
Our sincere thanks to our members, donors, business sponsors, grant and foundation supporters.
Special thanks to the Irish government for their investment in the Maine Irish Heritage Center.