Siamsa Tíre Marks 50th Anniversary Of First Ever Performance

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CEO of Tourism Ireland, Niall Gibbons opened celebrations at Siamsa Tíre on Thursday evening to officially mark the 50th anniversary of the first ever performance.

Kerry tourism representatives from Kerry county attended from accommodation, attractions, activity and service providers.

Mr Gibbons talked about the growth of the tourism industry over the last fifty years to a six billion euro industry employing over 290,000 jobs across Ireland, and the importance of culture in differentiating ourselves in a competitive global market.

With larger volumes of visitors, Mr Gibbons also stated that with this growth comes greater responsibility, therefore sustainability is coming to the fore.

Niall Gibbons, CEO Tourism Ireland comments; “Congratulations to Siamsa Tíre on your 50th anniversary – it has a wonderful track record of nurturing and showcasing traditional Irish arts over these fifty years and training performers through the generations. It is very much an authentic piece of what we have to offer visitors in Ireland. Also congratulations on what you’ve done in terms of the Green Award and being nominated in the category of Best Newcomer.”

Gibbons added; “Congratulations to everyone in Kerry involved in the GLAN initiative. Everything you are doing here in terms of sustainability makes a difference. We all have to work together to make sure we live up to what people expect when they get there. Our image abroad changes very slowly and those important principles of people, landscape and culture are really embedded in people’s minds when they think of visiting Ireland so it is important that we continue to maintain and market this island as a green, clean and sustainable destination.”

The keynote was followed by a reception enabling tourism providers to network and they then enjoyed a performance of Fadó Fadó – the first folk dramatisation of authentic traditional Irish music, song and dance.

The cast for this year’s summer season of performances will reach over 100 performers comprising of multi-talented champion dancers, singers and musicians all professionally trained in the Siamsa style.

This year they will perform across five different productions for national and international audiences. The summer season runs through to Thursday 20th September 2018 and will include a brand new show launching in August An Gaoth Aniar.

The first performance took place in 1968 in Balloonagh School Tralee, by Siamsóirí na Ríochta as it was then known, and they went on to perform in a variety of venues in Ireland and abroad, as well as performing on national radio and television.

In 1974, Siamsa Tíre, the National Folk Theatre (NFT) of Ireland was then established as a professional theatre company and has expanded over the years through its Training Academies.

The founding of Siamsa Tíre, the National Folk Theatre of Ireland, was motivated by a desire to preserve and showcase Ireland’s great wealth of music, song, dance and folklore on stage through vibrant, colourful theatrical entertainment and continue to create new folk theatre productions, drawing on our traditions and rich cultural reservoir.

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