2019
Saturday, November 9, 2019
44th AITA CONFERENCE
Our 44th annual AITA Conference will be held on Saturday, November 9, 2019 at the NY Irish Center, 1040 Jackson Avenue, in Long Island City, thanks to the gracious hospitality of the NYIC’s Executive Director (and AITA member), Paul Finnegan.
It will be a day of extraordinary exploration of the arts led by our distinguished speakers:
Mick Moloney, internationally renowned
musician, folklorist, author, arts advocate,
and Global Distinguished Professor at NYU, along
with Lenwood Sloan whose long and illustrious career includes being former Director of the National Endowment of the Arts landmark Presenting and Commissioning Program and a participant in the Emmy Award winning
“Ethnic Notions,” Stephen Foster;
Geoff Cobb, educator, historian, author, and vice president of the NY Irish History Roundtable;
and Alison Armstrong, artist, author, and professor at the School for Visual Arts.
Once again, we will print a souvenir journal, our single fundraising appeal of the year. Please consider a submission to send a greeting to family or friends, to commemorate a unique occasion, or to honor the memory of a loved one. If you are a member of another organization or in the business community, we hope you will use our journal to reach the special market our membership represents.
Here are more details about our speakers and their presentations, the schedule for the day, registration, and how to contribute to our conference journal.
Conference Journal Agreement Form
With gratitude and best regards,
Doris Marie Meyer, AITA President
2018
Saturday, November 17, 2018
43rd AITA CONFERENCE
Please join the American Irish Teachers Association's for our 43rd annual conference: "Memory & Legacy"
Date: Saturday, November 17, 2018
Location: NY Irish Center, 1040 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City
(one stop on the 7 train from Grand Central Station)
Donation: $25 or $12 for students with I.D. and senior members of the UICA or any Irish county society
Program:
9:00 -- Registration & Light Breakfast of coffee, tea, juice, Irish soda bread
10:00 -- Remarks, Consul General of Ireland in NY, Ciaran Madden,
followed by a memorial tribute to past AITA president and vice-president, John J. Garvey,
with speakers including Paul Finnegan, John Gray, Maureen Murphy, Thomas V. Murphy, Maura
Mulligan, Mae O'Driscoll, John Ridge, Frank Schorn, and songs from Donie Carroll.
12:30 -- Lunch, a full hot buffet with wine and dessert catered by John Browne of Grandstand Restaurant,
for an additional $30.00, or on your own at one of the neighborhood restaurants
2:00 -- Film, "A Jesuit with the People", presented by Peter McDermott, Deputy Editor of the Irish Echo,
followed by a Q&A period. Please read below for more information. *
3:30 -- Wine & Cheese Social & Raffle for Great Prizes
For more information, please contact dorismeyer@aol.com or call 917-691-2883. Thanks very much.
*"A Jesuit with the People"
by Peter McDermott, recently printed in the Irish Echo:
In a 1966, episode of TV’s “Firing Line,” the poet, novelist, anarchist philosopher and author of “Growing Up Absurd” Paul Goodman told host William F. Buckley Jr. that the college students he was teaching were struggling to find their own identities and were not having much luck with society’s available vocations.
“So far as they can see most of the vocations in our society are corrupt,” the native New Yorker Goodman said. “Very few are exempt from that. You know, the law is corrupt. Business is corrupt. Politics is corrupt. The physical sciences have become corrupt. Religion is becoming a little less corrupt for them. You know, theology, seminaries [and so on].”
Three years later in Limerick City, Ireland, 17-year-old Michael O’Sullivan joined the Society of Jesus or Jesuits. It set him on a path that would take him as a 30-year-old priest to a Chile under the dictatorship of General Pinochet.
“A Jesuit with the People,” a 54-minute filmed interview with O’Sullivan about his experiences there, will be presented as part of the American Irish Teachers Association conference “Memory & Legacy” on Saturday, Nov. 17, at the New York Irish Center.
“It’s a very rare campus in the United States that the center of radical activity is not in the chapel,” Goodman pointedly said to the conservative Catholic Buckley, “and you know that.”
For O’Sullivan, a pastor in three parishes in the northern city of Arica, the chapel was one place a traumatized people could begin to work non-violently for social change.
While inspired specifically by liberation theology, the Irish priest was also standing in a recent tradition in western countries that included the worker-priests of France and leaders like his fellow Jesuit Fr. John Corridan – born in New York the same year as Goodman, 1911 – who led the battle for social justice on New York’s waterfront.
Conference Cover Letter and Registration Form
I hope to see you on November 17th.
With thanks and best wishes,
Doris Marie Meyer, AITA President
Saturday, April 14, 2018
42nd AITA CONFERENCE
Please save the date April 14th for this year's annual AITA conference which will be held at the New York Irish Center in Long Island City. We are delighted to hold our conference in this outstanding center led by AITA member, Paul Finnegan, NYIC Executive Director. The Irish Center is located at 1040 Jackson Ave., L.I.C. NY 11101 and is one stop on the 7 train from Grand Central.
A conference package with complete details about the day includes information about our esteemed speakers and their presentations: Hilary Sweeney of New York University on the intersecting roles of the Irish and urban work horses in NYC ; Dave Hannigan of Suffolk Community College on Eamon DeValera in New York; Andrew McGowan, founder and president of the W.B. Yeats Society of NY on John Butler Yeats (the poet's father) as a New Yorker; and film maker Macdara Vallely on a documentary planned about Irish labor leader in NYC, Mike Quill.
Attached is a form for submission to our souvenir conference journal. It is our single fundraising activity of the year, and we are very grateful for your support.
Here are more details about our speakers and their presentations, the schedule for the day, registration, and how to contribute to our conference journal.
Conference Journal Agreement Form
With our sincere thanks and best wishes,
Doris Marie Meyer, AITA President
John J. Garvey, Vice President
Saturday, March 17, 2018
NYC ST. PATRICK'S DAY PARADE ON MARCH 17th
Dear Members and Friends of the American Irish Teachers Association:
Please join us on March 17th as we proudly march in the 2018 NYC St. Patrick's Day Parade. We will assemble at 3:40 p.m. on East 48th Street, just off Fifth Avenue.
It is a great privilege for the AITA to have a place in this historic parade, and we hope you will be able to share the experience with us. We encourage you to invite your colleagues and/or family members as well. Kindly keep in mind that conservative dress is required for the march.
It would be helpful to know if you plan to march with us, so please respond to this invitation by email DorisMeyer@aol.com or phone (917 691 2883) by March 16th.
2016
Saturday, November 5, 2016
The AITA's 41st Annual Conference, "A Celebration of Ireland's History Through the Arts", will be held on Saturday, November 5th, 2016 at the Liederkranz Club. We are delighted to announce that our speakers this year will be Susan McKeown, Mick Moloney, Vincent Woods, and Colin Harte.
Please download these documents for more information about our speakers and for details regarding registration for the conference and our gourmet buffet luncheon.
Conference Program and Registration
Presentations/Speakers/Schedule
2015
Saturday, November 7, 2015
Our 40th annual AITA Conference will be held on Saturday, November 7, 2015 at the Liederkranz House. This milestone year will pay tribute to the centenary of Ireland's Easter Rising of 1916. We are proud to present the following speakers: Dr. Maureen Murphy; Dr. Lucy McDiarmid; Mr. Kevin Westley, and Mr. Andrew McGowan.
Please download these documents for more information about our speakers and for details regarding registration for the conference and our gourmet buffet luncheon.
Letter from AITA President and Vice-President
40th Annual AITA Conference Brochure
Please note you may contribute to our 40th Anniversary Souvenir Conference Journal by purchasing an ad for your personal message or business promotion.
Our 2015 conference promises to be a very special one and we are looking forward to welcoming you -- educators and non-educators alike -- to join us for an extraordinary day.
2014
Saturday, November 8, 2014
Our 39th annual all-day conference will be held on Saturday, November 8, 2014 at the Liederkranz Club from 9 am to 5 pm.
This year's conference, "Well Versed: A Celebration of Poetry from Ireland and America", will be feature the highly acclaimed arts journalist, Earle Hitchner (who will also serve as co-host), the prize-winning poets Sean Nevin, Connie Roberts, and Terence Winch along with renowned piper Jerry O'Sullivan and singer Niamh Hyland. The day will be dedicated to the memory of Seamus Heaney, and each will read one of the late Nobel Prize winner's poems as part of their individual presentations.
Please click for more information regarding registration, our luncheon, and the unique opportunity to place an ad in the AITA's annual journal, our single fundraiser of the year.
We hope to see you on November 8th!
Conference Program and Details About Our Presenters
Conference Journal Submission Form
Conference/Luncheon Registration Form
Thursday, April 3, 2014
UFT Irish American Committee and the Jewish Labor Committee: Thursday, April 3, 2014, 5:30 pm, Annual Frank McCourt Memorial Lecture given by renowned and award winning musician and scholar Dr. Mick Moloney of NYU on "If It Wasn't For the Irish and the Jews: An Exploration of the Historical Links and Influences of Early Tin Pan Alley on America". $5 fee includes light refreshments.
UFT Headquarters, 52 Broadway, 19th Floor.
Monday, March 17, 2014
On Monday, March 17th, the AITA will once again be marching in New York City's oldest parade down Fifth Avenue. Our line up time is 3:40 pm on East 48th Street between Madison and Fifth Avenue. Around 5:30 pm we'll have a gourmet buffet dinner ($34) in the Liederkranz Club. Please contact dorismeyer@aol.com by March 14th if you would like to join the march and/or make a reservation for dinner.
See menu.
Friday, March 14, 2014
Our good friends at the Irish Arts Center have given us a generous discount code for buying tickets to "Celtic Appalachia", a concert featuring Mick Moloney along with other amazing performers, at Symphony Space, 95th Street and Broadway, on March 14th at 8 pm.
The code is CAFRIENDS for UFT and AITA members to get $40 tickets in tier 1 non-premium seats (regularly $50), and $32 tickets in tier 2 balcony seats (regularly $40). This discount code is available online at http://www.irishartscenter.org/music/celtic_appalachia_2014.html or by calling the Symphony Space box office at (212) 864-5400.
Please click here to see the flyer for more information about registration.
Friday, March 6, 2014
You are invited to attend the UFT Irish American Committee's annual heritage celebration and this year's tribute to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum for the Moore Family Irish apartment.
See the flyer for more details.
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Join us at the annual educators seminar of the Irish American Heritage & Culture Committee NYC Dept. of Ed. The seminar will take place on January 25, 2014 at the American Irish Historical Society.
Please click here to see the flyer for more information about registration.
2013
Sunday, December 15, 2013
The Irish Arts Center will present Mick Moloney and an all star cast of performers in a special Christmas concert to help benefit the outstanding work of the Center. This special event will take place on Sunday, December 15 at 7:00 p.m. at Symphony Space Theater on Broadway and 96th Street.
The IAC price for a prime seat in the orchestra as well as a highly exclusive invitation to a reception prior to the concert is $100 per person. If you purchase a ticket, you can help the AITA support this event and have the name of our organization listed in the concert program as a "host."
The Irish Arts Center will seat AITA members together, so it will be a lovely way to socialize.
If you'd like to take advantage of this unique opportunity, please send your check made payable to the AITA as soon as possible to:
The American Irish Teachers Association
The Liederkranz Club
6 East 87th Street
New York, NY 10128
You also have the option of sending your check directly to the Irish Arts Center, but you must indicate that you are a member of the AITA.
Saturday, November 9, 2013
The 38th annual AITA Conference will be held on Saturday, November 9th, 2013 at the Liederkranz Mansion, 6 East 87th Street, NYC. This year's speakers are Joe Lee of New York University, Maureen Murphy of Hofstra, and John Ridge of NY Irish History Roundtable.
Please click here for more information about registration and lunch options. In addition, please read about how you can contribute to the AITA conference journal -- our single fund raising activity.