Comhaltas and St. Louis Irish Arts

Comhaltas, pronounced "Coal-tas' is based in Ireland.  

Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann is an Irish organization dedicated to the promotion of the Irish Arts. They pride themselves on the preservation and promotion of the Irish culture and St. Louis Irish Arts is proud to be one of the biggest Comhaltas branches in the United States.

We ask that each of our families join Comhaltas when you join us. Your membership helps Comhaltas to further promote and preserve the Irish arts. Comhaltas sponsors many events throughout the year and they do a lot of work to archive Irish tunes and stories.

For more information on this great organization, please see http://comhaltas.ie/about/

Our Comhaltas Board Members at St. Louis Irish Arts are:

Chairperson: Helen Gannon

Vice-Chairperson: Pam Zykan

Secretary: Cathy Thompson

Treasurer: Lee Smulczenski

Public Relations: Mike Mullins

Auditor: Debbie Winter-Becker

Irish Officer: Eileen Gannon

Youth Officer: Molly Krippene

 

Twinned with Skibbereen Branch

The Twinning of St. Louis Irish Arts and Skibbereen Comhaltas

The twin branch of St. Louis Irish Arts is located in West Cork and is known as Skibbereen Comhaltas.  In the West Cork Hotel in Skibbereen on August 14th 2007, Con McCarthy, chairperson of Skibbereen Comhaltas, and Helen Gannon, president of St. Louis Irish Arts and chairperson of the Comhaltas North American province, signed the document of the first official transatlantic twinning of two Comhaltas branches.  This historic event was attended by dignitaries from the Ard Chomairle of Comhaltas, actress Maureen O’Hara, and many of the local and regional Comhaltas members. The evening was highlighted by the joint and spectacular performance of the students and teachers from St. Louis Irish Arts and the Skibbereen Comhaltas branches.

Since twinning, we have taken students to Ireland to visit our partners there and they have also come over to us, here in St. Louis. This has proven to be a wonderful undertaking for both St. Louis Irish Arts and Skibbereen. Every year, Seán Walsh from Skibbereen comes to us during the Summer to direct the music intensive two week portion of our Summer Camp Program. We have helped each other immemsely. You can follow our Skibbereen partners on Facebook if you would like: https://www.facebook.com/skibbereencomhaltas