S2E4: Turlough McConnell - Champion of Irish Culture in America
Turlough Links
“Seamus” Plug:
History Loves A Parade: 260 Years of the St. Patrick's Day Parade
- Online on Wed, March 17, 2021, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM ET
· Website: Turlough McConnell Communications
Preview Video
Episode Description
A brick came through the window and an idyllic life in the Co. Donegal resort town of Buncrana was shattered as The Troubles spilled over from Derry with the realization that “This can end.”
Working to ensure that it doesn’t end for Irish art, culture, and history in America, Turlough McConnell committed to a creative life. As a writer, producer, curator and as president/CEO of Turlough McConnell Communications, he continually creates original landmark culture projects that interpret the Irish experience in America.
In this episode, we explore Turlough’s journey from Donegal to Dublin, London, and finally to New York, his shift from corporate to culture, why the famine looms over all his creative work, why he regards Archbishop John Hughes--a.k.a. Dagger John--as the greatest Irish immigrant ever, his admiration for James Joyce and Eugene O’Neill, and why he wishes he could be our previous Irish Stew guest Ted Smyth.
Join us as we explore a life lived in the creative space with a leading interpreter of “Ireland in American” in this episode of our “Global Irish Nation Conversation.”
Turlough McConnell
President/CEO of Turlough McConnell Communications
Turlough McConnell is a producer and writer with over two decades of experience as a creative program executive in the Irish-American market. He has developed an extensive network of contacts in the US, Ireland and United Kingdom. As President and CEO of Turlough McConnell Communications, Turlough’s body of work includes exhibitions such as 80 Years of Service, at the Consulate of Ireland in NY; multi-media products and documentary films, including The Brian P. Burns Collection of Irish Paintings: Portrait of a People; and live events like the inaugural tour of the Jeanie Johnston, a replica famine ship. He acts as Special Advisor for the Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT.
In his role as Contributing Director of Special Features for Irish America Magazine, Turlough produces special supplements, overseeing content, design and all aspects of production. Recent subjects have included the John J. Burns Library at Boston College and Titanic Belfast. For Quinnipiac University, he co-published the book, Celebrating 250 Years of the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
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