The Keltic Dreams were invited to perform in Aras an Uachtaran for President Mc Aleese in Ireland
"The President invited us to perform in her house!!!!!!"

Last May, thanks to the support of many donors and friends of TheKelticDreams, this group of Multi-ethnic children went on the trip of a lifetime and performed in the land where their dance was born, Ireland.

We plan to do it again in May 2008. The flights have been booked and we have raised $50,000 through kind donations. We have another $22,000 to go.

Thanks to the generous donations of people all over the United States and Ireland, The Keltic Dreams were able to travel to Ireland last May and took Ireland by storm. The Keltic Dreams are a multi-ethnic group of 35 children from Public School 59 in the Bronx. These children are aged from 7 - 12 and are mostly Latino and African American, with absolutely no background in Irish dance or culture. The school is situated in a low Socio Economic area in the Bronx and has a 95% poverty rate. These children have had their own shows on The Plaza at Lincoln Center, in the Bronx Botanical Garden for Bronx Week , St Barnabas Nursing Home, on the Band shell at Central Park, at Lehman College in the Bronx and in The Manhattan Mall at Herald Square NYC. They were the sole performers at the St Patrick's Day Parade in Queens for Mayor Bloomberg and afterwards all the students marched in the parade joined by their parents. Caroline Duggan, their teacher was named the Grand Marshal of the parade. Caroline was also named to Irish America's top 100 for her work with the children. Also named to Irish America's Top 100 was Hilary Clinton and The Keltic Dreams performed at the Awards in the Broadway Hilton Theater in 2007. They performed in the Irish Connections Festival in Boston, 2006 and won the first ever Building Bridges award for connecting Cultures together through Irish dance. The Irish dance program has encouraged huge parental involvement, bringing the whole community together!!!! Some of the children had never been to Manhattan before they performed in these shows. It has been a goal for five years now to take these children to the land where their dance was born, Ireland.

 

Following the huge success of the 2007 trip, it is clear that this project plays a highly valuable role in promoting Ireland / US relations in a new way with children from diverse backgrounds in the US embracing Irish culture and heritage and linking what is itself becoming an increasingly diverse Ireland with the US and in the process demonstrating the universal appeal and magic of Irish culture and dance. We have now built a new bridge from Ireland to the USA and we plan on continuing to strengthen this connection. This program highlights diversity at its finest through Public school children and shows the universality of Irish culture. It provides a platform of excellence for all other parts of the children's lives. It increases confidence, tolerance of other cultures, team work, perfection and most importantly belief in oneself. The most important lesson I try to teach the children is that nothing is impossible. Believe in your dream. Work as hard as you possibly can to make it happen!!!!! Have no regrets!!! I really hope you can come on board and be a part of making this highly successful dream a reality once again in May 2008 when I plan to take 35 children and some of their parents to perform in Ireland. We wish to put down the deposit on the flights by the end of November and in order to do this I will have to prove that we will be able to raise the entire flight costs of $35,000 by the end of November.

Thanks to a wonderful article in The Irish Voice newspaper our story spread throughout the United States and Ireland and thanks to the generosity from our friends all over the United States and Ireland, we pulled off the finances and the trip went ahead. The kids took Ireland by storm, Many of the highlights included the performances at Aras and Uachtaran for President McAleese and on one of the top rated TV talk shows The Late Late Show. The kids also performed in a number of venues around Dublin, including St Stephens Green Shopping Center and the feedback was tremendous, especially when the children addressed their audiences in Irish! John McColgan, producer of Riverdance had his company Tyrone Productions film the whole process and the beginning of the documentary is due to air in Ireland on St Patrick's day!

The impact and reaction in 2007 was so powerful that we have been inundated by requests for The Keltic Dreams to make a return visit to Ireland in 2008 and we are now beginning the planning for that!
As always funding will be the key issue. We will need to raise a total of $72,000, including $35,00 for our flights. We were so grateful to The American Ireland Fund who helped raise the entire cost of the flights last year. I would be deeply grateful for your assistance in once again being able to take these talented children to Ireland. Of course with the new members of the group coming into The Keltic Dreams this year, it will be their first time ever to go on a trip like this.

 

First glimpse of the Irish countryside, Glendalough, Co Wicklow, Ireland.

If you wish to donate or write a letter of support to the children see below:

We have a Commerce Bank account set up specifically for the trip.
Checks can be made out to "PS 59/The Keltic Dreams"

Mailed to
Attention -:Caroline Duggan - The Keltic Dreams
Public School 59
2185 Bathgate Avenue,
Bronx, NY 10457

Phone School - 17185844730 ask for Becky who will find which room I am teaching in!

Go raibh mile maith agaibh,
With sincere thanks,

Caroline Duggan.