Irish Arts Foundation

07/07/2026

Important update

We are writing to inform you of an important update regarding Leeds Irish Arts Foundation.

Des Hurley, our current Chief Executive will retire in August 2026. As a result, and after exploring options for future leadership and long-term sustainability, the Board of Trustees have decided that the charity will formally close on 31 August 2026.

The Irish Arts Foundation has been a highly successful and respected charity over the past twenty-eight years, making a significant contribution to the promotion of Irish music, arts, heritage and culture across Leeds and West Yorkshire. We have provided access to, and participation in, traditional Irish music and arts for local Leeds communities and will leave a long and lasting positive impact through its flagship projects, such as Irish History Month. Our project ‘Untold Stories - The Leeds Irish Community’ will be archived by the West Yorkshire Archive Service to remain available for the community.

Through the commitment of Des Hurley, the staff team, volunteers, partners and funders, we are extremely proud of the impact achieved and the lasting legacy created.

The Trustees would like to extend our sincerest gratitude to all our funders, sponsors and supporters over the past twenty-eight years. Without their financial and in-kind support, the work of the Leeds Irish Arts Foundation would not have been possible.
Thank you again on behalf of the Board of Trustees and Leeds Irish Arts Foundation team. It is the end of an era: it has been a great journey!

Jo Heyworth

Chair of the Board of Trustees
Leeds Irish Arts Foundation

23/06/2026

Side by Side: The Remittance Generation' and The 'Windrush Generation'

Tommy and Maureen Canavan both originally from County Mayo met and married in Leeds and lived on Potternewton Lane between 1966 until 1975: their children attended the Holy Rosary Primary School on Chapeltown Road.

Around 1980, similar to a number of Leeds-Irish families, the Canavan family moved back 'home' to County Mayo as the Irish economy was growing at that time.

Whilst many Leeds-Irish families settled back into life in Ireland, others and particularly the children who had grown up in Leeds did not stay and later moved back to Leeds at various times.

Many thanks to Tommy and Maureen Canavan for contributing these marvellous images to our recent 'Side by Side' project.
Side by Side: The Remittance Generation' and The 'Windrush Generation'

Supported by The Ireland Fund of Great Britain, the project focused on the Chapeltown and Potternewton areas of inner Leeds, where in the 1950's and 1960's the West Indian and Irish imigrants historically arrived and settled : living ‘side by side’ in the terraced houses off Chapeltown Road and Roundhay Road, working together in low skilled jobs and socialising together in the local dance halls and public houses.

The project captured and disseminated the previously undocumented shared memories, experiences of and similarities between the Irish ‘Remittance Generation' and the West indian 'Windrush Generation' communities.

The Central Statistical Office (CSO) for Ireland estimates the ‘Remittance Generation' who left Ireland for the UK between 1940 and 1970 sent the equivalent of £4.8 billion back to rural Ireland.The “Remittance Generation” is a term adopted by Irish people to describe this migration to the UK.

23/06/2026

Side by Side: The Remittance Generation' and The 'Windrush Generation'

Tommy Brannigan and his siblings had grown up on the Little London estate, a residential area north of the city centre and attended Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Primary School on Chapeltown Road.

'Little London' borders the residential areas of Scott Hall, Chapeltown and Potternewton in Leeds. In the 1950s and '60s Little London was redeveloped by Leeds City Council consisting of a mixture of housing including high and low-rise flats. The redevelopment was due to construction of the Leeds Inner Ring Road which began during the late 1950's ,1960s and early 1970s and saw the demolition of over three hundred and fifty homes, many belonging to considerable numbers of Irish families who had settled in the Woodhouse Lane and University areas after arriving in Leeds, who were subsequently rehoused in Little London.

Many Irishmen arriving in the City worked for Shand Construction on the Leeds Inner Ring Road project , many living in shared Irish houses in Chapeltown and Potternewton.

Many thanks to Tommy Brannigan for contributing these marvellous images to our recent 'Side by Side' project.

23/06/2026

A fabulous undertaking by Leeds Irish Health and Homes. A great addition to the project the Irish Arts Foundation undertook some years ago.

Similarly the project will be archived with the West Yorkshire Archive Service from 15th July.

https://www.untoldstories.co.uk

Looking forward to enjoying the finished project

We recently announced the exciting news that we've been awarded National Lottery funding to record the stories of Irish migrant men in Leeds 🎉

Now you can read all about our fantastic Fir Group and the Memories of Migrant Men project in the Yorkshire Post 🤩

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/people/lottery-funding-to-explore-the-stories-of-leeds-irish-migrant-men-8745463

04/06/2026

TICKETS ARE NOW SOLD OUT!

Traditional Irish Music and Film Evening.

100 Years Of Ulysees (2022)

Tuesday 16th June 6.30pm (film at 7:30pm)

£PWYF

Northlight Arts Centre, 31 Potternewton Lane, Chapel Allerton

Released to mark the centenary of the publication of Joyce’s novel, 100 Years of Ulysses is a 60-minute documentary devised by historian Frank Callanan and directed by Ruán Magan, which sets out to unlock one of most complex and explosive books of modern times.

Bloomsday is a commemoration and celebration of the life of Irish writer James Joyce, observed annually in Dublin and elsewhere on 16 June. The day is named after Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of Joyce's 1922 novel Ulysses, the events of which take place on Thursday, 16 June 1904.

Licensed bar and light refreshments available.

https://northlightartscentre.org.uk/

13/05/2026

"An Evening of Irish Music & Song"

Sunday 17th May 6.30pm

FREE EVENT

The Foundation, 471 Otley Rd, Adel, Leeds LS16 7NR, UK

Hosted by Kevin Mullowney, Gerry Brownridge, and Christy Herron

The contemporary venue features indoor seating in a single room with a bar, plus outdoor areas at both the front and rear of the premises.

All welcome!

https://www.instagram.com/thefoundationtaproom

23/03/2026

EVENT: 'That They May Face The Rising Sun' (FILM: 2023)

Saturday 28th March 7pm

TICKETS £6.50 - see link below

Roundhay Parochial Hall. 5 Fitzroy Drive. Leeds LS8 4AB

Our final Irish History Month screening on Saturday 28th March at Roundhay Parochial Hall, Oakwood Community Cinema will be screening 'That They May Face The Rising Sun'. Based on the internationally acclaimed Irish author John McGahern's award-winning novel of the same name, ‘That They May Face the Rising Sun’ is a vivid evocation of nature, humanity and life itself, set in a 1980's rural community in Ireland. Joe and Kate Ruttledge have returned from London to live and work among a small, rural, lakeside community in Ireland near to where Joe grew up in County Leitrim.

https://www.tickettailor.com/events/oakwoodcinema/2004934

https://www.oakwoodcinema.org/films/that-they-may-face-the-rising-sun/

23/03/2026

EVENT - 'We Only Want the Earth: The Life & Ideas of James Connolly' (FILM - 2023)

Friday 27th March, 7pm

TICKETS £6.50 (£5.50 concessions)

Headingley Enterprise & Arts Centre (HEART), Bennett Road, Leeds LS6 3HN

On Friday 27th March, in collaboration with Films at HEART is ‘We Only Want the Earth: The Life & Ideas of James Connolly’. James Connolly remains an iconic figure in Irish socialism, republicanism, and the trade union movement. ‘We Only Want the Earth’ draws directly from his own writings to create a vivid portrait of the man behind the ideals, situating his radical politics and many achievements within the struggles of today’s world. The film also documents Connolly’s central role in the 1916 Easter Rising, offering new insight into the political and cultural forces that shaped him.

https://heartcentre.org.uk/events/category/hearts-events/film/list/

11/03/2026

EVENT: 'Sins of Ireland' (Film, 2025)

Tuesday 19th March 7:30pm

£8, booking advised

Seven Arts, 31(a) Harrogate Road, Leeds, LS7 3PD

On Tuesday 19th March, Screen Seven presents the documentary 'Sins of Ireland '. This film is a portrait of Ireland through the lens of the confession box. Fifteen Irish priests who have long listened to the sins of others, offer their own confessional on the rise and fall of a sacrament that now epitomises the turbulent changes in faith and spirituality in contemporary Ireland. The documentary is a nuanced and uncynical examination of confession, as the priests themselves acknowledge how a rite meant to offer absolution and guidance had for many years become a tool of control and shame, with devastating consequences.

https://www.sevenleeds.co.uk/event/screen-seven-sins-of-ireland

04/03/2026

Irish Arts Foundation gave a fabulous talk this morning including interviews done for their 'Side by Side' project in collaboration with Leeds Black Elders and the Jamaica Society Leeds. As always accompanied by music. Thank you! And happy