about

Founded in 2006 by Cathal McCabe and Founding Patron Seamus Heaney, The Ireland-Poland Cultural Foundation is dedicated to promoting and strengthening cultural exchange and understanding between Ireland and Poland, and to the enhancement of the lives of the Polish and wider BME community in Ireland, north and south.

We seek to realise these aims through a range of initiatives and activities. These include events, creative & educational programmes, community-based initiatives, research and a portfolio of services for local authorities and businesses. We also provide online Polish lessons and translation and interpretation services.

events

2022

2022 sees the launch of an exciting new series of podcasts featuring interviews and conversations with a diverse line-up of speakers. Check out our podKast for further details.

2021 was Stanislaw Lem Centenary year, which we will continue celebrating with contributions to our new podKast series by, among others, translator Antonia Lloyd-Jones, whose translation of Lem’s The Truth and Other Stories was published in September.

2022 is Bruno Schulz Year, and podKast will also be celebrating the life and work of this uniquefigure in modern Polish literature.

2006 - 2021

Since its inauguration by Seamus Heaney and Andrzej Szczeklik in Dublin’s Royal College of Surgeons in June 2006, the IPCF has presented an impressive number and range of events, in partnership with diplomatic and cultural organisations and institutions. We have hosted a plethora of spoken word (and music) events together with The Embassy of Poland in Ireland, EU House and other partner venues, and presented contemporary music and fine art at The National Concert Hall, The National Gallery of Ireland and elsewhere. Our Partners have included:

partners

CRH (Main Sponsor)  The Embassy of Poland in Ireland  Farmleigh  Trinity College Dublin  The Embassy of Ireland in Warsaw  The Department of Foreign Affairs  The Polish Ministry of Culture  The Adam Mickiewicz Institute (Warsaw)  The Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences  The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland  The National Concert Hall, Dublin  The National Gallery of Ireland  The Dublin Writers’ Festival  Centre for Cultural Practices  The Irish Writers’ Centre  Festival of World Cultures (Dún Laoghaire)  The Ireland Funds 

selected events

After Auschwitz: 70th anniversary event commemorating the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau (at the Embassy of Poland in Ireland)  Readings of Miłosz with Seamus Heaney  Chopin Year gala concert (in the presence of The President of Ireland)  Chopin, Szymanowski & Joyce: music and words at The National Gallery of Ireland  Polish Greats: Irish artists on Polish inspirations  Irish Encounters: Polish writers reading in Ireland  Trinity College Dublin Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation Polish Translation Slam  Irish-Polish Writer-in-Residence scheme at Farmleigh  Performance of Galczynski! by visiting Polish Theatre at the Festival of World Cultures (Dún Laoghaire)  Farmleigh Summer of Polish Culture  events to mark Zbigniew Herbert Year

Watch a recording of A Reading of the poetry of Zbigniew Herbert with Seamus Heaney here

performers [ and performed ]

[ authors ] Dermot Bolger  Stefan Chwin  Brian Keenan  Paweł Huelle  Witold Gombrowicz  Jerzy Kosiński  Glenn Patterson  Andrzej Szczeklik  Michał Witkowski [ musicians ] Concorde Contemporary Music Ensemble  Ewa Pobłocka  Krystyna Borucińska  Anna Karasińska [ composers ] Fryderyk Chopin  Henryk Górecki  Marta Ptaszyńska [ poets ] Gerald Dawe  John F. Deane  Jacek Dehnel  Seamus Heaney  Zbigniew Herbert  Jerzy Jarniewicz  Czesław Miłosz  Piotr Sommer  Wisława Szymborska [stage & film] Marek Kołaczkowski  Krzysztof Kieślowski [ publishers ] Jerzy Illg   The Book Art Museum [ translators ] Antonia Lloyd-Jones  Jacek Dehnel  Cathal McCabe  [ for children ] Polish summer circus at Farmleigh  and many others

podKast

2022 sees the launch of podKast, a new series of online events featuring interviews and conversations with (and readings by) writers and poets, as well as artists, journalists, publishers, academics, politicians, diplomats, translators, linguists, musicians, curators, business leaders and others.

coming soon in 2022

and

services

Perfect Polish!

The IPCF is a leading provider of tailored online Polish language tuition. We offer lessons in Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Polish. Please contact us for details of individual online lessons at a level and time of your choosing.

Polish for Business

The IPCF provides Polish language lessons for business. We offer both individual and group tuition, tailored to your needs and timetable. Please contact us for details of how we can help businesses and their staff with courses in basic and intermediate Polish for Business.

Translation & Interpreting

The IPCF offers a high-quality translation and interpreting service to a range of clients. We can provide translation from Polish to English or vice versa. Please contact us for a quote.

BME Research & Audit

The IPCF has carried out research into and authored reports on the situation of Polish and BME communities in Northern Ireland.

We also provide online English-language tuition and courses for members of the Polish and BME communities.

news

Heaney-Miłosz Residency

The Estate of Seamus Heaney, together with the Krakow Festival Office (KBF), operator of the Krakow UNESCO City of Literature title, and the Embassy of Ireland in Poland, are pleased to launch a new Residency programme at the former apartment of Polish poet and writer Czesław Miłosz in Krakow, Poland.

Applications are open until 30 September 2022, with the selected writer to be announced in December. Click here to find out more.