Report on the Harping Tradition in Ireland

4.3 International Centre for the Irish Harp, Dublin
The ambition of an International Centre for the Irish Harp based in Dublin was raised
at the Harp Symposium in 2010, the Harpers’ Meeting in 2013, and in the results of
this survey.
Na Píobairí Uilleann, with its premises in Henrietta Street, Dublin, has demonstrated the
positive impact that a centre in the capital can have on a once endangered instrument,
repertoire and tradition. In 1968, when NPU was founded, there were approximately
50 uilleann pipers in Ireland. It is estimated that there are now over 5,000 worldwide.
NPU currently has a permanent staff of four (CEO, Archivist, Administrator and
Administrative Assistant) and employs a Head of Development and a Pipe-making
Supervisor on a contractual basis. Its funding from the Arts Council in 2014 was
€334,000.
There are four main strands to NPU’s strategy: access, education, performance and
preservation. The organisation runs a range of activities: providing tuition in Dublin
and a try-the-pipes initiative around the country; providing classes in Louth, Laois and
Sligo in co-operation with Music Generation; administering a Pipes-on-Loan scheme;
organising regular recitals and lectures; running the PipeCraft Pipemaking Training
Centre and other pipe-making courses; publishing a periodical, DVDs and recordings;
organising an International Uilleann Piping Day; archival work; and partnering with
a range of organisations and events, such as Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy, in order
to promote the uilleann pipes.
It is also currently engaged in a major fundraising drive for a capital project to extends
its premises into No. 16 Henrietta Street and create an International Uilleann Piping
Visitor Centre and Theatre.
An International Centre for the Irish Harp in Dublin is an important ambition – and it
is important that the harping community have such large-scale ambitions – and the
example and experience of NPU would prove invaluable in working towards it.
To date, it is an ambition that has been primarily associated with Cairde na Cruite.
Such a large project will require leadership and a working group to undertake additional
research and planning. It is up to Cairde na Cruite to take on that leadership role if
progress is to be made, though any working group should be open to membership
from other harp organisations also.
The Arts Council should support the harping community in the ambition of establishing
an International Centre for the Irish Harp in Dublin, and through its funding for harp
organisations and project and scheme funding, could support further research into this
idea.
Recommendation
4.3.1 It is recommended that the Arts Council support the harping community
in the ambition of establishing an International Centre for the Irish Harp
in Dublin through supporting further research into this objective.
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