“People are going to try to safeguard the things that define who they are, and for the Irish, music is the art of the people,” says button accordion player Billy McComiskey. Just weeks after teaching CIM students at Minnesota Irish Music Weekend, he was selected as a 2016 Arts Heritage Fellow, the highest honor the National Endowment of the Art bestows on folk and traditional artists in the United States. “And then you get to share that with a kid, and you see that light go on, and the next thing you know,  they’re sitting at a session, just delighted with themselves. It’s just a beautiful culture. I live for this.”

“Coming from New York and a culture where there are hundreds of people learning this music, we have nothing as organized as this. The essence of the camaraderie here in this building is second to none. And it’s not about competition—it’s about the whole school being lifted as a group. I don’t think you’re going to find that anywhere in America. It’s wonderful to see.”

-Joanie Madden