New York City's Irish Arts Center (IAC) has revealed the programming for its spring 2026 season.

The season of cultural events, family friendly experiences, live music, and literature readings will be bookended by two theatricals productions. The first, running January 7-18, will be Dublin-based company Brokentalkers’ Bellow (also a part of the 2026 Under the Radar Festival). The piece fuses experimental theatre, concert music, and dance, with traditional Irish accordion player Danny O’Mahony performing live with Brokentalkers’ Gary Keegan and dance artist Emily Kilkenny Roddy, as they process the weight of a life dedicated to tradition.

The second, running June 3-21, will be Kwame Daniels' North Star. Created and directed by Daniels, with musical compositions by Kaidi Tatham, Winnie Ama, Leo Miyagee, and Hannah Peel, North Star is a live music and spoken word performance inspired by the speeches of abolitionist Frederick Douglass during his historic visit to Belfast in 1845. The collaborative, immersive standing-room show fuses artistic responses to Douglass’s experience from an eclectic range of contemporary artists—including hip-hop, jazz, gospel, electronic, and classical musicians, poets, and young people from Belfast and New York—in an artistic journey rooted in Black cultures, and inspired by Douglass’s deep connection with Belfast.

Arrangements and music supervision for North Star will be by Kaidi Tatham, with choral arrangements by Jennifer John, musical direction by Si Francis, and text and spoken word by Nandi Jola, Colin Salmon, and school pupils of Belfast and New York City. North Star will be produced and presented by Irish Arts Center and Solab in association with the Lyric Theatre, Belfast. The piece is a Belfast City Council via Belfast 2024 and Belfast Stories co-commission.

For more information about IAC's Spring offerings, including full programming, visit IrishArtsCenter.org.