National Folk Training Academy
Siamsa Tíre is committed to preserving Ireland’s folk heritage by passing it on to the next generation. This is what we do at the National Folk Theatre Training Academy.
Siamsa Tíre is committed to preserving Ireland’s folk heritage by passing it on to the next generation. This is what we do at the National Folk Theatre Training Academy.
It is here that students receive training in the unique Siamsa Tíre style of singing, dancing, playing music, and storytelling. Classes take place on a weekly basis over the course of three years, after which time students are then given the opportunity to train further in order to become members of our performing company. This company stages theatrical productions as part of our annual summer Festival of Folk and regularly travels nationally and internationally with shows that celebrate the richness of Ireland’s folk culture.
Our three-year training programme is a golden opportunity for any child with an interest in the traditional arts, theatre, music, singing, or dancing. We hold auditions to attract the best young talent every summer. Children must be aged between 7 and 12 and they must perform an Irish dancing step and sing a song as part of the auditioning process. Following further auditions, they can take part in three years of advanced training and get experience as part of the Community Cast that perform Siamsa Tíre’s folk theatre repertoire every summer.
Siamsa Tíre has been training children in the traditional performing arts since 1972 and in that time, it has fostered so much creative talent. Students who have completed the three-year programme and advanced training at the National Folk Training Academy have gone on to achieve stellar success as performers internationally including actor and filmmaker Sarah Jane Drummey, mezzo-soprano Paula Murrihy, and dancers Justin Walsh, John Fitzgerald and David Geaney.
Find out more about our individual and schools auditions for the National Folk Theatre Training Academy.
