Inspiration for the Year

Imbolc is an exciting and inspirational event, taking place on Saturday 6th February 2010 in the Ionad Cultúrtha in Ballyvourney, Co. Cork.

Inspirational Irish-speakers gather to share their ideas and the interesting projects they work on with each other and with the audience. With ten speakers, each having twenty minutes to tell their fascinating story, the audience will experience a wide range of subjects, and the gathering's theme, "Inspiration for the year", will certainly be appropriate! Any subject at all can crop up - except the subject of the Irish language itself. There are two reasons for this - firstly there are already many excellent conferences that deal with the topic of the Irish language, but secondly because the emphasis at Imbolc is the use of the Irish language as a living means of communication, able to inspire us with the most modern of ideas!

"Imbolc" was the name of the ancient Celtic festival that was celebrated at the start of February. The name suits our conference, not only because of the time of year it takes place, but also because it accords with the symbolism of the ancient festival. Just like Imbolc used to celebrate the awakening of Spring after a cold dark Winter, so our gathering celebrates the wonderful work that people have been doing that can now be exposed to the light of a wider audience.