Féile na Gaeilge / Irish Language Day: Bealtaine

The Trailblazery first took flight as a creative gathering for people who blaze trails in their own spectacular or intimate way. Since their inaugural event at the Office of Non-Compliance in 2011, they have gathered a collection of provocative and inspiring stories from thousands of people with brilliant minds and courageous hearts. They have taken the Trailblazery on tour around Ireland inhabiting government buildings, historic prisons, decommissioned courthouses, masonic lodges, university campuses, abandoned warehouses, festival fields and sacred spaces. Since the world stopped in 2020 amid a festival of crises, they have been nudging humanity forward online and expanded into a global family, kin, and kindred.

What is a hedge school?
Back in the 1700s, Irish education was outlawed and the process of learning took to the land. Hedge schools gathered wherever people could find shelter: along hedgerows, fields and mountains, by rivers and under the stars. Out at these wild edges, the Irish culture was kept alive. Despite a turbulent history, the Irish language has survived and is encoded with a wisdom that can help us today as ancestors-in-training. 

The Hedge School at the Trailblazery is a home for kindred spirits, one rooted in Ireland but invites people around the world on an immersive learning experience into the heart and soul of Irish culture, heritage, and language. It is a place of learning and unlearning for these times. At the heart of Hedge School is kinship. Our experiences are guided by a host of inspiring bilingual multidisciplinary artists, activists, creatives, educators, culture makers, and indigenous language keepers.

The School's methodology taps into a growing cultural desire for new ways of learning and unlearning, connecting and sharing at this extraordinary time on our planet.

Kathy Scott is a cultural activist dedicated to creating experiences that animate the spirit of our times. Her greatest mission in this life is to nudge humanity forward by inspiring people to rise and lift each other up along the way. 

She is the creative director of The Trailblazery which was founded as a response to a need for deeper connection and kinship in our world. She is also the founder of Hedge School, a cultural learning experience rooted in Ireland with a global resonance and Scoil Scairte an award -winning school inspired by Irish culture, heritage and language. Other cultural enterprises include Moon Medicine - a transformational women's space for inspired living and Moon Medicine Academy – an global empowerment training program for women. 

She has trained with Thomas Hübl at The Pocket Project and Dr. Gabor Maté in the field of Compassionate Inquiry. Her work is trauma informed and sensitive.

Leah Song is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumental musician, storyteller, poet, and activist known for her role as front woman in Rising Appalachia (with her sister Chloe Smith). Using her voice and her vision as a means of creating community, the ways of the storyteller and troubadour are in her blood. Her music is based in the traditions of Appalachian Southern Soul and international roots music. Song engages in social activism and is involved with the environment, food justice, human rights and prison outreach. She gathers tools and teachings of resilience, mythology, grief, creative ritual, and rewilding and has studied and worked alongside some of the greatest teachers of our time, including Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Martin Shaw, Joanna Macy, and Winona LaDuke. 

Paul Ferris is a graduate of NYU’s Irish and Irish American Studies MA program, and has taught the Irish language with NYU’s Speaking Freely program and at Drew University. He studied the language in County Galway and County Donegal, and served on the executive board of the North American Association of Celtic Language Teachers. Paul is a frequent invited teacher at immersion programs in the US and Canada.

Joseph Jones is an Irish speaker from West Belfast, County Antrim, now an actor, model, and creative ambassador based in New York. He was educated through Irish language medium education from the age of three, where his family had to fight for the right to be taught in their native tongue. A graduate of the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in Manhattan, he is an active member of the arts and Irish language community in Ireland and New York. He has worked with TG4, Foras na Gaeilge, and local councils. Joseph is a regular contributor to Irish language media outlets including the BBC and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta. He is very passionate about the language and loves to teach it in a fun contemporary way.

Siobhán Ní Chiobháin is a native Irish speaker and award-winning creative producer originally from the Dingle Gaeltacht in County Kerry and now based in New York. Siobhán was educated entirely through Irish Language Medium Education, and completed a BA in media arts with Irish from Dublin Institute of Technology and a postgraduate cert in digital media communications from Ulster University. While based in Belfast, Siobhan produced and directed bilingual media productions for BBC, RTÉ, TG4, UTV, Raidió na Gaeltachta, and more. She is a regular contributor to Irish language media including BBC and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta. Siobhán is a co-founder of Gaeil Nua-Eabhrac, a group that organizes Irish language events, including pop up Gaeltachts, throughout NYC. Siobhán is passionate about teaching and sharing the Irish language and culture around the language, and especially loves sharing Irish language contemporary media, from memes to tweets and videos, in her classes.

Caoimhe Nic Giollarnáith is originally from County Kildare. She attended Irish language medium schools and graduated from the National University of Ireland, Galway, summa cum laude with BA and MA degrees in Modern Irish. She has several years of teaching experience as an Adjunct Professor. Caoimhe currently teaches Irish language and literature undergraduate courses at Lehman College, CUNY. In the past, she has taught Irish language courses at Fordham University, Manhattan College and Rosetta Stone. In 2015, Caoimhe worked as a researcher and guest speaker on the Irish Film and Television Academy award nominated Irish language television series GAA USA. Caoimhe has featured as a guest on several Irish language radio shows on Raidió na Gaeltachta, Ireland's national Irish language radio station. She is a board member of Gaeil Nua-Eabhrac, a non-profit which aims to promote the Irish language in New York. Caoimhe has organized Irish language and cultural events at the Irish Consulate, New York. She also teaches Irish to the families of the Irish Consular team.