Person Place Thing (Martin Hayes and Howard Wolfson)

Martin Hayes, internationally renowned for his interpretations of traditional Irish music, was the recipient of six All-Ireland championships before the age of nineteen and spent his youth playing with his late father, P. Joe Hayes, in the elder Hayes' Tulla Céilí band. 

Martin has toured and recorded with guitarist Dennis Cahill for over twenty years; they performed in the St. Patrick’s Day festivities for President Obama and dignitaries both at the White House and House of Representatives in 2011. He has also collaborated and performed with extraordinary musicians in the classical, folk and contemporary music worlds, including Sting, Paul Simon, Bill Frisell, Ricky Skaggs, Jordi Savall, Brooklyn Rider and the Irish Chamber Orchestra, as well as with many of the world's greatest Irish musicians. 

Hayes has contributed music, both original and traditional arrangements, to modern dance, theatre, film and television, and recently recorded with Yo Yo Ma's Silk Road Project. He is the artistic director of Masters of Tradition, an annual festival in Bantry, Co. Cork, and a curator for the Marble Sessions at the Kilkenny Arts Festival. He has been recognized as Musician of the Year (Gradam Ceol) from TG4, Irish language television; and Person of the Year by Irish Arts Center and the American Irish Historical Society. He founded the seminal Irish American band The Gloaming, which won the prestigious Meteor Prize in 2014 for their debut album.

Howard Wolfson is senior advisor to Mike Bloomberg (2014-present); New York City Deputy Mayor for Government Affairs and Communications (2010-2013); communications director of Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign; and a prominent political strategist.

He is instrumental in the policy and political universe of Mike Bloomberg, running the former New York City Mayor’s SuperPAC and advising him on politics and communication. In addition, he leads Bloomberg Philanthropies’ education program.

From 2010-2013, Wolfson was the New York City Deputy Mayor for Government Affairs and Communications. In this capacity, Wolfson oversaw local, state and federal government relations in addition to helping to craft the Bloomberg administration's overall communications strategy. He was particularly involved in transportation, education, and technology sectors.

Known as the “architect of Hillary Clinton’s 2000 senate victory,” Wolfson was the communications director of her history-making run for the presidency in 2008. He has worked in and out of government, serving as chief of staff to Congresswoman Nita Lowey, now the senior-most democrat on the US House of Representatives’ powerful Appropriations Committee, and as the executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Wolfson has worked on campaigns at every level of government, advising Charles Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Andrew Cuomo, among others. 

Wolfson, a New York native, graduated from the University of Chicago and received a master’s in history from Duke University. He serves on the board of directors of the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics, Transportation Alternatives, and New York Cares.